Role Of Sexism In Counselling

The first question that I tackled was what do of a client makes a sexist or racist remark. The advice that the book suggests is somewhat vague, honestly. They suggest to both acknowledge and diminish the comment, depending on the circumstance. The authors say the need to address such is dependent on the client’s illness and the therapist’s values (Pipes & Davenport, 1999). There is a distinction made as to how to handle the comment if the client shares the same race or sex as the therapist. My take on this is that whatever the therapist response is, it should not involve humoring the client, or ignoring that the comment was made. This sounds easy enough, but often faced with real live prejudice in the “outside world”, a typical response to
The text says to use the incident as a catalyst for therapeutic intervention (Pipes & Davenport, 1999). I have recently had a situation just like this (the remark was blatantly sexist), and the way I handled it (without this specific training, and off the cuff) was to remind the client that he had his views that are personal to him, and that others do not share his views, have their own views, and have the right to do so; in order to function with others he would need to consider their points of view instead of solely his own. I would not say this has necessarily colored my view of the individual, as much as it has provided me an understanding of the place that he operates from, his foundation. Realizing this, even though I do not agree with him, helps me tailor my interventions in a manner that I think he can connect with better, than assuming he thinks like the rest of the
The text says not to tiptoe around the topic, and to use frank words when discussing it with the client. I think this is profoundly sound advice; sexuality is a normal part of living, and I do not shy away from the topic as some do. Indeed, my own personal thoughts about it leave me a little baffled as to why some people experience uncomfortableness with the topic-having said that- I am still aware and respectful that they are and act accordingly. What I found...interesting(?), or contemplative (?) about their reasons for being straightforward are to appear fearless, and allow the client to label difficult situations appropriately (Pipes & Davenport, 1999). This, to me, makes a modicum of sense, however, I would think the primary reason to avoid the pretense would be just so the client understood there is safety within the therapeutic relationship, no need to hide or avoid anything, and no topic that is considered out of bounds for honest discussion, if it holds relevancy to the presenting