He says: "Your body language is so closed off, and yet you are smiling and looking so friendly..."
And I smile, and reply: "How about ladylike instead? Did you ever try to sit in front of a big audience with open body language while wearing a very tight short pin-up dress?".
One movement à la Basic Instinct and it is immediately clear while open body language would not be such a great idea, right now.
The guy looks at me and, maybe for the first time, he gets how it probably feels like to wear a dress.
Sometimes, a couple of sentences are enough, in order to show a different perspective about a situation, a way of thinking, a certain behavior.
[Then close your eyes and tap your heels together three times...
And you could see things with other eyes.
And if not, you are still wearing gorgeous purple shoes anyway]
The old saying about walking in someone else's shoes before judging is pure gold, even more while dealing with diversity and topics you have no real first-hand experience with.
If they could spend a day or two
Walking in someone else's shoes
I think they'd stumble and they'd fall
They would fall
Good Charlotte, Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous
The Young and the Hopeless (2000)
It can be that simple, sometimes.
Tags: Perspective switch, Diversity, Discovering new points of view
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