I won't be content until I can say with absolute certainty that D stands for Diversity. Too often, it still stands for Discrimination, inequality for people with Disabilities, represents the DD cup-sizes of the (god forbid) #curvy girls, or the challenges faced within the No More Page 3 campaign as they fight against misogyny, the objectification of women and sexual inequality on so many levels.
Laura Bates writes about Double Discrimination in her crowd sourced Everyday Sexism project, highlighting how gender-based prejudice is still strongly intertwined with racial, sexual and health-based stigmatisation, to name but a few.
While it appears that 2015 in many respects, has been a positive year, we still have a huge way to go in the battle for equality regardless of race, religion, skin colour, gender, sexual identity and social class.
There have been many high value wins for inclusion and diversity this year. Many countries worldwide finally got with the program and legalised same-sex marriage, with rainbows and happiness pouring out across the internet. People of all sexual identities came together to celebrate in streets all over the world, and it appeared we were on the right path.
In popular culture, we've also had a huge spotlight shone on the challenges facing the transgender community, with high profile ex-Olympian and reality TV star Bruce Jenner opening up about his transition to become Caitlyn Jenner, a journey many decades in the making. In her recent show I am Cait , she's spoken out about her transition being difficult, yet mentions how positive public opinion has been, in comparison to her peers a few years ahead of her on their journey. They recount tales of victimization, abuse or near invisibility as they were shunned by the community and unrepresented in the media, in the workplace etc. It warms my heart and gives me hope for the future that acceptance is becoming the new normal.
A little closer to home for me, fat and body shaming continues to be an issue. Just last week, instagram caused a furore when they banned the hashtag #curvy , alleging that it was being used in a sexual context, however they neglected to remove hashtags which were legitimately pornographic and linking to hardcore sexual images. Hashtags promoting unhealthy body images and pertaining to anorexia were also still allowed, but in in true internet style, there was a revolt from users and the hashtag was reinstated.
The intersectionality of discrimination and inequality is something that we all need to take accountability for. As the saying goes. I don't care if you're fat, thin, black, white, gay, straight, bisexual etc...if you're nice to me, I'll be nice to you. Wouldn't that be a nice mantra for us all to live by?