Sam Killermann > Quotes

“If you can do nothing else, do whatever is in your power to make the people in your life feel completely unashamed of who they are.”
― Sam Killermann

“Gender is like a Rubik’s Cube with one hundred squares per side, and every time you twist it to take a look at another angle, you make it that much harder a puzzle to solve.”
― Sam Killermann, The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook: A Guide to Gender

“The world is getting too small for both an Us and a Them. Us and Them have become codependent, intertwined, fixed to one another. We have no separate fates, but are bound together in one. And our fear of one another is the only thing capable of our undoing.”
― Sam Killermann

“Gender identity is our internal response to a social construction that attempts to make a connection between a person’s biological makeup and their eventual role in society.”
― Sam Killermann, The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook: A Guide to Gender

“Everyone doesn’t need to have the same beliefs, we just need to start believing in everyone.”
― Sam Killermann

“Never ask for permission to smile.”
― Sam Killermann, The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook: A Guide to Gender

“With the evolution of Us came the evolution of Them.

The original Them was anyone who wasn’t blood related — Them was pretty much everyone. Over time, as the number of people in Us got bigger, Them got smaller. Them now might mean anyone in any other country. This is a common Them in America, and a Them that only (light use of this word) consists of 95% of the world. Another common Them in America is anyone who isn’t Christian, which is a measly 68% of the world, or roughly 4.8 Billion Thems.

In a relatively short amount of time, Us went from being a fraction of a percent of humanity and Them the rest, to some people experiencing an Us of more than two billion other people, far more than were ever alive at the onset of Us and Them.”
― Sam Killermann

“It’s gotten far easier to allow ourselves to hate than it is to choose to love.”
― Sam Killermann

“Loneliness is a poison, but aloneness is a catalyst.”
― Sam Killermann

“When humans are born, we assign them to be either male or female based on their external genitalia. Based on that assignment, we raise them to be either men or women, which are essentially the polar opposite options of personality, occupations, dress, behavior, and demeanor. “As they grow up, we constantly curb their behavior if they don’t fit within the extremely limited options they are given based on their gender assignment and place an incredible amount of social pressure on them to embody every aspect of that identity. If they question their identity, we silence them. If they act in ways that conflict with their assigned identity, we ridicule them. If they don’t align with one of the two options available, we stigmatize them. And if they decide we assigned them the wrong identity, we question their mental health.”
― Sam Killermann, A Guide to Gender: The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook

“But what's worse is that we have been taught and retaught the Golden Rule so many times that we internally justify this method of behavior as invincible, despite the fact that it fails constantly. We believe that our intentions are more important than the outcomes of our actions, because 'it's the though that counts,' right?”
― Sam Killermann, The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook: A Guide to Gender

“Privilege is not something you choose to receive or dismiss. It is automatically granted to you based on your identity, and it informs the ways individuals and groups interact with and view you.”
― Sam Killermann, The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook: A Guide to Gender

“Your reality being true doesn’t mean my reality isn’t   It’s”
― Sam Killermann, Unlocking the Magic of Facilitation: 11 Key Concepts You Didn't Know You Didn't Know

“Every person has many identities, and experiences those identities in unique ways, depending on location, time, and the rest of who they are. Not only can a single person experience both oppression and privilege, most of us do!  Being able to accept and present that reality, being both privileged and oppressed, helps others see the complexity of both issues, and creates some wiggle room for a productive dialogue. ”
― Sam Killermann, Unlocking the Magic of Facilitation: 11 Key Concepts You Didn't Know You Didn't Know

“No” in the room might signal to everyone that they should keep silent.”
― Sam Killermann, Unlocking the Magic of Facilitation: 11 Key Concepts You Didn't Know You Didn't Know

“Discrimination occurs when an individual has prejudice and power and uses that power to unfairly deny access to or limit someone’s ability to obtain resources because of that person’s identity.”
― Sam Killermann, A Guide to Gender: The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook

“Kirkegaard said, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
― Sam Killermann, A Guide to Gender: The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook