Utah Valley University

From the SelectedWorks of Rodger E. Broome

Summer July 4, 2012

The Psychology of "Othering" and the Fears ofFeminizing the Fire Services Through GenderInclusivenessRodger E. Broome, PhD, Utah Valley University

Available at: https://works.bepress.com/rodger_broome/13/

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF “OTHERING” AND THE FEARS OF FEMINIZING THE FIRE SERVICE

THROUGH GENDER INCLUSIVENESS

By: Rodger E. Broomé, PhD, Utah Valley University Editor’s Note:In searching for answers for the way things are – you sometimes have to look at things from a different viewpoint. iWomen thought that Dr. Broome has an interesting perspective as he does consider whether we contribute to our (all women in the fire service) own obstacles by not promoting �

The hiring and promotional processes of the fire service and other emergency response groups are inherently based on exclusion. Generally and at least in the beginning stages of selecting candidates for hire or promotion, the objectives of application, resume, written exam, physical tests, etc. are designed to exclude those not meeting a minimum standard. All groups constitute themselves through a concept some social scientists call “othering.” Othering is basically exclusion criteria based on undesirable differences rather than features or characteristics of sameness. What is pertinent is what differences matter, why they matter, and how much so. For example, when we are establishing interpersonal relationships, one might say, “he’s not my type.” This is to say, there is some “difference” or set of differences that is a deal-breaker for pursuing a relationship with that person. In fact, the popular sit-com Seinfeld made much of its comedic content based on conversations about such excluding deal-breakers for break ups or other social rejections (i.e., close-talkers, women with man hands, nose pickers, etc.) (Seinfeld & David, 1990). In the emergency services, there are formal and informal ways in which we “other” people in order to continually define ourselves as a group.

Lived-World of Firemen Traditionally, police and fire services were established as men’s work and have remained male dominated in power and numbers to this day. Once explicitly and today more implicitly, being a woman was a “difference” that was and is to varying degrees an “othering criterion.” Progress has been made and many women have

Continued on Page 8

Volume 1, Issue 45 Wednesday , Ju ly 4 , 2012

FireWork iWomen’s Member Newsletter

Inside this issue of FireWork

President’s Corner………………… 2 Worksite Exercise Study…………. 3 Window Rescues….....………...…..4 Meet New Trustee…………….…...7

VISIT THE

iWOMEN BOOTH

#5067

IN DENVER, COLORADO

August 1st - 4th

Page 8 FireWork—July 2012

www.i-women.org

worked very hard to increase the numbers and power of women in the emergency services. However, Chetkovich (1997) says that the gender barrier is formidable for women because they never really can be “one of the guys.” It seems by her observation that this is re-ally not about being included be-cause one is male, but that one is excluded (at least from some things) based on being non-male. When it comes to dangerous or heavy manual labor, men have typically had this as theirs in the divisions of labor while women nurtured children and focused on domestic tasks (Serneau, 2005). Like many physical challenges hu-mans had in the primitive world, our development and use of tech-nology is usually ahead of our so-cial comportments to its uses. De-spite our advanced technology in the emergency services, the “ideal type” (in the Platonic sense) or “exemplar” of big brawny firemen with huge mustaches still lingers today. This image still has an un-conscious psychological effect on people inside the fire service as well as the communities we serve. Such a “can-do” rugged individual who can overcome all obstacles to preserve life is exactly what peo-ple need to relieve their own death anxiety (Becker, 1997). In the police and fire services, the danger inherent in the duties makes our own death denial im-portant to our own psychological coping as individuals and groups. It is a matter of survival in the lived-world of the emergency re-sponder.

Psychological Meanings and Symbols

According to Becker (1997), that which we regard as heroic, wheth-

er persons or acts, essentially transcend life’s limitations or mortal threats, even if it is in a symbolic way. The human mind is unique in its use of symbols that represent entire ideas and things. Our minds are timeless and eter-nal in the sense that we can imag-ine ourselves and things in other places and times than what is im-mediately present to us. Language and images are our primary sys-tems of symbols and the mean-ings that we associate to them are as real as the flesh on our bones, metaphorically speaking. Conse-quently, our hopes, dreams and fears are often as meaningful to us as our actual conditions and we have emotional and psycho-physiological responses to them when we are reflecting upon them. What is important here is that we understand that our per-sonal experiences are constituted by meanings (Giorgi, 2009). These personal meanings may or may not correlate with our actual situa-tion. But for the human person, these personal meanings “are” our realities until a paradigm shift through new experiences occurs. Chetkovich (1997) found that there are a number of male fire-fighters who largely associate their occupational identity to their sense of gender. For them, a woman firefighter’s mere pres-ence can “call into question” their sense of maleness. It is the per-sonal meaning they attach to the career that comes under “attack.” Moreover, when one’s self-concept comes “under fire,” it is a lived-experience that feels much like a physical attack, except it is regarded by the person as an on-tological issue rather than a mere psychological one. It becomes a symbolic death because the fitted-

ness between self-and-world is conceptually disjuncted which is experienced as a loss of self and loss of world (May, 1998). There-fore, an extreme psychological motivation to protect this self-in-the-world relation becomes salient and “vital” for the experiencer.

Calling into Question the Exclusion Criteria

For women in the fire service, there are no easy answers but the progress made thus far is promis-ing. Much of the change that has occurred and must continue is the re-examining of the criteria for one to become a firefighter, to become an officer, and to be-come a chief. How often do male firefighters qualify their ac-ceptance of women in the fire ser-vice with, “…if she can do the job.” What does this really mean, and how is this qualification ne-cessitated when asked about women? Are we talking about the NFPA 1001 Standard, or are we talking about “hacking the rugged blue-collar social milieu?” Some of this comes from the existential anxiety associated with firefighter rescue. The idea is, “who will be my hero and rescue me, if some-thing goes wrong?” Psychological-ly, this is a “real” concern, but the data clearly shows that LODDs are largely cardiac events and others can be command and communica-tion errors (United States Fire Ad-ministration [USFA], 2012). That means physical fitness rather than physical prowess is a salient issue of which has been continually blocked as an exclusion criterion for working as a firefighter. Moreover, the command and com-munications errors have nothing to do with masculinity and more to do with cognitive and affective issues. Continued on Page 9

The Psychology of Othering –Continued from Front Page

Page 9 FireWork—July 2012

www.i-women.org

Cooperation Versus Conquering A few strategies for change can be accomplished but it takes a collec-tive effort. First we need to call into question our “othering” moti-vations. Being proud to be a man and proud to be a firefighter are mutually exclusive categories in kind and function. Once this ideo-logical step is made, then the male firefighter can work as a dip-lomat for women in the fire ser-vice grounded in this foundation. We must also change the story from one grounded in conflict the-ory dialectics (haves and have-nots) to one that utilizes participa-tory and cooperative ways of com-municating the issues. There will be the hold-outs that are motivat-ed to preserve their androcentric paradigms about police officers and firefighters. It is not up to any of us to prove them wrong or con-vince them. This is like trying to force a religious conversion. It is really not about equality of num-bers as the fear of quotas claims the gender issues are about. It is really about equity over sameness and treating all firefighters with dignity and respect. I suggest we do not vilify those who are andro-centric, but rather tolerate that view to a reasonable degree to foster critical dialogues about its presuppositions. Moreover, we clearly need to challenge the no-tion that an inclusive emergency services community is a “sissy-fide” or emasculated one.

Conclusion “Diversity cannot be just a line in a mission statement or a plaque on the wall” (N. Granger Jr., Per-sonal Contact, March 29, 2012). We must recognize that fire-fighting is changing through tech-nology, education, and societal needs. Women who have or are

hesitating to promote or partici-pate in things they would like to do in the emergency services need diplomats to support them. But they might also consider how they might be “othering” them-selves out of some important pos-sibilities. If she does not see her-self in the captain’s seat or at the chief’s desk, what are her exclu-sion criteria that she has accepted and why does it self-apply? One of the important possibilities that she may be cutting short is the opportunity for her peers to be led by a really fantastic leader – her. � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �! " # $ � % & ' ( ( �) * + � $ , - � * � ) � � � � � � � � . � � � � � � / 0 � � 1� � 2 � � � 2 � 3 � � � � � 4 2 5 � � � � 2 �6 7 8 9 : ; 7 < = > ? @ A B C D ? E F G H = I JK B L M > A D N C E O > A D E L P Q A > D D RS E T A M E H U R V W X X Y Z R [ \ 7 ] 7 6 ; 8 : ^ _ : 9 7 ^ \ 7 `a b c 7 a b d b e : ; f d c 7 _ \ b ] : a ^ 6 g `; \ b d b e g h i c b ] : j : 7 ] k l 6 6 7 8 d : f af ^ ^ 8 b f ; \ < Q E L L D m B A M n H Q U J o B pq B > D C > N C E O > A D E L P Rr E A D F n s t C H u R V W X X v Z R w d b 9 7 f j : 8 7 j : e \ _ `7 8 h x \ f _ _ \ 7 j f c : d g a 7 7 ] 6 _ by a b z < = > ? { T A G J S B E | } T A ~Q A > D D R� t P H K R V � Y Y � Z R [ \ 7 c 7 f a : a e b j f a � : 7 _ g <= > ? { T A G J = T A L T C t C ~ = T A L T C R� > E C } > | ~ H I R � o t O E ~ H � R V ? A E L > A D Z R V � Y Y X Z R� > E C } > | ~ R � C � t D L | > K T F G u C L > A pL t E C s > C L V � A T ~ B F > A Z R � B | O > A� E L P H � U J � T | B s m E t Q E F L B A > D� > | > O E D E T C� > A C t B H � R V W X X � Z R x b 8 d ] 6 f ^ f 8 _ h � b ; : f d: a 7 � l f d : _ : 7 6 : a f e d b � f d 7 ; b a b `c g < � n T B D t C ~ � t G D H � U J Q E C >� T A M > Q A > D D R

N C E L > ~ � L t L > D � E A > U ~ s E C E D L A t L E T C� N � � U � R V W X � W Z R N � � U } E A > p} E M n L > A } t L t | E L E > D R � � � : 8 7 i ] `c : a : 6 _ 8 f _ : b a < � T C | E C > � R U F F > D D > ~} A T s J n L L � J � �? ? ? R B D } t R } > s t R M T O � } E A > D > A O E F > �} t L t | E L E > D � E C ~ > � R D n L s R

WORKSITE EXERCISE STUDY

Continued from Pg 3 Practical Applications: The findings of this study suggest that performing an efficient and practical exercise program while on-duty can lead to improvements in back and core muscular endur-ance in firefighters. This exercise program may ultimately prove to be beneficial for improving physi-cal performance and reducing risk for low back pain and injury in firefighters. However, further re-search is needed to assess the long-term benefits of this exercise program in firefighters and its ability to be implemented on a wide-scale throughout fire service. Forthcoming publications in scien-tific journals will provide addition-al details on the study methods and findings. Acknowledgments This study was funded by a Fire Prevention and Safety Grant from the FEMA, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (Number: EMW-2009-FP-00418, University of South Florida, JM Mayer - Principal Investigator). John M. Mayer, DC, PhD is the Lin-coln College Endowed Chair in Bio-mechanical & Chiropractic Re-search and an Associate Profes-sor, and James L. Nuzzo, MS, CSCS is a Research Support Spe-cialist in the School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Medicine, University of South Florida.

The Psychology of Othering –Continued from Page