Tell Stories, not Statistics

For some people, seeing statistics laid out about the pay gap between indigenous women and white women (for example) are a call to action. For others, stats and data leave them cold - it’s still easy for them to go about their day when they don’t see the faces experiencing injustice. Stories are powerful because they provide concrete human touchstones that resonate with us - there’s a reason companies like to tell stories about people in their ads instead of just listing the benefits of products. When you realize the person your talking to isn’t responding to “the numbers,” be ready with some stories.

What kinds of stories should you tell? Focus on specific descriptions and real-life examples. If you have examples from your own life or from people you actually know, that’s the best. If not, using examples from the articles in the Articles & Resources tab is a good place to start. In either case, it’s helpful to figure out which stories you might want to talk about in advance - in uncomfortable conversations, it can be easy to lose our place.

In the same vein - avoid jargony terms that the person isn’t familiar with. You might want to start talking about intersectional feminism and institutionalized racism and inherent bias, but throwing terms around that your friend might not understand will only cause them to go on the defensive. Those terms, while useful and precise, also have the negative effect of abstracting the real problems they describe. Keep it concrete.