Lab Values

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  3. Lab Values

Pink Triangle. Data from: D’Augelli, A. R., Grossman, A. H., & Starks, M. T. (2006). Childhood gender atypicality, victimization, and
PTSD among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 21(11), 1462-1482.

The Change Lab @ Stanford recognizes systematic racial, socioeconomic, and gender inequities in academia.

This lab is committed to building a diverse space built on a sense of acceptance and belonging. Our work celebrates and acknowledges the contributions of every member of the lab. We welcome ideas, directions, and proposals from all lab members and practice inclusive authorship. Everyone’s perspective is valued. We support each other’s professional and personal growth, and understand and respect personal and professional boundaries. Our values come from ongoing, evolving conversations about how we are addressing inequities through our lab environment, behavior, work, and outreach. Each day we aim to listen and learn and do better personally and as a lab.

We have a zero tolerance policy for unacceptable behaviors, including intimidating, harassing, abusive, discriminatory, derogatory or demeaning speech or actions by any participant in our community.

We define harassment to include: harmful or prejudicial verbal or written comments related to age, body size, disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation; inappropriate use of nudity and/or sexual images (including presentation slides); inappropriate depictions of violence (including presentation slides); deliberate intimidation, stalking or following; harassing photography or recording; sustained disruption of talks or other events; inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.

If you are subject to or witness unacceptable behavior, or have any other concerns, please notify Nilam Ram, A Garron Torres, Michelle Ng, or another lab member to whom you feel comfortable talking, or leverage one of the university’s resources including, but not limited to:

  1. Student Services Office
  2. Title IX Office
  3. Confidential Support Team
  4. Office of Graduate Education Deans
  5. Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)
  6. Associate Dean for Graduate and Undergraduate Studies

Pink Triangle

Originally sewn into the uniforms of homosexual prisoners in Nazi concentration camps to
identify them as sexual
deviants, the pink triangle
has since been reclaimed by
the gay community.

Today the symbol is a source of empowerment and pride and a commemoration for all gay men and women who have been, or continue to be, persecuted because of their sexual orientation.

Data are drawn from the Q&A Project (D’Augelli et al., 2006) – a longitudinal study of 528 LGB youth, age 15-18, who were attending programs in community-based organizations in New York City (R01-MH58155). Each line passing across the ternary space represents how an individual’s feelings of internalized heterosexism changed across three assessments. Moving clockwise (left to top to right), higher scores – indicating greater internalization of heteronormative values – erase more of the pink triangle.

The visualization depicts change over time using a symbol of pride and empowerment, and also encourages consideration of how much work must still be done to combat homophobia and promote queer cultures.

We do not not make assumptions about people’s identities and how they choose to be addressed. We recognize America’s history of westernizing and simplifying names for white comfort and do not modify names or ask anyone to modify their own.

We strive from first meetings to establish preferred names, correct pronunciation, and pronouns. We study change and invoke change. We understand that gender and identities are fluid and changing. When someone changes their name and/or pronouns, we will immediately update our language and update their representation in our work. We understand that people may have different public/professional identifies, and are respectful of their choice to use different names or pronouns in their work and public interactions. We do not out people, or make assumptions about their comfort sharing their identity with strangers even if they are well known collaborators of the lab.

We understand that people make mistakes when addressing others, and as a lab work to correct these mistakes without placing the burden on the individual being misaddressed. If we do not know how someone wishes to be addressed or identified, we ask them respectfully and privately.

For example, we hold an expansive view of gender. We affirm that it is vitally necessary to transform our collective habits around gender to create a safer, more inclusive space. As researchers studying change, we also realize that it takes practice to transform cultural habits and will help each other when mistakes are made by correcting pronouns, recognizing gender preferences/presentation, etc. As agents of change, we also do not entertain the usual excuses around misgendering (e.g., pronouns are difficult to use, it feels weird, I’m not used to it). When we move ourselves, we move our world forward.

There is no place or tolerance for racism in our lab. Our lab is international, and our lab celebrates the heritage and culture of all our members while recognizing the different experiences of systematic oppression in these cultures.

As an American based lab, we specifically recognize the racial history and systematic discrimination, injustice, and violence that Black people face as individuals, families and communities.

Science and academia in America is inextricably from America’s anti-Black racism. Long predating the covid-19 pandemic, science has been political, racist, and privileged. The disregard for human rights are ubiquitous in the infamous cases of the Tuskegee Study, Henrietta Lacks, J. Marion Sims as well as the current system that minimizes Black pain, standardizes white skin and white males for care, and prioritizes profit above access.

We recognize, validate, and follow the commitments of labs like Stanford’s Impact Labs to use social science for the benefit of society and organizations like Stanford’s Haas Center for Public Service that critically examine ethical and effective service.
We recognize that indigenous, ancestral local knowledge is marginalized by Western notions of “science”, even as Stanford sits on unceded ancestral lands of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. Western science was historically weaponized as a key justification for colonial/imperial projects across America and internationally, and continues to motivate neo-colonialism, e.g., in international developments.

Stanford’s land continues to be of great importance to the Ohlone people. The Change Lab works to realize the responsibility to acknowledge, honor and make visible the university’s relationship to Native peoples in our community, research, and student mentorship.

The University has additional information about the Musekma Ohlone Tribe here and the University’s relationship with Native Peoples here.

Acknowledgements

We thank the following, in no particular order, for sharing their lab values and resources and helping us develop our own:

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