Say More About That

11Performative Allyship and Advocacy

Performative allyship and advocacy is when someone with power and privilege professes support and solidarity with a marginalized group publicly in a way that either isn't helpful, is not backed up with meaningful actions, or that actively harms that group. An indicator of allyship or advocacy being performative is that there is some sort of “reward” involved. The reward might be accolades, public acceptance, some degree of favorable visibility, or likes on social media.

A few questions you can ask yourself to assess if a behavior might be performative are:

• What impact will my action have? If you cannot identify an impact, there is a chance there is not one.
• Is my action about me feeling good or being seen as good? If it is, it is likely performative.
• Do my actions benefit someone other than myself or my organization? True allyship and advocacy benefit someone other than you or your company.
• Is a recording involved? Does it have to be? If you are thinking about how best to share it on social and it is inclusion or equity related, it's probably performative.

It's not just people who are performative; organizations can be performative, too. But remember, who makes up organizations? People. If there is ever any doubt that people shifting their behaviors can make a change, remember that the people are the reason it is an organization. This is a big part of the reason that in my work I focus so much on individual behaviors. If enough people ...