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Implicit biases result from a lifetime of exposure to certain voices and perspectives at the expense of others. This well-documented phenomenon is present in every person and has been studied extensively by cognitive scientists and psychologists.

Our brains are programmed toward bias, so it takes work to recognize stereotypes we have unintentionally internalized. We are often unaware of our biases, so it is crucial we examine what they are and how they impact our judgement, our approach, and our understanding.

PROMPTS FOR INDIVIDUAL PRACTICES:

• Have I committed to the lifelong individual process of unlearning and addressing any harmful attitudes I may harbor, such as racism, sexism, colorism, anti-Blackness, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, ageism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, etc? Have I sought out resources from diverse sources to educate myself on these issues? 
  

• Does my entire inner circle look like me? Have I cultivated close relationships with people who can check my implicit biases without fear of reprisal? 
  

• How do I react if someone has pointed out a discriminatory action of mine? Do I respond with microaggressions or defensiveness? Do I validate and affirm the other person’s experience? Do I recognize the vulnerability and labor it takes for someone to bring harmful actions to my attention?
  

• Do I recognize the inherent privilege in being able to choose whether or not to engage with issues about discrimination? Am I quick to dismiss something because I haven’t personally experienced it?

Since implicit bias often results in tokenizing and stereotyping underrepresented groups, it can hinder our ability to do our best work. To be well-informed visual storytellers, we must be open to learning where our biases are harmful and how they might limit our ability to understand and accurately represent communities.

When we fail to understand our implicit biases as photographers, we reproduce those biases in our work, which then perpetuates those stereotypes in media and our societies. Well-meaning storytellers can make this mistake, too.

Even stories that appear to uplift can contribute to stereotypes that don’t allow people to be fully themselves. For example, both the Model Minority Myth and the Good Immigrant/Bad Immigrant dichotomy contribute to ideas that certain people are expected to act a particular way and flattens the nuanced experiences of people. In order to better serve the people we document, our approach must adopt and be viewed through an intentional, intersectional, and anti-racist lens.

PROMPTS FOR STORYTELLING PRACTICES

• Have I done the research to understand how images have sometimes been used to perpetuate harm and exert power over marginalized people?
  

• Am I reproducing stereotypes with my imagery? Am I underrepresenting certain narratives? Am I overrepresenting other narratives? 
  

• Do I feel empowered to have honest, critical conversations with hiring parties about the framing of potential assignments or commissions? What situations or concerns would prompt me to turn down an assignment? 
  

• How does my identity shape my worldview? How do my identity and perspective shape the power dynamics between me and the people I photograph? 
  

• What motivates my work? Why do I pursue the stories that I do? 

Building off the groundwork and efforts of those before us, there is still much to be done to make the visual media industry more inclusive. It is imperative we dismantle the underlying culture of systemic racism, sexism, and homophobia that pervade our industry by shifting the balance of power to include lens-based workers who have been relegated to the margins. That work starts with each of us at the individual level.

By identifying our own biases and our privileges, we make progress possible and support work done at the institutional level. We must develop a practice of accountability, thereby positioning ourselves towards growth.

We can develop a stronger collective understanding of what an equitable, more ethical industry looks like by engaging and prioritizing the knowledge and participation of the least resourced, represented, and supported workers within our industry.

PROMPTS FOR INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE

• What are the qualities I assign value to? Do I primarily value colleagues based on their perceived success? Do I value and respect the perspective of all of my colleagues, regardless of my perception of their experience level or position in the industry? 
  

• Do I expect my colleagues, particularly those from underrepresented communities, to illuminate my biases, or do I take responsibility for my own understanding? Am I transferring emotional labor onto them? Do I expect those colleagues to maintain a comfortable working environment for me at their own expense? Do I respect my colleagues’ boundaries?
  

• Have I recognized my own relative power and privilege in the industry? How am I using my power and privilege to hold my peers and our institutions accountable for problematic practices? Do I extend professional opportunities and recommendations to a diverse group of colleagues beyond my inner circle? 

We should all be in the process of interrogating and educating ourselves. Unlearning and addressing our biases is a lifelong process. Honest self-examination can be painful as it requires the pursuit of knowledge outside our comfort zones and a willingness to accept our mistakes along the way.

Our progress does not absolve us from our errors; our good intentions do not mitigate negative impacts. But we are not alone in this work and through bringing our individual skills to this effort, we can build the kind of industry that uplifts everyone.

ADDITIONAL READING:

IMPLICIT BIAS

How Does Implicit Bias Influence Behavior?, Verywell Mind

Project Implicit, Harvard University

How to Think about "Implicit Bias", Scientific American

MODEL MINORITY MYTH

What Is the Model Minority Myth?, Teaching Tolerance

The Model Minority Myth, Harvard Law School

Asian Americans Are Still Caught in the Trap of the ‘Model Minority’ Stereotype. And It Creates Inequality for All, Viet Thanh Nguyen for TIME

GOOD IMMIGRANT/BAD IMMIGRANT DICHOTOMY

The Right Kind Of Immigrant: The Narrative Of Deserving And Undeserving Immigrants, Sujatha Fernandes for BESE

How DACA pits ‘good immigrants’ against millions of others, Joel Sati for The Washington Post