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Also link to: Also link to articles on: Sharing Power in the Family; Fat, Thin and Power; Trauma Survivors Treatment; Self Empowerment for Women
Overcoming
Powerlessness
by Judy Lightstone © 1989
"We who lived in concentration
camps can remember the men who walked through the huts
comforting others, giving
away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but
they offer sufficient proof
that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the
human freedoms -- to choose
one's attitude in any given set of circumstances."-- Victor Frankl
When you feel powerless,
you feel afraid to express your needs because you fear (often rightly)
that what little you have will be taken from you. You may have learned
powerlessness if you were kept in powerless positions repeatedly and/or
over long periods of time (possibly during childhood) by those who used
external forces (money, physical strength, legal status, and/or military
force) to control you. You may have been abused as a child, a partner or
spouse, an employee, a soldier, or you may have been the victim of racial
or ethnic attacks. Such prolonged abuse can cause you to become afraid
to feel even your own needs, i.e., to admit to yourself that you need something.
You become immobilized. And in certain critical ways you stop growing,
you cease to thrive.
Distinguishing Externally Imposed Powerlessness
from Learned Powerlessnesss
When powerlessness is "learned", it becomes
self-perpetuating, even if the external forces are no longer there.
An abused child may grow up to feel permanently powerless as an adult,
even though his/her parents no longer have physical or economic power over
him/her. One may then enter into a situation that repeats childhood
experiences (e.g., living with or marrying an abusive partner), and therefore
keeping oneself in externally imposed danger. Or one may keep oneself
down through self-abuse, compulsive behaviors, and/or depression...because
the powerlessness has become internalized.
This is different from the externally
imposed powerlessness of racial, class, and gender oppression, which may
be enforced through economic, legal, physical, or military, might.
The secretary who is being sexually harassed, the single mother who cannot
get a promotion due to sex discrimination, the homeless family that cannot
afford housing: these are victims that require collective power and direct
action to overcome their powerlessness. Collective power may take
the form of a union, or a "network" of friends, supporters and professional
helpers. Direct action might involve a lawsuit, going to the media,
or organizing a strike or protest. Collective power and direct action
together make an even more powerful combination.
Even more insidious than this is when--as
is often the case--externally imposed powerlessness is combined with learned
powerlessness. When this is the case, the above methods are not possible
because the person is emotionally incapable of asserting her/his rights.
Overcoming Learned Powerlessness
The first step to overcoming learned
powerlessness is to learn to feel entitled to your personal rights.
You have the right to live a life free from physical, emotional, sexual,
and financial mistreatment. You have the right to be treated with
respect, to earn a livable income, to be informed of matters that affect
you, and to express yourself freely (without harming others). Most
importantly, you have the right to ask for what you need (even though you
may be turned down) and to fight for what you need and want (even if you
are turned down!). This list of "legitimate entitlements" is easier
to read than to experience. Most people who have learned powerlessness
barely feel entitled to speak, let alone to speak freely. Often professional
psychotherapy is necessary to overcome the ingrained patterns. Never
the less, to overcome learned powerlessness, you must gradually, haltingly,
but persistently lay claim to each and every human right, one after the
other.
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