Dealing with Prejudice and Conflict in the Classroom: The Pink Triangle Exercise

Abstract

A classroom exercise designed to explore students' attitudes and encounters with homophobia and discrimination against gay males and lesbians asked students to wear a pink triangle for one day. Students reported their internal conflicts-fears and anxieties--about identifying with gay and lesbian people, their external conflicts-encounters with peer pressure and prejudice--and their own efforts to assert a progressive and anti-discriminatory stance in the midst of these situations. In classroom discussion a heated encounter between a straight male and a gay male brought these issues into direct, personal focus and mandated the use of creative conflict management techniques to preserve open dialogue and positive learning. The exercise, and the classroom encounter, have great utility for examining other forms of oppression and discrimination and for experiential learning about important social psychological principles.