Page 106 - White Lives The Interplay of 'Race', Class, and Gender in Everyday Life

Seeing, talking, living ‘race’ 99
feel kind of cosy and comfortable and know where I am, which
is just a really nice mix. And it means that I have you know,
friends from lots of different backgrounds around here. Which
is great and it means that you know conversation becomes lively,
that one’s attitudes are constantly being challenged and changed
and that you have to be really open-minded about things.
(Heather, Interview 15)

Heather discussed difference as a lifestyle or consumption issue – in areas
that were marked by difference (there were exciting, unknown things avail-
able in the shops). But she also suggested that contact with different people
– from ‘different backgrounds’ – had an effect on her own subjectivity and
identity: ‘one’s attitudes are constantly being challenged and changed’. There
was a tension in Heather’s feelings towards difference, between pleasure – it
‘makes life enjoyable’ – and ‘worthy’ education or tolerance – ‘that’s very
good for you’. Heather’s experiences of being challenged had not always
been pleasant or productive as the following extract demonstrates.

Heather: When I went to college I was perceived as being very, very mid-
dle class.
BB: Right, this is in London?
Heather: Yeah, and that was when I started to get a real . . . feel very dif-
ferent about it. And that people treated me in a certain way
because of the way I spoke, very much, and they were very, very
prejudicial about me because of the way I spoke. They made
all sorts of judgements about my background that had no basis,
other than my voice, and were completely incorrect. [. . .] Very
quickly I learned that there was no point in arguing with these
people. That I had utter contempt for them for the fact that
they were prepared to judge me that quickly. The fact that they
were prepared to be, you know . . . if you went in with a work-
ing-class accent or if you were black, or if you were gay, they
would be completely open. But what they hated was white, Brit-
ish, middle class. That’s what they absolutely hated. And they
made all sorts of value judgements about that, and I absolutely
despised them ’cos I thought how can you say here we are being
totally open-minded without any sort of bigotry, and yet you
are, you are picking . . . you are being absolutely racist about a
certain group of people. They happen to be the group of people
who have been most privileged in the past, and yes, I can under-
stand the pendulum swing against it, but you’re still being just as
racist, just as classist, just as sexist, as anybody else. You’re just
choosing to do it to a different group.
(Interview 15)