NINE Book Club: Bethany Webster

We commit to the ongoing practice of antiracism and have zero tolerance for optical allyship, a term coined by Latham Thomas to mean allyship that is purely virtue signaling, performative, and surface-level. We fundamentally value a diversity of thoughts, ideas, beliefs, experiences, and the inclusion of people regardless of their race, gender, color, language, national origin, religion, disabilities, sexual orientation, or age. We examine and confront our own assumptions and perceptions and reject White privilege. We honor the voices and experiences of BIPOC womxn in all spaces. NINE is a safe space for all womxn and in honoring that - individual experiences shared within our spaces are to remain confidential and not to be shared with others. It is permissible to share lessons learned, but names and other identifiers remain confidential. We operate out of an empathy lens and hold ourselves individually responsible for cultivating safe spaces for other womxn. We abstain from apologism, victim-blaming, and gaslighting We seek to evolve and respect opinions and experiences that are different than our own. We listen without judgment and ask if feedback is desired before offering unsolicited advice. We speak from our own experiences and use “I” statements instead of generalizations. We acknowledge when a moment for empathy was missed and circle back to self-correct. We share the onus of pointing out behavior that might not be aligned with our values and agreements - even if not personally affected, and we support others who have the braveness to call out harmful behavior.