Challenging Homophobia in Social Work Education

A member of the group work community, Ady Ben-Israel, along with her colleague, Jill Kaufman, has created a DVD designed to challenge homophobia, transphobia and heterosexism in social work education. Ady joined the AASWG this past year and attended for the first time the annual AASWG Symposium held in New Jersey this past June. Ady is a graduate of the Hunter College School of Social Work where she studied group work. In addition to studying group work at Hunter, Ady has studied group therapy as developed by Louis Ormont at the Center for Group Studies. Ady currently works at the The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City.

Of Bad Fit: Challenging the prevalence of homophobia, transphobia, and heterosexism in social work education, Ady says, "we made Bad Fit in response to homophobic incidents taking place in social work settings, including NYC schools of social work". Ady and Jill decided to create a tool that could be used to help educators and field instructors spark conversation about these forms of oppression. Furthermore, Ady points out, "we also believe that through video we were able to bring the textured and lived experiences of our interviewees to our audience". Ady believes the DVD offers both agency workers and faculty "support in figuring out how to open up conversation about LGBTQ issues in social work". Finally, Ady tells us she "hopes it will be used to make all social work settings more accessible to the full range of clients who are already utilizing the services".

For more information, please go the BAD FIT Website. Below you will find the trailer for BAD FIT. Please note it will be hard to view on dial up.

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