Elizabeth Smart Instagram – Have you seen this video of Lucille Ball that’s been rolling around social media platforms? Once I saw the clip, I just had to watch the original. And let me tell you what a good lesson it is in power dynamics. Here’s the background. Lucille Ball is doing a question-and-answer seminar for the theater arts students at UCLA for the broadcast America Alive! First-year through graduate students are present. There are three roving cohosts, Jack Linkletter, the actual show host. Gary Morton, Lucille’s husband, and some random media critic named David something (I couldn’t catch it). All three go up and down the aisles letting the students ask Lucy questions. In the clip, Lucy calls out David for putting his hands around the women’s shoulders or backs when they ask questions. Maybe you give David a pass. He is just getting close for the camera angle. It’s harmless. Right? Wrong. When you watch the original, you’ll see that Gary and Jack respect people’s personal space and select a mixture of male and female students to ask questions. On top of inappropriately touching people, David is called out for only selecting female students. Power dynamics is the ability to influence or control other people’s decisions. This influence is due to gender, race, age, perceived attractiveness, physical size, strength, social status, financial capacity, and/or job title. These female students David selected to ask a question didn’t have the power to say, “No, don’t touch me.” They are on a television show, and they are students and aspiring actors wanting to gain access to Comedienne Extraordinaire Lucille Ball’s wisdom. There are serious power imbalances at play here. You rarely see someone advocate so quickly and directly for others, but Lucy doesn’t skip a beat. She corrects him every single time. Understanding power dynamics is critical to practicing wholehearted consent. If you want people to be able to consent freely, you must consider the power imbalances at play. #wholeheartedconsent #consenteducation #powerdynamics