In addition to the potentially harmful effects on individual members, ineffectively resolving issues related to racism, sexism and heterosexism also impacts the other group members. One of the most powerful and beneficial components of the group process is the learning that occurs within the group. Group members learn from each other as well as from the facilitator. Ineffectively addressing issues of privilege and oppression has larger consequences than just a stalled group. The most benign outcome is that dominant group members lose out on an opportunity to develop empathy for marginalized individuals and groups in society. They might also be deprived of experiencing potentially constructive interpersonal interactions between someone from the dominant social group and someone from an oppressed group (i.e., a White facilitator and Latina group member). Perhaps the most harmful outcome in a group where the facilitator is unaware and/or unable to acknowledge issues of social privilege is the reinforcement and normalizing of oppressive attitudes and behaviors, allowing the dominant group members to walk away from the group counseling experience with a protected sense of innocence and a lack of culpability for their participation in our system of power and privilege, based on socially constructed categories.