Privilege
Privilege is a word that can set people to defensiveness. This is partly because any time one is called out, or called in, it can be difficult to face that, especially in the moment. Suddenly your reality shifts and you realize that your actions align with actions of the Bad Guy and that doesn’t fit with what you know - or what you want to believe - and the brain tries to fight back against this new paradigm shift because it’s trying to get back to comfortable. I mean, BTDT, and more often than not, I’ve not been graceful about it at all. Big yikes.
But if we truly want a better world, we have to learn how to be uncomfortable. We must learn that discomfort is where the important work is and we must dig into that shiz.
“Privilege” might sound like it means that a person with privilege hasn’t struggled or worked hard to get where they are. This is not, in fact, what is meant by the word in this context, but it’s a common misconception and when people get stuck there, it can feel to them as though all of their struggles and hard work is being erased. This is not the case at all.
The concept of privilege as we speak about it in social justice work was proposed in the 1980s by Peggy McIntosh in her essay “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” which you can read here. McIntosh was trying to bring to light the part that those of us with privilege often miss - because privilege is invisible to those who hold it. Focusing on her race, McIntosh lists 26 examples of her white privilege. Here are three to give you an idea.
I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.
I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.
When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization,” I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.
As a white person, I can confirm that these are things I never have to think about, they are just my reality. In fact, Until I first read this list myself, as part of my Women’s Studies education, I didn’t fully understand the concept of privilege because it’s invisible to me. I needed to have it pointed out to me. Now that I understand what privilege is and how to spot it, I can do the work on my own, trying to note where and when I am protected by my various identities in ways that folx who don’t hold those identities do not. As a white person, I can go pretty much anywhere without fear that people won’t harm me because of my skin color.
Just because I am white, doesn’t mean I haven’t had systemic struggles due to my other identities. I am poor, disabled, and queer, for instance. Various systems oppress these identities even while they do not oppress me because of my whiteness.
This does not, however, speak to a person facing non-systemic or non-oppressive struggles. Every human has those. Feminism is talking about systems and systemic oppressions, not everyday struggles.
Things can get even more muddy when talking about privilege. Sometimes I hold a marginalized identity, but I may have more privilege than others who also hold the identity. For instance, as a fat person I still hold thin privilege because I can pretty much be assured most stores will have my size in clothing, and because I have not often had to think about whether a chair can hold my weight or fit my hips. As a queer person, I hold straight privilege because I was married to a man and had a heteronormative family, and because as an ace who is not dating anyone right now, I can exist in public without being obviously queer and that keeps me somewhat safe. As a disabled person, I look pretty abled and as an autistic person I can speak when I need to so I hold privilege here, too.
McIntosh writes, “I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group.” I think this is probably how most white folx were taught about racism. It certainly was for me. And by extension, it’s probably reflective of how folx of any privileged identity are taught about the oppressions they don’t face. This discussion of privilege, then, is the antithesis to this overly simplified, whitewashed (pun very much intended thankyouverymuch) view of oppressions. But it’s very easy to keep privilege invisible as long as we continue to believe that racism, or any other oppression, is about individual acts or emotions rather than systems.
The key to understanding privilege is that it is unearned. When we say someone holds white privilege, it is not a commentary at all on whether or not they’ve worked hard to overcome struggles, but it is talking about the fact that, whatever struggles they may have, the struggles aren’t caused by their skin color. A white person can move through our society without barriers because the society was created for white people. They are a round peg in a round hole.
Take some time this week to look around you. Notice where you hold privileges. Think about how that affects you and those around you. Consider how you can use your privilege for good where possible. An example of this is when white allies stop and film police interacting with people of color. As white people, police are not likely to harm us so we can use that privilege to help protect someone who may be facing dangerous oppression (at best).
But above all, don’t take it personally. Privilege is not a commentary on YOU. It is a conversation about how the world is. You can do the work, or hinder the work. I hope you choose to join us!
