Can we stop with the "male privilege" silliness? Instead of suggesting males should feel guilty about being male, the focus ought to be on women and what's holding them back, if anything

2014-05-16T13:41:17+00:00

My sense is that the warped perspective on accomplishment and society introduced by the privileged WASP feminists of the 3rd is largely responsible for the constant complaining about 'parity.' In other words, feminists look to the very top of the social order (top 10%) and then complain that ALL women do not share the privileges of this elite (which they falsely gender as solely male). Of course, this is insane. How can everyone be at the top? People should have civil rights, the opportunity to live with dignity, and so on but not everyone will have those privileges . . . and they should not, because many of them are abuses of power. What has actually is that women are given insane expectations, which justifies (in their minds) excesses in cynical behavior towards men. In other words, they behave towards men in their social milieu the way that privileged people behave towards those men, reproducing overall social inequalities of status and reciprocity in their intimate relationships. Though they are faux Marxists, a Marxist analysis of their behavior would find a fascinating 'contradiction.*

*I am not a Marxist. I find the motivations within it noble, but the Utopianism simply recapitulates the terrible virtue of Robespierre and the Jacobins.

Ultramegasaurus · 2014-05-16T15:59:38+00:00

why would we focus on the single most entitled and privelaged group of people who are demonstrably better off than most men in most countries?

nothing is holding women back but their own will, dilligence, and work ethic. nothing.

until you remove the pass they get from being gate keepers of sexual selection and reproduction women dont have to compete on a level field as men and will always have preference- period.

what is silly is suggesting women need any more attention than their near monopoly of empathy and concern they currently have. what is raising our attention on women and women's issues from 99.8 to 99.9 percent going to achieve?

BlackMRA-edtastic · 2014-05-16T17:40:40+00:00

My major issues is with 'white male privilege' being tossed around by privileged white women. Their desire for a moral claim to extract patronage from white men is what's motivating this behavior and white men need to draw the line somewhere or have their sons subjected to generations of shaming just like they were. Activist confronting issues of race know better than to reduce their focus to one sex and it's foolish to presume white men and women who grew up in the same homes and lived in the same communities are not common benefactors of 'white privilege'. It's white feminists who went about trying to draw a distinction so they could benefit from demographic victim status they never deserved in the first place and I think anti racist should be calling them on it.

Statistically speaking race is far more relevant and stable as a indicator of disadvantage because social mobility is lowered for classes rather than sexes. A person of a higher class be they male or female will be better off and most likely to pair off with a person in their class. A poor person will be left with poor people's options when it comes to mates and jobs.

apullin · 2014-05-16T18:21:22+00:00

There appears to be a linguistic overloading of certain words.

"Privilege", to many people, implies a whole thesis of statements, about an ongoing or institutional power structure, social conditioning, etc. There are good writing on this (and some horrendous ones), and it's a worthwhile idea to consider. One that, in summary, to this layperson, there is some truth to.

However, if one interprets or uses "privileges" as a noun for individual contests, favors, losses, or comparisons, there will be anger and fighting.

I think maybe the word should be substituted out, and folks should talk about male advantages or female advantages. That simply avoids the axiomatic weight of the other term.

dejour · 2014-05-16T15:12:23+00:00

I don't think there is anything too wrong with using privilege to describe advantages that men (or any other group has). I don't think people are expected to feel guilt about an advantage they have. I think it's more of an idea that you should be aware.

But that said, I think you might have a point. If we focus on, say, anti-black prejudice rather than white privilege that might be a bit more effective. People would be thinking about ways to raise black people up rather than push white people down. People would feel like they are helping out another group, not like something is being taken away from them.

PierceHarlan · 2014-05-16T18:46:51+00:00

Yeah, let's ditch this term. It IS divisive, purposefully so. And it's a shorthand for something way too complicated to reduce to shorthand. The notion that it's not intended to instill guilt is silly. It suggests that that one group has overall advantages it doesn't deserve and that another group has been undeservedly deprived of those advantages. Of course it's meant to instill feelings of guilt in the supposed advantaged group and, more important, victim-hood in the supposed disadvantaged group. It has its roots in a sorry feminist tradition of viewing the world through a twisted prism of overarching female victimization and male predation. It takes a broad-brush and reduces males and females to caricature.

Even RAINN, the leading anti-rape organization in America, recently distanced itself from the term "rape culture" because it's not accurate, and it's divisive. Male privilege is the same type of overly broad, divisive characterization.

Anyone who thinks this is a benign term that is merely descriptive and not accusatory is fooling himself. On the infamous anti-male "Duluth Power and Control" wheel, there's a segment called "Using Male Privilege." Under it are these words: "Treating her like a servant. Making all the 'big' decisions. Acting like the 'master of the castle.'" http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jRBKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xR4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=4952%2C3142276 Take a look, it's institutionalized man-hating.

VortexCortex · 2014-05-16T20:09:30+00:00

and that any broad brush description is often unfair to a lot of people who happen to be male and are anything but privileged.

This is identity politics. It's bogus because if you don't fit their victim narrative, then you don't get the "extra special help" they lobby to provide for others. If you're categorized as belonging to a majority group of race or sex then you're denied services on the basis of your sex and/or race. Thus, the construction of group identities (identity politics) leads to sexism and racism -- or as feminists like to call it: "Substantive Equality."

Take the "wage gap" since that seems to be ground zero for the "male privilege" nuts. Does the wage gap prove that men are undeservedly advantaged at the expense of women?

Even if the wage gap was huge just consider that every story has two sides. Think of it in terms of the male: Could it be that men are earning more than women because women are able to benefit by the efforts of men? So wouldn't the wage gap where men are earning more be shitty for men? I mean, since women are earning less and poverty isn't sexist... Doesn't that mean the men are just working harder to support families? That's a "Privilege"? Being yoked and drained of all your free time to provide for others, then blamed for not being a big enough part of your children's lives? No, that's not a privilege. Ask anyone how much they love to do hard work. It's a responsibility.

The idea of "privilege" is stupid. If you have a privilege, then it is your option to assert it. Seniority is a privilege in some companies, esp. unionized sectors: If your job is bumped by someone more senior, you take the job of someone less senior than you, and so on. That's a privilege, something afforded to you that you can leverage at will.

A poor white boy does not have "white male privilege" to land him a job or get help just for being male or white. A poor black girl is just as disadvantaged as her poor white boy peer. However, there are government grants for education and entrepreneurship for the black girl that are denied to the white boy purely on the basis of his sex and/or race. That's sexist and racist, and yet feminists and egalitarians support that "Substantive Equality" bullshit. All ideologies are bogus. I say we should consider the individual, not the group identity politics. Give assistance to those in need regardless of race, sex, creed, etc. Anything less is bigotry.

"Privilege" is just a narrative used to exclude the needy and distressed from receiving concern and assistance based purely on their sex, race, gender, sexual preference, etc. It's blatant bigotry.

DavidByron2 · 2014-05-16T14:27:06+00:00

"male privilege" is hate speech. So is "the wage gap" (at least the feminist version of it).

blueoak9 · 2014-05-16T14:27:53+00:00

Nobody is saying that people need to be guilty about being male, it's just pointing out that there's some shit that women deal with that men don't have to, and that makes things more difficult. There is some female privilege - particularly when it comes to child custody and the like. The same way that white privilege doesn't mean that I have to feel guilty about being born white, but there are systems that make things easier for me than they would be if I were black.

It's not about feeling bad about something, it's about removing those things that elevate one person above another based on unearned and involuntary criteria. If you're reading something else into your interpretation of privilege, that's largely your interpretation rather than what it actually is.

As a random example, it's lovely out. I have a pretty summer dress that I like wearing - it's white and has little cherries on it and it makes me pretty happy while ensuring I don't overheat. Now, if a man likes an item that's really extremely standard he just puts it on and goes out - end of discussion. But I'm then mentally considering where I'm going, with whom, what I'm coming back because apparently the dress is 'too sexy' and when I wear it large numbers of assholes (not all men) seem to think it's invitation to leer, shout things at me, whistle, and try to grab me. I'm not saying that all men should feel guilty about that, but it'd be nice if it was acknowledged as a stupid problem people shouldn't have and if sexual harassment was acknowledged as an actual thing that happens, that shouldn't. It's a minor, shallow thing, but when it adds up to every single fucking day in summer it becomes a bigger thing.

I recently read a list of white privilege markers that I had never actually considered, like never being told that my natural hair is 'unfitting' for a job, being able to buy make up in my shade easily, not having to worry that I won't be accepted in an affluent neighbourhood. Then there are a lot of able-bodied privileges - I never have to think about disabled access, for example. Getting on a plane doesn't require a huge amount of planning. I can walk across all terrain and cobbles/tree roots aren't a huge issue for me.

Some privilege needs to be removed because it's constructed and it's unfair, or it's easy to remove. Others are just the way things are and unfortunately, it seems that that's the way it'll be. There's not much that can be done but a little understanding and consideration tend to make the world a better place so it'd be nice if we could all try it.

ThePigmanAgain · 2014-05-16T23:02:45+00:00

I couldn't even make it past her definition of privilege.

deadalnix · 2014-05-17T03:36:03+00:00

That is a rebranding of the original sin from religions. It has proven to be very effective in the past and still is. When religion declines, look at what is comming to replace them.

chocoboat · 2014-05-16T16:14:25+00:00

OP I'm not sure you understand what "male privilege" means exactly.

It does NOT mean you should be ashamed or guilty or who you are or what advantages you have in life. It doesn't mean you owe things to others or that you're a bad person for things that are out of your control.

It only means that you should recognize situations where you are privileged and others are not. Just be aware of things like that, like how a man would be trusted to fix someone's car or computer, but a woman won't always be. Or how a white person is more likely to be trusted around valuables than a black person.

If you don't recognize your privilege, you come off sounding like a jackass, not realizing when you have it easy and not understanding other people's problems.

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