"Check Your Privilege" (or "You're not a bad person, but..." or "How you should act around feminists")

2012-11-25T07:15:14+00:00

Let me make sure I understand; we ALL have privilege; but if I have MORE privilege than you, in YOUR EYES, you can basically say whatever you want, act however you would like, and I just have to take it? That's insane.

Eryemil · 2012-11-25T06:06:59+00:00

One of the many parts that made me want to facepalm:

Give Minorities the Benefit of the Doubt

I think this one is a hard one to accept, especially given the section on Trust Needs to be Earned. Yes, it’s unfair: why do privileged groups have to earn trust, only to then be told that they should give it to non-privileged groups? Simply because non-privileged groups, coming from an insider perspective, are in a position to understand their issues in a way that privileged groups, as outsiders, never can. This does not mean that you must agree with everything a person from a non-privileged person says about that group’s issues, but rather that it’s important to remember that what’s theoretical discrimination for you is an inescapable part of their lives.

Since I am a bisexual Hispanic woman, I guess that all the middle-class, white feminists on reddit should be listening to what I say rather than constantly telling me that I'm wrong. Maybe I'll start using the phrase "Check your privilege"...

YetAnotherCommenter · 2012-11-25T10:59:19+00:00

The technical meaning of "privilege" in most feminist scholarship isn't really controversial. All it means is: "society tends to treat group X and group Y differently, and at times this differential treatment results in an advantage for group X over group Y."

This leaves open the possibility that groups X and Y both have different privileges, i.e. advantages relative to each other in different areas. It also leaves open the possibility than both X and Y can be ultimately disadvantaged (in terms of the net effect) by the system.

But online feminist and SJW communities have an unfortunate tendency to not use the term in the way that the scholarship uses it.

Most of the time we hear the term used, its "SHUT UP, MALE!!!" Its "SHUT UP, WHITE PERSON!" Its "SHUT UP, CIS PERSON!" It is used to label and stigmatize a certain group as an enemy group. It is indeed used to mark "bad people" out for public flogging.

"Checking one's privilege" has become the equivalent of a Catholic Confession. It is a ritualized version of self-debasement. Technically, it needs to be no more than an acknowledgment of the fact that "my experience is contextual, i.e. experience of a specific circumstance, and thus I might be accidentally solipsistic here, but [insert argument here]."

But no, technical subtleties get in the way of rationalizing one's resentments and hatreds against entire classes of people! Hence, no, let's not use the term in its technical, modest sense... let's use it to bash all men and treat them as the enemy!

ErasmusMRA · 2012-11-25T07:05:42+00:00

"No, check your privilege. I belong to the smallest minority of all: the individual."

TiberiusBostwick · 2012-11-25T14:19:53+00:00

Telling someone to check their privilege is racist AND sexist at once.

It's the newest hate speech.

AloysiusC · 2012-11-25T15:33:50+00:00

If you don't generalize people, stereotype them by their genitalia or skin color, and if you don't try to label and lump people up into neatly separate groups and distribute power accordingly, then the entire reasoning of this article falls apart like a house of cards.

CMOS222 · 2012-11-25T16:56:03+00:00

I loved this one:

Treat Us As Individuals

What we want, how we react, our dreams, desires, lives, etc… Guess

what? They’re just as diverse as yours. What non-privileged people

want is the right to all of the life choices that privileged groups have.

In order for you, as a privileged person, to assure that, you need to

not try to control our choices because of tradition, or your personal

morals, or what have you. We have just as much of a right to life,

liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as you do – so instead of

assuming something about us because of our

gender/race/orientation/etc. try to get a sense of who we actually

are.

(raises hand tentatively and politely)

Um...by assuming that all white males are automatically 'priviledged'...aren't you failing to do the same thing?

What I love the most about this sweet little screed is how the writer ASSUMES white males feel/should feel guilty about being 'privileged'. I'd love to be in a conversation with this person:

Me: Okay. Assuming for the sake of argument, I am priviledged...why should I feel guilty about it, and WHY ON EARTH would I want to give up my priviledges? SOMEBODY's got to make these decisions for all of us. And let's face it, life isn't fair. (shrug)

Writer: (goes ballistic)

BrutusBeefcake · 2012-11-25T06:45:48+00:00

I'd reply with "Check your envy!"

actanonverba8 · 2012-11-25T08:15:46+00:00

First off, the whole page is some New Left ridiculousness. Having said that, if we're being honest, nobody but nobody has privilege like women. They are treated with kid gloves, get all kinds of special favors and entitlements, and often they are left off the hook for crimes up to and including murder.

MartialWay · 2012-11-26T02:38:01+00:00

When you enter a minority space, you need to realize that this is their soapbox, not yours.

WTF is a "minority space"? I happen to live in America, where free speech is supposed to apply everywhere. If they want special extra-consitutional zones, they're going to have to fight a war of secession for them.

TheYoungie42 · 2012-11-25T08:02:06+00:00

What they just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in their rambling, incoherent response were they even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this sub is now dumber for having read it. I award them no points, and may God have mercy on their soul.

iongantas · 2012-11-25T07:10:23+00:00

Well, now we know where that pathetic meme comes from.

2012-11-25T14:29:53+00:00

yeah... typical "accuse someone of being privileged if you cannot refute what they are saying".

Title	"Check Your Privilege" (or "You're not a bad person, but..." or "How you should act around feminists")
Author	sibqm_lmvm
Upvotes	35
Comments	40
Date	November 25, 2012 5:57 AM UTC (13 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/13qztk/check_your_privilege_or_youre_not_a_bad_person/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/check-your-privilege-or-youre-not-a-bad-person-but.1008395 https://theredarchive.com/post/1008395

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