So while I was scrolling through r/changemyview, I decided to see what views people wanted to change about feminism, so I used "feminism" in the search box for the sub and found an interesting thread. It was a user arguing for others to change their mind about female privilege. Their argument was that female privilege was ultimately the result of the patriarchy. The most common reasoning for the OP's argument was that because men were mainly in charge of the world and how society went down, and any and all advantages towards women in the system mainly stems from men's condescending attitudes towards women. This went for the concept of murder. Women are less likely than men to be sent to jail even if they each committed the same crime, but OP's reasoning was that it was because men are used to viewing women as less capable and more "stupid" for the mere fact that they're women, thus letting them off the hook way more than other men.
However, the comments insisted that the patriarchy isn't really to blame for the advantages women may possess in society, and the reasoning being that women also play a major role in how society goes down, and are "thusly" also responsible for how women are treated (in the USA). For example, while many women receive the honor of gaining child custody, the commenters argued that the reason for this is because they felt that it was pointless to call female privilege "undercover misogyny" since women are, well, benefitting from it. The comment section believed that misogyny was only present when women are being attacked or having their rights restricted, rather than being "blessed".
Honestly, I disagree with the comments on this one. Yes, women have been, and still are privileged in some aspects of society to this day. However, when you look at privilege, you have to go beyond the actions and actually look at intent in order to understand the big picture of what's going on. Let's say that someone holds the door open for you all the time, offer you half of their lunch, and always asks to help you on your assignments. On the outside, you seem to be pretty pampered right? You have all these nice things going for you, and you feel better off than others who don't have access to such help. However, let's imagine that person is actually helping you because they believe you're literally too weak to open doors for yourself, too irresponsible to make your own lunch correctly, and too stupid to finish your own assignment without help...doesn't feel so wholesome now, does it?
Isn't that basically the case with the way many women (USA) lived back in the day? They weren't encouraged to get an education outside of high school, nor were they encouraged to get a job to support themselves. Instead, women were, and (depending on the country) still are encouraged to rely on a man through the method of marriage. But when you actually pay attention to what many people across the world believe about women due to traditional values, you'll realize that the reason why many people, especially men, choose to pamper women isn't because they genuinely worship them. The reason why many people choose to pamper women and would much prefer them not playing a huge role in many societies is actually because it's commonly believed that women are literally too stupid and weak for anything major (anything outside of raising kids and doing basic ass chores). In this case, you can say that women are privileged in the sense that many people discourage them from working so hard, but not because people look up to them as it's really the opposite.
I see it very similar to how minorities, especially black men, were segregated in the military during WWII. Many minorities were put in basic duties such as cooking, cleaning, and grave-digging. These tasks were very lighthearted compared to combat duty, but anyone with half a brain should know better than to think minorities were segregated into the easier tasks "because they were loved". Quite the opposite, actually. Minorities were segregated into relatively lackluster duties because the (vast majority) USA looked down on them. Many to most USA citizens believed that minorities were stupider and weaker than the luxurious, ferocious, handsomely strong and talented white male (/s). The USA believed that minorities could only be as great as shit like dish washing, floor scrubbing, and grave digging when it came to war work. "Privileged", but deeply insulting.
So back to the main question now that I've expressed my thoughts: Why are people so quick to overlook the depth of female privilege? Why do people, especially men, choose to ignore that many pamper women in the sense that they think women are too weak for anything major? How could people believe that it's complimentary for the world to think you're too stupid to be taken seriously, and discouraging you from being recognized as an equal? Also, if I got anything wrong in my perception of history, please let me know!
