Do men have any privileges?

AnnArchist · 2010-12-11T07:12:54+00:00

They can pee standing up. That is it.

mean0dean0 · 2010-12-11T23:44:50+00:00

The only privileges I see men having are:

Socially, men are considered better candidates for leadership positions.
Physically, men are not limited to how late they can procreate.

Those are the only ones that I see crossing race, class, and income divisions. When people say "men have Privilege," they usually mean middle-aged, white, married men in corporate positions. That's just too many caveats to be substantive of an entire gender.

2010-12-11T14:41:32+00:00

We get to die young.

hypatiadotca · 2010-12-11T06:00:05+00:00

How about the ability to do a physical job without being harassed/picked on/treated like an inferior? Although men are on average stronger than women, there are a lot of individual women who are perfectly capable of physical labour. Yet, they're treated like outcasts or called 'dykes' for pursuing a career in that direction. There's a parallel, obviously: men who pursue typically feminine careers like nursing. Men who are aggressive in their careers are rewarded, but men who choose to do jobs that aren't deemed "manly enough" are punished.

I tend to think that 'privileges' are like that. There needs to be a lot more taken into account than just gender - class, race, sexuality and so on. But generally, if one group has privileges in one area, they'll lose out in another area. Two sides to the coin, that kind of thing.

InfinitelyThirsting · 2010-12-11T18:57:35+00:00

Ooh, okay. Well, I thought up a women's issues list, I'll sit around and think up a male privilege list. But this time, it will only have things I think are male privilege on it, though I'm in no way denying female privilege or asserting that men have it better overall. I don't think either has it better "overall", but you can cherrypick areas where they do.

First one is somewhat shallow, but since I work in the tee shirt industry: Sizing. "Unisex" sizing is not unisex, it's built to the same size standards as men's shirts. So when men buy unisex clothes, they don't have to change the size they wear, and will generally always have clothing available to fit. It bothers me that most places don't carry size Small men's/"unisex" shirts, but even a men's small on my body is the equivalent of a woman's large or so. In women's, I wear a small to extra small, in tee shirts. It's a very minor privilege, to be sure, but things are sized to fit men.

The next one would be an innate one, in that you never have to buy pads or tampons, but then a mixed innate/societal one, where men don't have to buy or wear bras. Bras are not only fucking expensive, especially if you're not one of the handful of "average" sizes, but cause physical problems--they compress your back muscles with the band, and put weight on thin shoulder straps if you're large chested and cause chronic back problems. Even flatter women who can "get away" with not wearing a bra still have to worry about their nipples showing through, and large-chested women without a bra are a target for harassment both sexual and prudish in nature, which is unfair. The only near-equivalent is cups, but the vast majority of men don't have to wear cups every day, nor do they need to be replaced as often as bras do to remain effective.

An old one is that women are expected to be good cooks (though less so in today's society), but professional chefs are generally men (even today). It's a weird, hypocritical societal thing, and as far as I know, the only realm where it's seen as traditionally female realm but men are respected at the top of the profession. The other possibility is fashion, but that's run by gay men, who are seen as basically women (which bugs me for a slew of reasons, both that it's run by gay men and gay men are seen as pseudowomen).

Men who choose to remain single and childless are socially respected, and it is often admired, or at the very least not seriously questioned (except by their families wanting grandbabies, mayhaps). Women who choose to remain single and childless are old maids, scary, crazy cat ladies, etc.

Also, the privilege, if you want to call it that, of not being criticised for putting your career before your children. It falls into the men are supporters, women are nurturers, and has its drawbacks, but there are men who enjoy the privilege of having kids without being more than monetarily responsible for them.

The ability to show anger or be upset without automatically be assumed to be on the rag.

Freedom of sexuality still leans more towards men than to women, though it's fucked up for everyone.

Taken more seriously than women in careers like science, politics, and engineering.

Men are still the ones expected to propose, which has its downsides but does has the privilege of more control. Women who propose are looked at as weird, and scorned or scoffed at. While women get to answer, the question is not even supposed to be raised until the man is ready for it.

There are a lot more men than women in films and TV, especially using the Bechdel test, mostly because, and this ties into the sizing thing above, "male" is gender neutral. Which is ridiculous. There is no gender neutral or average when you have two genders and there are equal numbers of both of them. Not saying that men and women have to appear equally, but "male as default" is a big societal thing, in fiction, on the internet, etc.

Those are most of the Western ones I can think of.

BabylonDrifter · 2010-12-12T00:48:27+00:00

Physical size is a biological fact, and the males of our species have less advantage in this than most primates. I suppose that could be called a privilege, but you can't call the basic facts of biology privilege - are male mallard ducks privileged because they have colorful plumage? It's ridiculous. The word privilege means you're given a right you wouldn't normally be expected to have - so anything granted to males by biology is inherent in the species and not a privilege.

Males and females are both "assumed to be competent" in certain stereotypical areas, which definitely is a privilege on both sides, but I think it pretty much cancels out on the whole.

I'm assuming you're talking about modern Western culture. Males in many eastern, african, and middle-eastern countries have lots of privileges.

Honestly, I'm trying to think of one. I guess males have the privilege of being automatically considered to be more dangerous. In the USA men are required by law to submit to be drafted into the army, but that's more about men being biologically expendable than being dangerous. In general, though, being a man, people of both sexes fear a man more than they would a woman of the same physical size. I'm not sure if it's a privilege, as it has massive negative repercussions as well. But it's the best I could come up with - men have the privilege of causing more fear and intimidation than women.

ssjumper · 2010-12-11T06:31:34+00:00

Women are more 'protected' to the point of smothering. You'd think nothing of letting your teen boy go out and return at 2 but you'd think twice about sending a girl.

You are automatically assumed to be more competent, can be open about your what you want in bed without having to think about being thought of as a whore. There's shitloads of things that are so ingrained in your psyche that you don't even think of them as notable, just accept them.

Plus, you're a fucking moron if you think guys are more intelligent than girls.

aetheralloy · 2010-12-11T10:38:19+00:00

We have the privilege of serving women.

HeloisePommefume · 2010-12-11T08:55:23+00:00

There are only 15 female CEOs of the 500 corporations making up Forbes's Fortune 500 list. There has only ever been one female four star general. And to this day serving as the president of the United States remains entirely a male privilege.

Il128 · 2010-12-11T14:56:41+00:00

Men get to work harder than women.

I'm trying to see where in my life I got some sort of "privilege" for being a man... Gosh, I get the privilege of being a slave to my wife. Other than that, nothing.

Women constantly confuse the lives of the top alpha men with the lives of the remaining 90% of men. Fact is most men lead lives of servitude if they are lucky and outright slavery if they are unlucky.

Most of this slavery and servitude comes in the form of marriage. Sad but true.

rusty_esp · 2010-12-11T09:57:15+00:00

[permanently deleted]

woshindow · 2010-12-11T04:35:46+00:00

You forgot superior intelligence.

Title	Do men have any privileges?
Author	wondergay
Upvotes	2
Comments	85
Date	December 11, 2010 3:53 AM UTC (15 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/ejx0b/do_men_have_any_privileges/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/do-men-have-any-privileges.1045288 https://theredarchive.com/post/1045288

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