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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI'm a straight white man and I have unfair privileges in life as a result.
Doesn't mean I have no grievances, or that I can't suffer, or that I can't find common ground with others not in that category. But the privilege is there and needs to be admitted to before I and others like me can be truly effective activists for change and the greater good.
I've never consciously acted in such a way as to enforce my privilege, but it is there.
This is a thread to for SWM's of goodwill to acknowledge privilege and for others to indicate what we should change in our tones and actions to adjust for it.
Started in the name of creating left-of-center unity.
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PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)I wish to work for every demographic having the same, so that the word privilege becomes obsolete.
LittleBlue
(10,362 posts)This is like a road to nowhere. Admitting privilege without a solution is just a guilt-alleviation exercise.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/28/these-seven-charts-show-the-black-white-economic-gap-hasnt-budged-in-50-years/
No matter what programs we've tried, they've all failed. Rather than continue the futile search for blame, when are we going to admit our failures and try something different?
el_bryanto
(11,804 posts)And do you really believe that white straight males as a group have admitted the culpability for the way things are? White straight males have excessive power in our society; surely if we are looking to fix things we need to start with getting them to acknowledge the problem. I admit that at DU many if not most straight white males are aware of the problem; but that's not true for society as a whole. And acknowledging it in a relatively safe environment such as DU can help build up stamina for doing it in regular life.
Bryant
AgingAmerican
(12,958 posts)College, trade school. Black, white, Asian, Native American, etc all need to get their kids into college. Education is the only possible equalizer IMHO, and it will take generations.
College opens doors. College breaks down barriers. Education empowers people. College gives people lots of options. Children of college educated people are less likely to be bigoted.
Bigotry and anger poison the well. Bigotry tends to be intergenerational. Education breaks people out of that cycle.
clarice
(5,504 posts)and start by ignoring those who would try to instill guilt in him for what he is. Don't be a weakling.
Prism
(5,815 posts)(Since this is really just a religious-like exercise of confession/absolution, characteristic of the creepier churches of identity politics). I, as a gay man, am ok with your heterosexual paleness.
I also don't particularly care if you confess to it.
Are you fighting for equality?
Are you fighting to protect reproductive freedom?
Are you fighting to expand electoral rights and accessibility?
Are you fighting institutionalized racism in our politics, economy, and justice systems?
Then what you are doesn't matter much. Those other things define who you are, and that is a far more salient thing.
Hiraeth
(4,805 posts)here some people seem to think that Bernie Sanders will not address those issues in your questions. Some people on here seem to think that Bernie is only interested in the economic issues.
Prism
(5,815 posts)Bernie's record speaks clearly for itself. They know it. They just want to disingenuously insinuate things to create discord, because their candidate was supposed to be some Golden Social Deliverer (based on what, I have no idea. Couldn't get marriage equality support until almost literally after every other Democratic politician).
Sanders isn't my candidate yet. I want to see what the field will be before devoting myself somewhere.
But holy mother of god is this shit getting tiresome. It's so ragingly and knowingly dishonest.
Hiraeth
(4,805 posts)choices I have now I am for Bernie in the primaries and, will of course vote for whatever Dem we get in the general. Has O'Malley declared yet?
and Yes, your last sentence ... I tend to skim over those threads for content and ignore the personalities. Seems I have nothing of interest to add to them so I just read them and move on.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)I try to fight all of those things.
The point of this thread was to make a serious response to those who say that people like me need to acknowledge our privilege. That's all.
Vattel
(9,289 posts)Trying to add up unfair advantages and unfair disadvantages is pretty pointless. Just get out there and fight racism, heterosexism, etc.
ileus
(15,396 posts)Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)We can be victims too, but there are limits to how much we will suffer compared to others.
We aren't going to be beaten in the streets because we walk along holding hands with the person we love.
We aren't going to be pulled over by the cops because the cars we drive look too nice for "our kind".
We probably won't be shot by the cops, no matter what.
We aren't going to have politicians trying to regulate our personal lives or force us to have more children than we want.
We aren't going to be paid less than other people for the same work.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)That darn disability drags me down a peg or two.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)many more than a few points in lots of situations.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)No offence intended.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)We always get left out of the conversation. Even by well-meaning people like yourself. As Ed Roberts, founder of the independent living movement, once said, "If you're not at the table, you're on the menu."
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Well, learning is part of the goal of this thread.
seveneyes
(4,631 posts)
carolinayellowdog
(3,247 posts)sometimes distressed by the apparent martyr complex of those who feel that gayness is nearly as problematic as non-whiteness or non-maleness in terms of privilege-- but everyone's mileage varies
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)a man.
but i do recognize mine.
what is the importance of acknowledging and no more?
maybe acknowledging our privilege we will listen. no more can be asked.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)What's meant to happen then is greater consciousness and effectiveness in working for change.
AZ Progressive
(3,411 posts)- The freedom to all of the emotional spectrum rather than a relatively narrow part of it.
- Experiences more affection. Men's affection is usually limited to the mother and the girlfriend or wife.
- The freedom to express both the full feminine range of feelings and a majority of the masculine range (think tomboys and dykes.)
- The freedom to dress in nearly whatever they want and look nearly whatever they want
- Better and much closer relationships with friends (which makes women more emotionally healthy)
- Not having to defend one's image all the time (men feel the need to have to continually defend and at times prove one's masculinity / manhood, which creates anxiety in, for instance, competitive situations.)
- One's identity is not tied fully with what one does for a living. Women's identities are more complex, and may not even be tied to work, thus if a woman loses her job she's less likely to emotionally crash in the way that men do (which might be the reason that men are more likely to commit suicide.)
- Women, as mothers, are usually the closest person to a child. Women have the power to bring life into the world.
- Women are trusted to be with children.
- Women can easily ask for help from others.
- Women are more likely to get sympathy and understanding from others. A crying woman is more likely to get sympathy than a man that cries. A man is more likely to be told to "tough up" and even be mocked.
- Women are seen as more important to survive than men. Men are seen as relatively expendable.
- Society cares more about women that are the victims of violence than men. Women at least have some attention and sympathy, men have nearly none, despite all the men that are the victims of murder, rapes, and domestic abuse.
elias7
(3,997 posts)As does distinctions of religious background, intelligence, looks, age, height, BMI, common sense, education, etc ad nauseum. Maybe I'm just a dick, But try as I might, I just can't resonate with the privilege concept, as it seems like an artificial construct to reverse the underprivileged concept. Nothing different, just different boxes and categories to be placed in.
AZ Progressive
(3,411 posts)1. There's always going to be a "top dog" group in society. Do you think minorities have more say in countries around the world?
2. This is fodder for the Republicans who claim that white liberals are self loathing whites
3. There are plenty of SWM's who are poor, especially the rednecks / appalachians. Their SWM privilege makes them top dog in the area, doesn't help them in anything else.
4. As someone who is not white, I can see things that whites miss out on because of their culture. Yes whites have privileges, especially in things like money making opportunities. I see advantages in being an American and not being fully raised like one.
5. The less you are like everyone else in society, the more ability you have to see society as if you were seeing it in a snow globe and see it for what it is rather than be stuck in it.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)FWIW, I don't loathe myself(never met anyone in any group anywhere who actually did), I'm just trying to be honest with myself.
dawg
(10,624 posts)Acknowledging that doesn't mean that I am self-loathing.
It means that I get it ... at least to some small extent. I will never completely get it. Without walking in the shoes of someone not so privileged, it is impossible to fully understand all the additional obstacles they face.
And I've had some unlucky breaks in my life (and some lucky ones) and some outright sabotage by people I trusted.
But the bad parts would have all been made even worse without my privilege.
AuntPatsy
(9,904 posts)
bhikkhu
(10,715 posts)I can say, as a white male, that I'm accustomed to being treated fairly, given the benefit of the doubt, being generally trusted and accepted. Whether driving or walking down the street or browsing in a store, I've can't remember ever being looked at as anything but an ordinary citizen, or a customer, a decent person, a neighbor, etc.
Everybody of every race generally has treated me just fine, often better than I deserved (there were some sketchy years when I was younger), so I can say from experience that pretty much everyone knows how to treat people well and extend privilege. If we just did it for everyone equally that would be so much better - we all certainly know how to.
JanMichael
(24,885 posts)ones that willnot just dint want to give up anything gained by it.