![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
A definition of "white male privilege"
Apr. 28th, 2008 06:27 pmWhite male privilege is simply the condition of being treated the way that people are supposed to be treated, by default.
The reason that so many people with it don't see it is because there's nothing to see. It's the condition of LACKING the problems of NOT having it.
This has all sorts of ramifications -- people who say that they're humanists rather than feminists, because they just want equal treatment for everybody; people who consider affirmative action to be reverse racism.
In effect, what everybody WANTS to do is to extend the benefits that white male privilege confers to everybody. But if you don't realize that white male privilege exists, and is something that white males have, you don't realize that, in order to extend those benefits to everybody, you actually DO have to focus on people who AREN'T white males. And just declaring the playing field level doesn't do that. Which is why you DO need things like affirmative action and feminism, rather than just declaring that you are just beyond all that sexism and racism stuff.
(Also -- if you're a "humanist", it means that you are an ethical atheist who derives their morals and ethics from humanity, rather than from a supernatural/spiritual source. The term already exists. So you CAN'T say that you're a "humanist instead of a feminist.")
The reason that so many people with it don't see it is because there's nothing to see. It's the condition of LACKING the problems of NOT having it.
This has all sorts of ramifications -- people who say that they're humanists rather than feminists, because they just want equal treatment for everybody; people who consider affirmative action to be reverse racism.
In effect, what everybody WANTS to do is to extend the benefits that white male privilege confers to everybody. But if you don't realize that white male privilege exists, and is something that white males have, you don't realize that, in order to extend those benefits to everybody, you actually DO have to focus on people who AREN'T white males. And just declaring the playing field level doesn't do that. Which is why you DO need things like affirmative action and feminism, rather than just declaring that you are just beyond all that sexism and racism stuff.
(Also -- if you're a "humanist", it means that you are an ethical atheist who derives their morals and ethics from humanity, rather than from a supernatural/spiritual source. The term already exists. So you CAN'T say that you're a "humanist instead of a feminist.")