| Through work to bring materials from women's studies into the rest of the curriculum, I have often noticed men's unwillingness to grant that they are overprivileged, even though they may grant that women are disadvantaged. They may say they will work to improve women's status, in the society, the university, or the curriculum, but they can't or won't support the idea of lessening men's. Denials that amount to taboos surround the subject of advantages that men gain from women's disadvantages. These denials protect male privilege from being fully acknowledged, lessened, or ended.
Thinking through unacknowledged male privilege as a phenomenon, I realized that, since hierarchies in our society are interlocking, there is most likely a phenomenon of white privilege that was similarly denied and protected. As a white person, I realized I had been taught about racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage. |
Whenever similar issues come up, I am always reminded of my friend Marty's pronouncement: (paraphrasing) No matter how badly things might be going for me, I can never forget that, as a white male in America, I am fortunate to be in the most privileged class in the world. Therefore, I don't look for something outside myself to blame.
Continue reading White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh.
....or do what you want....you will anyway.
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