FAQ: What is male privilege?

[boston bean]

Before discussing “male privilege” it is first important to define what privilege means in an anti-oppression setting. Privilege, at its core, is the advantages that people benefit from based solely on their social status. It is a status that is conferred by society to certain groups, not seized by individuals, which is why it can be difficult sometimes to see one’s own privilege.

In a nutshell:


Privilege is: About how society accommodates you. It’s about advantages you have that you think are normal. It’s about you being normal, and others being the deviation from normal. It’s about fate dealing from the bottom of the deck on your behalf.

[Betty, A primer on privilege.]

Since social status is conferred in many different ways — everything from race to geography to class — all people are both privileged and non-privileged in certain aspects of their life. Furthermore, since dynamics of social status are highly dependent on situation, a person can benefit from privilege in one situation while not benefiting from it in another. It is also possible to have a situation in which a person simultaneously is the beneficiary of privilege while also being the recipient of discrimination in an area which they do not benefit from privilege.

Male privilege is a set of privileges that are given to men as a class due to their institutional power in relation to women as a class. While every man experiences privilege differently due to his own individual position in the social hierarchy, every man, by virtue of being read as male by society, benefits from male privilege.

Please continue reading here:

http://finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/2007/03/11/faq-what-is-male-privilege/

[sufrommich]

1. Thanks,Bean. A wonderful explanation,also known

as the "white people are discriminated against too" defense.

[Kalidurga]

2. Male privilege is

not having to explain your reproductive choices

not having to explain why you are on a career path

not having to justify working and having children or having children and justifying staying at home with them

not having to choose between being feminine and wanting to work with power tools

being asked what you want to be when you grow up (this is changing fairly rapidly though)

not being treated like a freak when you like math

not being told you look to hot to have been a marine

not being called the b word when you stand your ground in an argument

being able to walk the streets at night without other people being "concerned" about your welfare (including the police who stop you to question you about your profession)

having other people ie the wife pick up your socks and do well over half the housework

that is all for now and I am glad I haven't experienced many of the things on this list, like the female marine I know that was often told she was too hot to have been a marine.

[seabeyond]

4. i heard on du the other day. regardless of excellent college education, "using" good looks to climb

Last edited Sun Jun 24, 2012, 04:51 PM - Edit history (2)

the ladder.

that one got me. a man climbs the ladder thru hard work. a woman? especially if good looking. especially if good looking and we dont like her. especially if good looking, we do not like her, and she wears 3" heels....

[whathehell]

17. Interesting point, because the fact is, better looking people of both genders

have an edge when it comes to hiring.

It's true, studies have shown that elementary school teachers

even prefer better looking kids...It's sad, but it's there.

[seabeyond]

20. yes. it is interesting though, what i was reading. it was the cupp woman.

people were saying that she used her sexuality to make it. i went looking for the post and couldnt find it. too many threads on cupp. but, i am thinking, it was amongst all the 3rd wave feminist and why not one challenged the poster. she has a good education. she started in print and radio. to suggest she made it where she was, because she dresses provocative should have been a red flag wavin outcry for third wave. and not a word.

yes. i do get that good looking has a leg up. also a woman that uses her sexuality to climb generally does not make it far. double edge sword. she tends to only get so far before "ruined"

[whathehell]

22. Are you talking about the conservative pundit, S.E. Cupp?

if so, she was TOTALLY slimed by a porn mag --Hustler -- I believe,

which drew an illustration of her with a big dick in her mouth

which is HIDEOUS, her politics be damed.

Were I the subject, they'd get a big, fat lawsuit slapped at them.

[seabeyond]

23. ya. but,

the more interesting point for me. if we look at what is being proclaimed by sex positive feminist, what she is doing is perfectly ok. we may not like her being a repug. but, she is doing what women are suppose to. being able to behave that way in the work force with no negative repercussion. yet, i listened to a man and others agree that she was "using" it to climb the ladder. EVERY pro sex feminist should have shown us how it is done, telling the men she is allowed to behave like that, without being accused of giving something to boss to climb the ladder. that she went to a good college, earned the degree and put her time in print and radio. dont say she made it up the ladder giving sexual "favors". but there was not a word.

this is important. because if we are going to say that we are feminist taking a sex positive position, then when in a quandary like this, we have to show our feminist credential by speaking up and out. surely.

[WingDinger]

3. I wonder, were there no religion, how it would be justified.

I guess we would cite Gorillas and baboons. It is clear from the witch trials, and things still believed for instance in Italy about feminine wiles that man fears woman's power. That the clergy fear that women would use their superior communication skills and better ability to see the big picture to rule not only the roost, but the larger world as well. I believe that is why we CONVINCED women to hobble themselves with high heels, tight fitting movement restricting clothing and bobbles that could be snagged and tear an ear lobe etc. Long fingernails, and all the other things that make man more grossly dextrous. We even convinced them that those things are a privilege.

There is one area though that women are truly privileged. Many women specific items purchased come with free gift.

[sufrommich]

5. " Many women specific items purchased come with free gift"

lol!

I think that's called "Clinique bag envy".

[boston bean]

8. Don't forget Free Ladies Nights!

Get the women toasted so the men have a better chance of....

[1StrongBlackMan]

6. Being a frequent lurker ...

But rare commenter in this forum ...

I say I hope this doesn't sink to the bottom and fall off the LB page ... I can't wait for all the "PM is a myth, an excuse I tell you, because I'm a male and I have it bad too" posts.

[seabeyond]

9. i have listened to you in other threads, i believe

if i am remembering correctly, you were right on in your posts. i appreciated them, though i dont think i added a thumbsup. you certainly get it.

[sufrommich]

11. Welcome,1StrongBlackMan.

[LiberalLoner]

7. Male privilege means

No one tells you to "smile" when you are walking along lost in thought.

You aren't constantly rated on your attractiveness and receiving insults if you don't measure up to the current ideal.

[seabeyond]

10. No one tells you to "smile"

i would always get this blank look.... thinking, wtf. yes. this is another. why, do men think this is a good thing

[whathehell]

12. Yeah...How many women tell men to "smile"...It's something I always heard

when I was a waitress (probably the job least likely to make you sincerely smile)

and I asked my feminist shrink what to say back to men that always said that. She said

to say "You smile"....This came up once with two male customers and the one said:

"Yeah, that's true...Waiters don't smile".

Reason?...In my opinion -- Unconcious guilt and fear...Same reason white people

used to feel more "comfortable" if black people were smiling -- They're AFRAID,

Afraid you might actually be pissed off at them for their lifetime of "keeping you down"

and afraid that you just MIGHT rebel against that and "turn the tables on them", treating

THEM like they've treated you.

[seabeyond]

13. interesting. i think more to empower themselves at womens expense. turn her to a thing to entertain

him. it is all about him. we must never forget. so it is our job to have a smile to show our deference to the man. or something like that. i would like the onion peeled a bit on this one from anyone interested.

men have ownership over female. even women they do not know.

[whathehell]

19. It could be a two-fer,

dontcha think?

[seabeyond]

21. we were discussing it again in this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12555846#post40

a different perspective which i really do understand more.

could be a three-fer, lol

[sufrommich]

14. MIGHT rebel against that and "turn the tables on them",

treating

THEM like they've treated you."

I always assumed that's really the underlying reason the western world is "concerned" about third world countries too.

[whathehell]

18. Yup...I don't know about

it in terms of the third world, but you might be right,

I guess it depends on what you mean by "concern".

[BlueIris]

15. Good insights.

I have always been royally offended whenever anyone tells anyone else to smile. I think, "You might be telling that to a cancer patient, or someone whose spouse just died, or someone who just declared bankruptcy; how rude!"

[whathehell]

16. Thanks, Iris...Yes, it's true and the only people I know

who are ballsy enough to do it are men, unfortunately.