Personal Privilege List
I’m making a list of personal privileges I’m aware of having. You’re invited to post your own list in the comments. The purpose of this exercise is to get us thinking, so there are no wrong answers. Some of these privileges are pretty lame. Some of them have a flipside. For now, I just want to look at how I look at privilege.
I am not counting any “privileges” I’ve earned for myself: by definition, privilege is something you’re simply handed.
Privileges I have:
- If a violent crime’s commited against someone I know, I’ll automatically be low on the list of suspects.
- Even when my family was quite impoverished by my country’s standards, I never had to worry about having enough to eat.
- Whether or not I wear makeup, long hair or polished nails, it’s very unlikely anyone will speculate about my sexual orienation on that basis.
Um. Okay, that’s a very short list. Believe it or not, I gave this an hour. I had others; some I dismissed because I realized they were things I’d actually earned for myself, others because they just weren’t that true once I started thinking about it. But if you join in, we can brainstorm together.
New website on privilege on 30 Jan 2007 at 10:48 pm #
[...] about the issue of invisible privilege. There’s a post there where I’ve listed a few privileges I’m aware of having, and if you’re game I’d like to hear from you what privileges you’re aware of in [...]
scarlett on 01 Feb 2007 at 1:53 am #
I live in a country where I pay as little as $3500/year to study at university, which I can defer in an interest free-loan thanks to the government, who will also pay me as much as $200/week (as a single independant, more if I have a partner, child/ren or other dependants) to get a world-class education dirt-cheap.
Seriously, it pisses me off something chronic when people start complaining about this system.
DNi on 01 Feb 2007 at 2:04 am #
Would you say that you’re an extravert? I would think that extraverted individuals would have an inherent privilege over introverts, though I’m not sure if this would count as an earned or handed privilege. I mean, on the one hand, I don’t believe to the best of my knowledge that anybody is born introverted, unlike one’s gender or race; on the other hand, I can’t think anybody actually chooses to be unsocialable. What do you think?
scarlett on 01 Feb 2007 at 7:47 am #
I think being extroverted/introverted occour naturally, but being obnoxious/a show off or shy are learned things. Does that make sense?
And I thought of another one: because I’m not vegetarian, or diabetic, of suffer food allergies, or have high cholesterol, or have any other food issues, I can walk into a restaraunt and eat whatever I damn well please!
I have friends who are diabetic or vegetarian/ vegan, and who have had to pull out of dinner invites because there was nothing on the menu they could eat. A friend with the same strong stomach and love of meat as me recently made a comment ‘that’s what you get for being vegetarian’. I’m thinking of writing an article about lack of catering options for vegetarians and diabetics, let alone people with more unusual dietary requirements!
Jennifer Kesler on 01 Feb 2007 at 2:46 pm #
I used to be extremely introverted; now I’m borderline extroverted according to personality tests. But even though I’m not wildly extroverted, I can see what you’re talking about. I do get more offers of help and tidbits of wisdom from people now than I used to get.
And I agree that we’re probably not born to be introverts, but we get conditioned that way and it’s very hard to overcome.
scarlett on 01 Feb 2007 at 3:51 pm #
Because I’m straight, even if I’m unmarried, my defacto is automatically considered my next of kin.
Maartje on 01 Feb 2007 at 4:06 pm #
I’m so priviledged I have no idea where to start.
-Like Scarlett I too can get an excellent education cheaply and I can do with it what I want. I can move away or squander all that knowledge and skill as I please.
-I can pay for my health insurance and go to a doctor or dentist whenever I have the slightest worry.
-I will get a job more easily than someone who is not white. Of course it would be even easier if I was male and a little older.
-In the job I have now I can go to the boss and tell him to his face what I think is wrong with the company. He doesn’t always (ever) do anything with the critique but does encourage it.
-I have electricity, running water, a roof over my head, food on my table without ever having to give it a second thought.
-I live in a beautiful part of my country.
-I was born into a loving family.
-I can visit extroadinary musea for only 15 euro’s a year.
-When I vote I can trust the officials. My vote counts as much as anyone else’s.
-I have the right to say no and the right to defend myself should someone threaten me.
-I can buy books.
-I can travel
I am very priviledged but I’m not blind to it. The list goes on and on. I realise I am not adding much in the way of enlightenment here, but you asked
Jennifer Kesler on 06 Feb 2007 at 9:54 am #
Okay, compared to Sacrlett and Maartje, I did not have cheap university options, and indeed was unable to finish because of that. But even if the US lags behind Europe and other regions in terms of education (both quality and costs), I’m sure there are places where even my education would be envied. And some of them are probably in the US, given the huge differential between one public school and the next.
Because I have a traditional “job” health insurance is not hard for me to come by. For the self-employed and unemployed - both of which I’ve been - it’s pretty impractical. I feel this is an unfair privilege insurance companies extend to corporations.
I suppose this is true for me, but I have gotten some good jobs in L.A. because I was mistaken for Jewish (which I didn’t realize at the interview). I guess it’s all relative.
I do now, but these were not always things I never had to give a second thought to. I’m not sure this is a “privilege” in the US. I mean, I worked very hard to move myself from “poverty” to “middle class”. In that sense, I earned it. In every sense that it was magically easier for me to earn it than someone else, I was privileged.
I was… not. But again, is this privilege or the luck of the draw?
I don’t feel either of these things are true for me. I’m privileged in that I can take action to open minds, change laws, etc. I’m at a disadvantage in that big corporations and the very wealthy are there ahead of me, and have greater resources with which to barter for changes in their favor.
This is so murky in the US. In theory, we have the right to defend ourselves, but I’m not sure for example at what point in an attempted rape I’m allowed to kill the perpetrator to save myself from rape? I always rather thought I’d be prosecuted for robbing the US of a precious male resource when all he was after was a little jolly.
scarlett on 10 Feb 2007 at 7:48 am #
And I forgot—
Because I’m tall and slim with blond hair and a fair complexion, fashion and makeup is designed for me, and I can walk into any boutique and find a dress I like.
scarlett on 20 Feb 2007 at 4:29 am #
And I live in a country where I pay $5 for the most expensive of forgome contraceptions.
I need to start a list of my own. Oh, and I’m NEVER leaving Australia.
Dragyn on 20 Oct 2007 at 10:36 am #
I think your family counts. you certainly didn’t earn it. Actually, it may be the biggest bestower of privilege: your appearance (genetic), race education, personal development, where you were born, whether you have a safety net. Not that you can do anything to make these privileges more evenly spread, unless you take people from their mothers as infants and raise them in communal nurseries (can you feel the creepy brave new world vibes)
sam on 14 Dec 2007 at 11:24 am #
as a late 50 something introvert, I can definetely attest to thefact that introversion is ones personality make-up that isn’t somethin one chooses. I would never have chosen to be beaten up through-out myschool days and upon being beaten-up because I was weird (?), I would have chosen to not be weird, sinceit hurt less. My mother tells me I was always a quiet childcrying only when hungry or needing a change. I wasn’t shy, liked people but would become tired of their presence. Growing-up, I was made tobelieve I was shy and that was confusing, because I never felt averse to people, anxious, or socially inept. I just could never understand why others needed to be with people all the time, they just never seemed to wind down for me. I always needed my space and time without all that chatter, running around and what looked like mindless activity. My mother have my quiet and would create such drama I would just watch and wonder…what is she doing and why ? My Dad never made me feel in any sense strange or different, I always felt okay being me. In school I was this freak that had to be corrected in some way, at work I have been subjected to the same but with the aggression that comes from adult ignorance and fears. Some people say I am arrogant, haughty, antisocial, hate people, have been traumitized, am evil, untrustworthy or the person tolook to when something is awry. After all “it’s those quiet people you have to watch”. My few friends, few because not everyone can be a friend tome, usually let me remember the good things about me, I am stable (emotionally, mentally), reliable, make sense out of their dramas, care deeply for humanity and sometimes go out of my way to ensure someone else’s dignity. As a teenager for a few years I hated me, really believed I was some kind of abnormal freak but also during those years I became acquainted with people who saw me as justa quiet human and liked who I was. I remember being the person people came to when theywanted to talk (I was not emotionally all stirred up). Even afterall these years the bullying hasn’t stopped, nor has the ability to sit with someone, when they need to be quiet and with someone at the same time. At some point in my younger life I realized that this was ME, not a freak, not different or needing to be changed. I am not wiser than anyone else, more learned or in any way better, just true to mybetter instincts becauseI have actually been able to hear them without the chatter. If there is anything about me that I feel blessed with, it’s the sense that people feel safe in my presence when safety is what they need! They one lesson I learned from being bullied, beat-up, ostracized and demeaned in so many different ways, it was that I never wanted anyone to suffer what I had and never have those acts come from me. I just feel for those introverts growing up in our current culture of violence, meanness and narrow minded ignorance. Brutality towards others who maybe different isn’t a moral / ethical issue anymore it just seems to be a right of expression and much too acceptable when it’s acted upon. Without others nurturing me and my humanity, Imight have lostsightof being a human being and adopted the belief that I was some creature who needed toassert my existence. I am a minority person, female, introvert and in no way born to any privelege. The only thing special about it, is that I never lost sight of the preciousness of being human.
sam on 14 Dec 2007 at 11:26 am #
sorry for the diatribe
Jennifer Kesler on 14 Dec 2007 at 11:30 am #
No problem.
I don’t have anything to add, but I do agree about the ridiculous stigma against introverts.
Firebird on 21 Sep 2008 at 9:21 pm #
I think intelligence is a privilege. I didn’t, after all, do anything to earn my intelligence, and yet I am. In some ways, everyday society punishes the intelligent for the privilege, but ultimately it is something easily taken for granted which cannot really be replaced with any other quality.
Jennifer Kesler on 21 Sep 2008 at 9:51 pm #
LOL, I was actually thinking about this a few days ago, and came to a different conclusion.
Intelligence is a blessing, not a privilege.
Blessing: something that comes to you NOT from other humans, and therefore isn’t something they can take away.
Privilege: something granted to you by other humans, which they can take away.
It’s an important distinction because the two get processed differently by society. Privilege is about power, and about privileged people controlling who gets to share their power. When the universe bestows blessings (intelligence, talent, charisma, etc.) on seemingly random individuals, that threatens the privilege system. This is why intelligent people need to be mistreated if they aren’t also members of a privileged group - they’re proof that privilege isn’t the final arbiters of who has value and who doesn’t.