I’m copying/pasting the entirety of my answer here because sometimes comments are deleted from Ask Metafilter if they’re deemed “off-topic” by the moderators.

Anyhow, the original question is here. Essentially this straight white guy read “Unpacking the Invisible Backpack” and is looking for more resources to self-educate, having had eyes open a bit.

The answers included discussion about how privilege lists don’t serve as comprehensive answers and aren’t always useful to folks, and also included some satire lists, or lists aimed at making the ones created in earnest less effective (this is okay with me, partly because I see those lists as teaching tools, good for starting but not finishing the convo, and partly because I’m okay with the whole free speech thing even if I don’t always agree with what my fellows say or think).

Anyway, my comment came late, but here it is (link not guaranteed to work) (long):

I do agree that privilege lists are not entirely helpful. They can open eyes, and get you thinking, but they don’t necessarily serve as a good comprehensive answer to your question.

I am in an interesting position (I think) of both having privilege and not having it. And it is almost always contextual.

Representative Examples:
- I am a very conscientious and passionate anti-racist activist who is half-white, half-asian, and am often given “honorary white people” status/privilege by strangers as I go through life, but at the same time I am aware that not only can this honorary status be revoked, but that I know and love and care about folks who are never granted this honorary status.

- I am also a fat-acceptance activist who is a little chubby, but my investment there is usually through emotional ties I have with folks who are outright fat, and who deal with constant unsolicited negative feedback and free “advice” about their body size, whether or not they can do anything about it.

- I am a transgendered intersex person, and queer, but not in expected ways and I pass as normal really really well. And at the same time, I know that folks who can’t pass as normal and who don’t wish to have to pass or hide their queerness get put down/looked down on/beaten/raped/killed by some who disagree with their “lifestyle” all the time.

- I grew up as lower-middle-class in a strongly labor oriented family in Berkeley, CA, US but am now arguably upper-middle-class because of my income and lifestyle. I can’t forget my upbringing and it bothers me to see the effects of classism on folks I love and care for who do not have my income or other resources available.

- I have well-controlled chronic, serious asthma, which is an ADA-accepted disability but because it’s well-controlled, it’s largely invisible and rarely inconveniences me. And at the same time I have friends and loved ones who are disabled in various more visible ways, and because I am in their lives, I know the extra stupid suffering they endure because of it.

- I am a very strong feminist and feminist activist (I even have a minor in Women’s Studies - major in Chemistry, for my B.S.), but I live as a man in this society, and could (if I had no social/emotional ties keeping me honest, anyway) forget that and just take advantage of male privilege all the time.

Essentially, I am in the position to be a complete bastard if I want to and sell out all of my friends and loved ones. I could act like the problems of privilege, advantage, classism, ableism, sexism, ageism and so on were everyone else’s problem. If I did that I’d estimate I’d be successful perhaps 90% or more of the time.

And like many folks have said (here and in some of the linked discussions), folks who are of disadvantaged classes also have privileges they don’t acknowledge, which muddies the whole question or equation, if you will (although I will say right now that I hate making equations of these kinds of questions - I think that too is unfair and occasions “misery mathematics” and comparing the “values” of other folks’ miseries to your own - something I find morally reprehensible). I could probably rationalize and argue away the objective evaluation of privilege in every interaction and probably feel okay about myself if I could ignore how important all of this is to me, to my friends, to my family.

But I do as much work as I can to right the social injustices I cannot help but see. Essentially I argue toward my personal disadvantage because it is ethically/morally right for me to be relatively disadvantaged compared to what’s automatically granted me (this is what privilege is - being automatically granted advantages based on social hierarchies). I want to and argue to even the score - to make sure that the currently disadvantaged have as close as possible to the same chances I have in life.

It’s a difficult path to walk, and I can always end up second-guessing myself. I’m always asking myself: “Did I negotiate that particular exchange responsibly?” It’s very fraught but I keep trying to right those wrongs, and to use my position as an insider in majority/advantaged populations to work for the benefit of the minorities/disadvantaged.

For me, it ultimately comes down to personalizing the question to not only myself but to folks who are emotionally important to me. If I cannot see how a particular privilege benefits me, I can usually see how not having it works to the detriment of someone I know, care for, or outright love. And as long as I feel like the overall balance of the total package is still overwhelmingly to the majority’s advantage, I work on righting that wrong and equalizing the dynamics.

It does require a lot of effort to do this work, and sometimes I take breaks (which is privilege in itself - some folks have shit happen to them all the time and there are no breaks), but in the long run, I keep at it because I care. I have energy and caring invested in my own emotional/psychological well-being and in other folks who are impacted by inequities that I think are world-wide-social in scale, systemic, and correctable.

Ultimately, it bothers me when avoidable crap happens to others I care about, and that’s why I keep fighting for an equalization of privilege for all people.

Tags:   anti-racism · backpacks · isms · privilege · racism1 Comment