Wednesday 22 January 2014
Saturday 4 January 2014
What the fuck is Privilege?
Privilege.
If you've spent any time whatsoever around the feminist movement, you will have been told about privilege. Whether you wanted to know what it was or not, you will have been told.
I've been told. I've been told about it many times, and it pisses me off. In the context of most arguments (whether it be regarding rape culture or the general patriarchal nature of modern society) it is insulting to both parties.
If I think about the word itself, I'm reminded of our family. Our family, like many from around Yorkshire, comes from a background consisting almost entirely out of miners. Every man older than 60 in my family has at some point worked "darn pit", and I'm sure it's the same for many others.
The 70's and 80's were a strange time for many families in Britain... for a while after the war, with the formation of the NHS and what the tories would call "big society", we were a happy and involved nation that cared for each other. The toffs and fox hunters in the country side were still richer than those working their fields, but they had cared for the families children during the Blitz or fought on the frontlines to defend the same ideals; people came together and for a while, the social classes ebbed away.
With the cultural revolution of the 50's and 60's out of the way, the country was descending into shit once more. The ease of import and export meant that many businesses were starting to close and move abroad, bankers were choosing to spend money cautiously in the states, and we were left to pick up the pieces with a government that wasn't up to scratch. By the 90's, Britain had lost it's industrial heritage, and we still struggle with the repercussions of that to this day.
See, I wrote all that from memory. I wasn't there back then, and I'm sure people who were will have a very different version of events, but this is the version I was told. This is the history I was brought up with, and that is exactly my point; the world looks very different from different perspectives.
That is privilege. Privilege is seeing the world as being noticeably better for others with no means to attain it. Privilege implies a class of control that people willingly hold over others.
Privilege is holding enough power to make you blind to the suffering of others.
In a word, having privilege makes you a bit of a cunt.
This is all my opinion of course, none of this rings true for a lot of people and on the subject of Feminism the word is generally used correctly (grammatically, at least). My problem with the word comes entirely from growing up in a working class family, hearing the word being used to describe arrogant tossers who couldn't give a damn fuck about anything but power and money; politicians, tax men, bankers... the privileged were the enemy. They were the people you fought against to reclaim your freedom.
To me, privilege in feminism denotes the idea that women should be fighting men for their freedoms, that somehow the current generation of men are to blame for the way that society treats women.
This is bollocks. Feminism isn't taken seriously by a lot of men because there are too many women who think this is true, the "feminazis" who decide that all men are evil just for having a dick.
Articles like the one below show the opinions of a deranged fucking idiot with no modicum of common sense, but it only takes a few with opinions like those to colour the perception of the subject for everyone
http://witchwind.wordpress.com/
All men are not to blame for all women's problems. That is narrow minded beyond belief; a lot of men don't particularly like living in current society either and men certainly have problems to deal with as well. For every woman jealous of a female model advertising shampoo, there's a man feeling wholly emasculated after looking at a picture of a man advertising protein shakes - women are taught to appear attractive to men by fitting in to a specific stereotype, and men are taught to appear attractive to women by doing the same thing.
This isn't an alien concept, but to many you would think it is. Women mock men for being something, men mock women for being something, women mock women for being something, men mock men for being something. We are all utter cunts to each other for a variety of reasons and all regardless of gender.
I hope this speaks to a lot of people, and points to the fact that neither sex is necessarily superior to the other, and in some ways men have it harder than women.
I hope people read that last part and didn't jump to conclusions, because of course I still consider myself a feminist. I consider myself a feminist because I want to ensure that women are treated equally to men in society; they should receive the same wages, the same rights, the same standing on the social ladder and above all be treated with respect as "People" rather than "Women".
Since all men aren't responsible for granting this clearly realistic and deserved target, I don't think it right that men be put on a pedestal as being "more privileged" than women.
I probably haven't explained this perfectly, because it comes from a personal place rather than a place grounded by sound reasoning, but the word just pisses me off. There are so many other words out there that could be used to describe the reality of gender equality... words such as...
PERFECT! We've found the word. In a particular way, men hold the appurtenances of control and power over women, but all men are not directly responsible for this.
Or...
As in "The male trappings of having a statistically lower number of rape victims"
As in "The accoutrements of having far more men in power in the developed world than women, meaning that democratic society doesn't actually have a representative choice of potential candidates when voting, alienating many women meaning they are less likely to vote at all"
As in "The convenience of having to bleed from the uterus once a month, while writhing in agony attempting to eat your bodyweight in chocolate and ibuprofen." (Deny it if you wish...)
If you've spent any time whatsoever around the feminist movement, you will have been told about privilege. Whether you wanted to know what it was or not, you will have been told.
I've been told. I've been told about it many times, and it pisses me off. In the context of most arguments (whether it be regarding rape culture or the general patriarchal nature of modern society) it is insulting to both parties.
If I think about the word itself, I'm reminded of our family. Our family, like many from around Yorkshire, comes from a background consisting almost entirely out of miners. Every man older than 60 in my family has at some point worked "darn pit", and I'm sure it's the same for many others.
The 70's and 80's were a strange time for many families in Britain... for a while after the war, with the formation of the NHS and what the tories would call "big society", we were a happy and involved nation that cared for each other. The toffs and fox hunters in the country side were still richer than those working their fields, but they had cared for the families children during the Blitz or fought on the frontlines to defend the same ideals; people came together and for a while, the social classes ebbed away.
With the cultural revolution of the 50's and 60's out of the way, the country was descending into shit once more. The ease of import and export meant that many businesses were starting to close and move abroad, bankers were choosing to spend money cautiously in the states, and we were left to pick up the pieces with a government that wasn't up to scratch. By the 90's, Britain had lost it's industrial heritage, and we still struggle with the repercussions of that to this day.
See, I wrote all that from memory. I wasn't there back then, and I'm sure people who were will have a very different version of events, but this is the version I was told. This is the history I was brought up with, and that is exactly my point; the world looks very different from different perspectives.
That is privilege. Privilege is seeing the world as being noticeably better for others with no means to attain it. Privilege implies a class of control that people willingly hold over others.
Privilege is holding enough power to make you blind to the suffering of others.
In a word, having privilege makes you a bit of a cunt.
This is all my opinion of course, none of this rings true for a lot of people and on the subject of Feminism the word is generally used correctly (grammatically, at least). My problem with the word comes entirely from growing up in a working class family, hearing the word being used to describe arrogant tossers who couldn't give a damn fuck about anything but power and money; politicians, tax men, bankers... the privileged were the enemy. They were the people you fought against to reclaim your freedom.
To me, privilege in feminism denotes the idea that women should be fighting men for their freedoms, that somehow the current generation of men are to blame for the way that society treats women.
This is bollocks. Feminism isn't taken seriously by a lot of men because there are too many women who think this is true, the "feminazis" who decide that all men are evil just for having a dick.
Articles like the one below show the opinions of a deranged fucking idiot with no modicum of common sense, but it only takes a few with opinions like those to colour the perception of the subject for everyone
http://witchwind.wordpress.com/
All men are not to blame for all women's problems. That is narrow minded beyond belief; a lot of men don't particularly like living in current society either and men certainly have problems to deal with as well. For every woman jealous of a female model advertising shampoo, there's a man feeling wholly emasculated after looking at a picture of a man advertising protein shakes - women are taught to appear attractive to men by fitting in to a specific stereotype, and men are taught to appear attractive to women by doing the same thing.
This isn't an alien concept, but to many you would think it is. Women mock men for being something, men mock women for being something, women mock women for being something, men mock men for being something. We are all utter cunts to each other for a variety of reasons and all regardless of gender.
I hope this speaks to a lot of people, and points to the fact that neither sex is necessarily superior to the other, and in some ways men have it harder than women.
I hope people read that last part and didn't jump to conclusions, because of course I still consider myself a feminist. I consider myself a feminist because I want to ensure that women are treated equally to men in society; they should receive the same wages, the same rights, the same standing on the social ladder and above all be treated with respect as "People" rather than "Women".
Since all men aren't responsible for granting this clearly realistic and deserved target, I don't think it right that men be put on a pedestal as being "more privileged" than women.
I probably haven't explained this perfectly, because it comes from a personal place rather than a place grounded by sound reasoning, but the word just pisses me off. There are so many other words out there that could be used to describe the reality of gender equality... words such as...
appurtenance
noun
- 1.an accessory or other item associated with a particular activity or style of living."the appurtenances of consumer culture"
Or...
trappings
noun
- 1.the outward signs, features, or objects associated with a particular situation, role, or job."I had the trappings of success"
As in "The male trappings of having a statistically lower number of rape victims"
accoutrement
noun
- 1.an additional item of dress or equipment."the accoutrements of religious ritual"
As in "The accoutrements of having far more men in power in the developed world than women, meaning that democratic society doesn't actually have a representative choice of potential candidates when voting, alienating many women meaning they are less likely to vote at all"
convenience
noun
- 1.the state of being able to proceed with something without difficulty.
As in "The convenience of having to bleed from the uterus once a month, while writhing in agony attempting to eat your bodyweight in chocolate and ibuprofen." (Deny it if you wish...)
comfort
noun
- 1.a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint.
As in "The comfort of never having to give birth"
vagina
noun
- 1.the muscular tube leading from the external genitals to the cervix of the uterus in women and most female mammals.
As in, "The vagina of having to put up with sexual advances from your boss for fear of reprisal"
Okay, I was pushing it with the last one, but the rest are all fairly decent right? I may not have used them perfectly, but the idea is there!
Okay, I was pushing it with the last one, but the rest are all fairly decent right? I may not have used them perfectly, but the idea is there!
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