MrScorpio Talks To Everyone

[TygrBright]

22. As always, Mr.S, well worth the read.

It's the privilege, and the assumptions that come with the privilege, and the denial that comes with the privilege.

The truly sad/funny thing about it is that here on DU I would bet there are very few individuals who are privileged in all of the five ways you mentioned, especially as a lifelong experience.

It's so easy to see the "unprivileged" status when it belongs to us-- when we're on the wrong side of the patriarchy, love the wrong people, have the wrong skin shade, live on the wrong side of the tracks, etcetera.

Some of us, I suspect, have an unconscious belief that our unprivileged status in one area exempts us from experiencing or benefiting from any kind of privilege in any other area.

But even for those of us who acknowledge the existence and benefits of the privileges we do enjoy (being straight, for example, or never having to worry about whether we'll have a warm place to sleep on a winter night,) it's easy to blind ourselves to the effects OUR privilege perpetuates on those who don't enjoy it. And all too easy to disclaim responsibility-- after all, we didn't ASK for that privilege!-- and absolve ourselves of the obligation to work against that privilege.

appreciatively,
Bright