I hate that you throw word privilege around. What privilege do I have as a bm? Seriously I'd love to hear what you think.
You dont have racial privilege. You do have gender privilege, sexual orientation and gender identity privilege, intellectual and educational privilege, class privilege and able-bodied privilege.
That's because of the forum audience but..the basic idea is that ww and sexism does not compare to racial oppression, in a white society full of both racist men and women
Things are very subjective around these issues Nerdy Girl For example look at women in Afghanistan vs women in Finland when it comes to the issue of equality. Finnish women have the highest levels of social equality for women in the world, while Afghanistan is one of the worst places to be a woman. On the other hand look at the issue of the treatment of blacks in America historically, where you can simply break it down into the different regions. Would you have rather been a black person in Mississippi and Alabama or in the Northern States historically. One place meant experiencing slavery and institutionalized, racist social policies controlling you in virtually every aspect of life, while another place meant at least a semblance of freedom, even if not totally equal in social policies. You didn't face the distinct possibility of getting lynched for looking at a white woman in New York as compared to Mississippi At the core both is mistreatment based on one's born physical traits. I feel that attempting to find differences is very misleading and purposeless in the end. As a man I am not ignorant of the issues of domestic abuse and discrimination that women face in varying sectors of society. As a black man I am also fully aware of being discriminated, judged and stereotyped just for being black. There are life events one experiences that often reminds you of that at some point in time. Its why I'm dead set on dealing with people as they come, whomever they are. Treat me right and I will treat you right, whomever you are.
Ok. Why? (And I think it's important to note that society is not uniformly white or uniformly racist.)
I understand WHITE male privelege but what privelege am I getting for being a black male? You're inability to grasp who you're presenting this argument to is why you don't understand racism but get sexism
Thanks for your thoughtful post, GQ Brotha. I would tend to agree with you about focusing on differences between these two social phenomena, especially the divisive practice of trying to decide which is "worse." But, I have heard this claim so often on the forum, that I thought perhaps it was worth considering what's behind it.
And gender doesnt give women a privilege in a society full of men who rule, run the corporations and the government, make the laws, and generally create the societal rules under which we all operate. For example, no one uses slut for a man and does so seriously. No one sits in judgement of how many partners a man chooses to have, in fact the more the merrier. Women have to negotiate the whole unspoken idea that some unknown number puts them into the realm of sluthood. Men are free to go around impregnating women and not supporting kids, but a woman who has children by several different men is judged harshly. Women are told they should dress a certain way, avoid certain places, not go out alone at night, and when we point out that this is a limitation on our freedom that men do not have, we're told it's just "the way it is, sorry babe, deal or get raped." Without there being an understanding that the difference between a woman who is raped and one who is not isnt her wardrobe, how much alcohol she had, or where she was. It's the presence of a rapist. (Not to mention the fact that the vast majority of rapes are committed by men known to the woman, we're taught to avoid the "monster under the bed" sort of rape by limiting our behaviour) How does that limit us? To give a personal example, when I worked until midnight or after in downtown Boston, my coworkers were free to hope on the subway to get home. To be "safe" I had to spent 40 dollars on a cab. That's a financial impact when it happens 3 nights a week, trust me.
Considering ww in America aren't being shot in the back by Bart cops, or being dragged through hillbilly streets, I'd say racism is worse
Interesting point. When I think of black people's issues in America, I think of: - The depletion of any history and cultural values that were taken from Africa once enslaved and brought to America. - The systematic structure of 'ghetto's and penitentiaries being formed and infused with large groups of African Americans. - The chaos and violence that is all-so-common in impoverished communities that African Americans seem to occupy as a majority. - Sheer numbers that do not favor African Americans as a group (because they are often, if not always, a minority within a continent aside from Africa) across the globe and place them in a position as the 'racism/oppression scapegoat'.
So would I. If people around the world had the choice, I'm pretty sure the general consensus would take being a white male or white woman over black male or black woman in terms of the BS one endures in their lifetime.
