a few non-exhaustive words about privilege

[sophiaserpentia]

A friend pointed me to this list of privilege the other day. Quoting bits which are relevant to frequent discussion in this journal:

privilege is consistently responding to disagreement, criticism, and concerns with condescension and hostility, then accusing the unprivileged of being irrational, inconsistent, duplicitous, guileful, and unappeasable

privilege is feeling entitled to the conformity in behaviours and attitudes of the unprivileged

privilege is not having to be self-conscious and self-critical

privilege is the habit of seeking power and influence over others

the privileged sees power over others as success

privilege is the ability to start, end, and avoid discussion with little consequence

privilege is shelter from direct consequences

privilege is feeling entitled to be better off than others

I want to add a few of my own:

Privilege means not having to wonder, ever, if people around you are regularly putting your needs ahead of theirs.

Privilege means being able to laugh at certain kinds of joke instead of being aware of your inferiority.

Privilege means not having to worry about the effects of your words or actions.

Edit. It was correctly pointed out that this list reflects the automatic assumption or perhaps assertion-by-default of privilege.

Comments

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

> the privileged sees power over others as success

I don't necessarily buy that. Some people with some privileges may feel that way, many don't in my experience. I consider this empty rhet.

I debated not including this one, for that reason: it is a highly generalized statement. It does point to something though, and i think with some tweaking it makes a valid point about the distinction between having privilege and not being aware of it, and not having privilege and being very aware of that. I do not read it as intended to be a general statement about power exchange (particularly on the interpersonal level).


Interesting skew, false dichotomy.

Please see my comment below.


I feel privileged in many ways, but I also feel like I have a basic understanding of human nature so I don't have to wonder. I know. Some people are putting their needs ahead of mine.

Awareness naturally works in that direction, but does not naturally work in the other direction. Knowing that other people are putting their needs ahead of yours does not necessarily translate to having occasion to wonder if you are benefitting from other people's deference-sacrifice.

I'm trying to find a way to phrase something that i learned while being raised as a white boy. I suppose it could point to "being spoiled" rather than "having privilege" (assuming that distinction points to an actual difference) but it was a rude awakening to realize that i was benefitting from the deference-sacrifices of people around me and i was not even consciously aware of it, though i was definitely aware of disruptions in that deference.