General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: "Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is" [View all]The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,661 posts)who aren't straight white men that they have to worry about it? Hell, yes. White people are sometimes abused by the police; right in my neighborhood a white woman was shot and killed by a trigger-happy cop when she went out to the alley to alert them to a possible assault. A video was posted just a short time ago showing a cop punching a young white woman who had been reported for underage drinking. Sometimes men (more likely boys) are sexually assaulted. The point is, that as a white person I don't worry about being shot by the cops and I don't feel I have to alter my behavior for fear of the police. When I was pulled over for running a stop sign I never even considered the possibility of anything worse than a ticket. As it happened, I was warned to be more careful and wished a nice day. On the other hand, as a woman I have to be very careful about where I go and what I do, especially in unfamiliar places or at night, because the possibility of assault is real. And, like probably every woman with a pulse I have been sexually harassed at work. Sometimes men are also assaulted or sexually importuned, but I doubt many men feel the need to adjust their behavior to avoid it or feel fearful in some situations because of the possibility of it. Because I'm straight nobody has ever given me a hard time about dating or marrying a man, but if my chosen partner had been a woman it would have been a different story altogether.
The issue is not whether some bad thing could happen to anybody, but whether the bad thing is a constant and pervasive possibility that is a consequence of your being something other than straight, white and male - to the point where you are always aware of it and have to alter your own behavior in order to protect yourself. Not having to do that is privilege.