General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: "Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is" [View all]Tom Rinaldo
(22,912 posts)Same goes for "Male Advantage" or Straight Advantage".
It is, overall, an advantage to be white in our (and many other) societies. Of course there are exceptions that do not disprove the rule. In some instances an institution that embraces "affirmative action" might factor in darker skin color positively while making a close call - but that hardly is representative of how most social decisions are made in our society. Or maybe for whatever reason a given white is interacting with a group, a store, a club, whatever that tends to lean ethnocentric black. In isolated examples like that it might not be an advantage to be white, but it is much rarer for a white person to experience near constant diffuse hostility because of the color of his/her skin than it is for a black person.
I personally don't object to the term "White Privilege"etc. There have been and continue to be literal privileges associated with being white, or male, or straight. Privileges like being able to take any seat on a bus, or being able to belong to some Golf Clubs where major deals are sealed, or being able to marry the person you love. Those were all sanctioned privileges reserved for only some members of our society.
But I also understand that the word privilege carries a strong emotional charge that can convey concepts like pampered, elites, aristocracy, ruling class etc. that many of those who start out life with one of the advantages we are talking about do not relate to as applying to them (often with understandable cause). Emotionally the word privileged often equates with success. It would be interesting to hear the responses if the word "privilege" was inserted into a quiz of rapid fire word associations. The word advantage is more neutral. If a person gets more time to practice, that person has an advantage. If a person has the best gear for a sporting activity, that person has an advantage. Starting with an advantage does not guarantee success, there are so many factors at work effecting individual lives. Having a specific birth advantage does not mean in practice that one has a consistent overall advantage in life over everyone who did not start life with that advantage.
But everyone immediately gets that starting out with an advantage is desirable and by definition experienced only for some.