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>women don't have it worse than men in my profession Spoken as a man with privilege. I've posted this concept in this thread before, but I'm going to post it a

by aestra 13y ago

>women don't have it worse than men in my profession Spoken as a man with privilege. I've posted this concept in this thread before, but I'm going to post it again. http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Privilege http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Privilege Privilege is a concept used in anti-racist, anti-sexist, and similar anti-oppression movements. Anti-oppressionists use "privilege" to describe a set of perceived advantages (or lack of disadvantages) enjoyed by a majority group, who are usually unaware of the privilege they possess. It is a term of art that may not align particularly well with the general-use word "privilege" or the programming term "privilege". A privileged person is not necessarily prejudiced (sexist, racist, etc) as an individual, but may be part of a broader pattern of -ism even though unaware of it. * The key point here is "usually unaware of the privilege they possess." There was a reason for many years I invented a gender neutral first name for myself to use online in place of my birth first name -- to avoid harassment and exceptionalism [http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Exceptionalism http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Exceptionalism]

dragonwriter 13y ago
Viewing privilege as something possessed by all individuals of the superficially-structurally-favored class is a dangerous, and potentially counterproductive concept. Racist, sexist, and other group-biased social structures often constrain and disadvantage individual members of the notionally "priveleged" class -- particularly those least interested in preserving the bias. Insofar as their is real privilege, it belongs to those whose desires align with the role assigned to their class, but even that notion of privilege has some danger, because to a certain extent those desires can be shaped and constrained by the structural bias. But, more to the point, simply asserting that any argument against the existence of privilege by those in the class asserted by those claiming to be advantaged by a structural bias is invalid because part of the concept of privilege is that those who hold it are often unaware of it is fundamentally flawed. (Also, the use of "majority" when the intent is to refer to the structurally-favored class is problematic; apartheid South Africa is a good example of this problem in regard to discussion of racism, but its a problem with sexism, too, unless you are asserting that the female sex is the structurally-advantage group, which is inconsistent with your reference to male privilege.)
- aestra 13y ago
  >Racist, sexist, and other group-biased social structures often constrain and disadvantage individual members of the notionally "priveleged" class -- particularly those least interested in preserving the bias. Agreed. I'm not saying everything is black and white. It's a generic concept. >use of "majority" when the intent is to refer to the structurally-favored class is problematic Not that kind of majority. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majority_%28sociology%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majority_%28sociology%29 A minority group is a sociological category within a demographic. Rather than a relational "social group", as the term would indicate, the term refers to a category that is differentiated and defined by the social majority, that is, those who hold the majority of positions of social power in a society. The differentiation can be based on one or more observable human characteristics, including, for example, ethnicity, race, gender, wealth, health or sexual orientation. Usage of the term is applied to various situations and civilizations within history, despite its popular mis-association with a numerical, statistical minority. In the social sciences, the term "minority" is used to refer to categories of persons who hold few positions of social power and whose position in society is underprivileged.

by aestra 13y ago

dragonwriter 13y ago

Viewing privilege as something possessed by all individuals of the superficially-structurally-favored class is a dangerous, and potentially counterproductive concept. Racist, sexist, and other group-biased social structures often constrain and disadvantage individual members of the notionally "priveleged" class -- particularly those least interested in preserving the bias. Insofar as their is real privilege, it belongs to those whose desires align with the role assigned to their class, but even that notion of privilege has some danger, because to a certain extent those desires can be shaped and constrained by the structural bias. But, more to the point, simply asserting that any argument against the existence of privilege by those in the class asserted by those claiming to be advantaged by a structural bias is invalid because part of the concept of privilege is that those who hold it are often unaware of it is fundamentally flawed. (Also, the use of "majority" when the intent is to refer to the structurally-favored class is problematic; apartheid South Africa is a good example of this problem in regard to discussion of racism, but its a problem with sexism, too, unless you are asserting that the female sex is the structurally-advantage group, which is inconsistent with your reference to male privilege.)

aestra 13y ago
>Racist, sexist, and other group-biased social structures often constrain and disadvantage individual members of the notionally "priveleged" class -- particularly those least interested in preserving the bias. Agreed. I'm not saying everything is black and white. It's a generic concept. >use of "majority" when the intent is to refer to the structurally-favored class is problematic Not that kind of majority. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majority_%28sociology%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majority_%28sociology%29 A minority group is a sociological category within a demographic. Rather than a relational "social group", as the term would indicate, the term refers to a category that is differentiated and defined by the social majority, that is, those who hold the majority of positions of social power in a society. The differentiation can be based on one or more observable human characteristics, including, for example, ethnicity, race, gender, wealth, health or sexual orientation. Usage of the term is applied to various situations and civilizations within history, despite its popular mis-association with a numerical, statistical minority. In the social sciences, the term "minority" is used to refer to categories of persons who hold few positions of social power and whose position in society is underprivileged.