Being tall is a mixed privilege. It helps basketball players, but not jockeys. Both the very tall and very short have difficulties getting clothing, and some of

Being tall is a mixed privilege. It helps basketball players, but not jockeys. Both the very tall and very short have difficulties getting clothing, and some of the very tall are that way because of medical problems. Most things are a mixed privilege. An ex-neighbor of mine, who was a good looking fitness instructor who rode a motorcycle, would also be harassed when she was on her bike, solely for being herself. Friends of mine who are moderately rich say they have difficulties because a lot of people associate with them in the hopes of getting access to that money. (Take a look at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8809183 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8809183 to see the number of people ready to jump on $7 million.) While there are many ways to use the language of privilege, and it can even be used as a weapon to undermine other viewpoints, it seems that your last paragraph falls strongly in the standard privilege viewpoint. That is, I suspect that most people who talk about privilege will agree that "A black child born into a well educated and wealthy family is far more privileged than a white child born to a poor, uneducated and abusive family" is something which falls into the privilege framework, even if some may disagree with its validity or object to a real-world usefulness of a partial ordering which combines multiple privileges. I'm therefore confused about how that's an example of how privilege commentary is 'really unhelpful'.