Julian Real on Unpacking the Male Privilege Jockstrap
Oct 4th, 2008 by admin
I will limit my own modified version to apply to what I know of male privilege from Western white-dominant societies, but not white-only societies. I want to thank Barry Deutsch [Amp of Alas, a Blog-- Heart] for creating and further compiling the list which identifies 43 forms of male privilege. I will also offer up a critique of that list, as I find some of it to be racist, heterosexist, and classist, among other things. But thanks, Barry, for getting the ball rolling. (Pun probably intended.) And I hope you have stopped allowing misogynists and racists to degrade and harass women of color and white women on your blog…
The Male Privilege Checklist
[Barry Deutsch: let me know if you'd prefer I offer my criticisms of your list in another way other than bracketing them below. -- Julian Real.]1. My odds of being hired for a job, when competing against female applicants, are probably skewed in my favour. The more prestigious the job, the larger the odds are skewed. [However, men who appear to come from poverty or the working class are much more likely to be turned away from a prestigious job than a middle class or wealthier-appearing man.]
2. I can be confident that my co-workers won’t think I got my job because of my sex - even though that might be true. [This is far more true for white men than for many men of color.]
3. If I am never promoted, it’s not because of my sex. [But may well be due to my race or ethnicity, if I'm not white.]
4. If I fail in my job or career, I can feel sure this won’t be seen as a black mark against my entire sex’s capabilities. ["Black mark" is part of racist speech. Black Monday, black mark, black sheep of the family: all generate negative associations with blackness and Blackness. See Dreaming The Dark, by Starhawk, for more on this.]
5. The odds of my encountering sexual harassment on the job are so low as to be negligible. [This is much more likely to be the case for men perceived to be heterosexual.]
Read the rest here at Julian Real’s place, and thanks, Julian, for sending the link to me.
Heart
I left a comment at Julian Real’s blog, but even then I feel dislike being part of drawing traffic to Barry Deutsch’s Alas A Pimp blog. I hope everyone reading understands I am using that word because that is exactly what he is. Not name-calling, truth telling. Barry Deutsch is a pimp. He apparently sees no conflict in Barry calling himself a feminist, while living off the avails of pornography.
Hi Sis.
I made a separate blogpost about Barry Deutsch following the reception of your comment (thanks again for that), which I’ll link to here, but please let me know if you know more about how he’s behaved as a pimp.
http://radicalprofeminist.blogspot.com/2008/10/on-matter-of-profeminists-making-secret_05.html
This list is just amazing. I learned a lot from it, and I think all men should read this. Men may not listen to one word women say, but men commenting on men and male privilege is true groundbreaking work. Good job!!