Privileged? I’m no f***ing Toff!
As soon as the word “privilege” is mentioned, the screams start – but what does it really mean?
Getting involved in activism can feel overwhelming. There’s a chance that there’s going to be terms you’ve never heard of or discourse you’ve never been a part of if you’ve never tried it before. One thing that is perceived as a problem is ‘call out culture’ but it’s an essential part of any movement. Examining mistakes is how we learn to do better. We all make them. There’s not one person in politics or activism who has not fucked up in some way.
When someone does screw up, then it’s good to step back and evaluate if privilege is leading to ignorance. “Privilege” is a term universally loathed by those who join activist movements simply to make themselves look good. It can sound like an intimidating term when you’ve got people screaming that lefties are out of control and policing everyone who isn’t a communist – but this isn’t the case.
“Privilege” isn’t about whether you’re a toff who smokes luxurious cigars, and likes to hunt foxes. It’s not in any way a smear. The people who claim it is generally think being straight also means they’re being victimised. It’s a tactic of faux outrage designed to make us stop looking at what’s really going on.
It’s a tactic of faux outrage designed to make us stop looking at what’s really going on.
Privilege means that you are not oppressed or do not face discrimination in a specific area. For instance, I am white and therefore I do not experience racism and that is a form of privilege. It doesn’t mean life is easy, it just means I don’t experience racism.
When the word was first applied in an identity context it was used to try to distinguish who was experiencing what. It was a method of working out systems of discrimination, creating language for those who were experiencing discrimination so they could then battle against it. If we didn’t recognise that some people are privileged in certain areas then we could never call out acts of homophobia because then we wouldn’t be able to acknowledge that gay people face prejudice at all.
It’s one of the terms that almost instantly gets people on edge though, and it should not be one that shuts young people out of engaging in issues they care about. It’s supposed to open up conversations and not shut them down.
It’s supposed to open up conversations and not shut them down.
People have different experiences. You can’t understand what it’s truly like to live with a chronic illness unless you have one. You can’t understand the different micro-aggressions Asian people face day in and day out unless you are Asian. People are treated differently by society and we can only tackle that if we give it a name, call it what it is and begin to break down our own systems of discrimination and oppression.
It’s not an insult. It’s not demeaning. It’s a way for other people to be able to discuss their lives. Let’s take back the term from the whiners who are so easily threatened. The battle for equal rights was always supposed to be a movement about solidarity. It’s about time it got back to that and wasn’t about Twitter squabbles.
You can order issue 1 of Stand Up here.
