Class Readings And Homosexuality Through The Perspective Of Connie Panzarino

This drastically reduces the life chances of poor people, queer and trans people, immigrants, and people of color. In practice, every law system and mainstream law reform effort has attempted to assign people and groups of people into two categories: who is worthy of a chance at a good life, and who is not. Spade’s proposal of a critical trans politics creates a system in which life chances are redistributed in a way that gives marginalized groups the opportunity to survive and succeed.

Ableism has given people so many advantages that people take for granted. In an Exploring the Invisible Knapsack of the Able-Bodied Privilege, an essay written by May-Machunda, she discusses the ways the able-bodied people have major privileges that do not get unacknowledged by the dominate group. The dominant group is unaware of their privileges because they have never checked their own privileges. The able-body has to acknowledge the privileges they have to understand how life is not structured for every person. Ableism helps people understand the advantages of the able-body by observing how “able-body” privileges have offered many people benefits that people take for granted.

Douglas C. Baynton argues in his article, “Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History”, that the concept of disability is culturally constructed and has been paid little to no attention to throughout history. He also argues that the term disability plays an important role in justifying discriminations against minority groups, based on gender, race, and ethnicity. He states that “Disability has functioned historically to justify inequality for disabled people themselves, but it has also done so for women and minority groups. That is, not only has it been considered justifiable to treat disabled people unequally, but the concept of disability has been used to justify discrimination against other groups by attributing disability to them.” (Baynton 94) He used women’s suffrage, African American freedom, and immigration restriction as examples to show how disability played an essential role in illustrating how minorities who were labeled as disabled were treated with discrimination. As they were labeled with disability, discrimination against them became justifiable, which ultimately proves that discrimination against disabled was thought as justifiable and were looked over.

The Peculiar Benefits essay talks about how “you have to surrender to kinds of privilege you hold. Nearly everyone, particularly in the developed world, has something someone else doesn’t, something someone else yearns for.” In Peculiar Benefits essay Roxane Gay gives the reader background information from her childhood going to Haiti during the summer and seeing the poverty that ran throughout the country. How she realized how much privilege she had back at home in the United States. Privilege is a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit. Not everyone has the same privilege therefore people will view life different. There are many privileges in the world we live: racial, gender, identity, heterosexual, economic, able bodied, educational, religious and etc…

The Peculiar Benefits essay talks about how “you have to surrender to kinds of privilege you hold. Nearly everyone, particularly in the developed world, has something someone else doesn’t, something someone else yearns for.” In Peculiar Benefits essay Roxane Gay gives the reader background information from her childhood going to Haiti during the summer and seeing the poverty that ran throughout the country. How she realized how much privilege she

An alumni group, Check Your Privilege organized by Dr. Ja’Nina Walker, works to raise student and faculty awareness about privilege on a San Francisco campus and increase social equality. The group defines privilege as “unearned access to social power based on membership in a dominant social group.” The group desires to increase consciousness about privilege, especially in the among social justice influences. They work to bring privilege into regular public discussion and urge those with privilege to use it for public benefit.

Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack” addresses the issue of acknowledging whites’ unaware privileges, thus weakening the systems of advantage to reconstruct power systems in the society from 1989 to the present. For instance, men are unconscious about their privileges in a patriarchal society while women are oppressed in the society. White people are unaware of the privileges which they take for granted while non-white communities are discriminated against repeatedly. McIntosh identities her privileges from daily life, which she also relates the patterns of white privilege and assumptions that passed down.

Privilege is often seen as special rights granted to individuals either on behalf of merit or through unwarranted means. In their writings, Johnson (privilege, oppression, and difference) and Peggy McIntosh (White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack) discuss their views on the impact that privileging specific social groups has on society. The concept of whiteness in America is often overlooked or unaffiliated with discussions concerning racial dilemmas. Whiteness and white privilege perpetuates racism due to its normalization in society which in turn serves as an agent of how other non-white people are treated.

“White Privilege and Male Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh discusses about white privilege and male privilege as an invisible privilege that does not become a topic for discussion in white communities. The children of white communities are taught to not recognize what is white privilege same with male. Instead of recognizing what is white privilege or male privilege, they become ignorant of the privilege they have compared to other races without privilege. Peggy uses herself as an example to understand white privilege and the advantage of occupying a position of privilege. In addition, she lists a list of conditions that she meets as a white individual compared to her friends, who may not meet the conditions.

Privilege applies to certain people who benefit more than other people in the same social, political or economic spaces (Henderson, L., week 1, 2014). Somebody might be privileged only because that person is wealthier or more powerful compared to the others. Privilege is an advantage enjoyed only by a person beyond the advantages of most. “Privilege is expressed as an advantage based on status or rank that is used to maintain status quo” (Collins, J., et al., 2011). Privilege can applies to different concept, such as male privilege, white privilege and heterosexual privilege, all of which have implications for education. Although it is still taboo, with evolution, we have come far and we are now starting to accept equality between men and women, white and black and starting to acknowledge heterosexual.

Socioeconomic status is generally determined by a person’s income, occupation, and education, as per the American Psychological Association these can “reveal inequalities in access to resources, plus issues related to privilege, power and control” (2016). Therefore, I will be discussing the social location that surrounds my education. In this social location, I have attributes that are a privilege and traits distinguished as oppressors as per the Intertesting axes of privilege, domination, and oppression (Diller, Houston, Morgan, & Ayim, 1996). I am Caucasian, twenty-three-years-old, I solely speak English and I am heterosexual. I was born and raised in Canada, I continue to engage in Canadian culture and follow Canadian tradition. I was raised a catholic and although I do not practice religion, Catholicism influences my decisions and morals. These ascribed and socialized characteristics are privileges in this social location. Aspects considered oppressors are, my ability I have depression and anxiety, as well as I am female, Bogo (2006) highlights groups who are considered to have less power in society, women and those with disabilities were included. My experience in this social location has been impacted due to these factors.

My perspective is vastly different from that of a homosexual Hispanic man, and a bisexual African American woman. In addition to gender and sexuality, Koppelman discusses socio-economic status as another element of an individual’s culture. He notes that income levels affect social class, which, in turn, affects the attitudes, beliefs and practices of members within that class; socio-economic status adds yet another lens that can change how an individual experiences the world. One of the elements I did not consider was someone’s ability. Koppelman contends that those with a disability should be considered a minority group, as their disability can affect their sense of identity. I was surprised as I read more about the negative historical perceptions of people with disabilities. I have always been attuned to the negative ways that racial minorities are portrayed, but I had never considered the ways in which those with disabilities were represented. As my current school utilizes the inclusion model, this will be an important lens for me to remember as I teach students with

Intersectionality is everywhere, intersectionality is constant. Intersectionality has existed for as long as people have existed. There have always been crossroads, struggles, successes, heartaches, and heartbreaks. This is most certainly the case in Travis Fine’s film Any Day Now. This movie was based in 1979 and during this time homosexual people had no rights. There are several intersections throughout this film, mainly the ways that disability and queerness intersect. Another interesting intersection that will be up for further discussion will be how women at this time intersect with men, specifically Rudy and Paul. For this examination and discussion two sources will be utilized, Robert McRuer’s piece on “Compulsory Able-Bodiedness” and Allison Kafer’s piece “Feminist, Queer, Crip”. The discussion to follow will analyze how homosexual identities unfold in Any Day Now, how that interacts with disability, and finally how gender roles play into both.

Although oppressed, homosexuals have now been able to utilize their priviledges to fight for equal rights. Winter, a blogger whom has dissected the article written by Hill Collins describes an example of interlocking relationship of oppression and priviledge by stating “as a lesbian and a woman I have experienced homophobic and sexist oppression in my family, in school, the workplace, on the streets etc. However, I am also white, not disabled, and from a middle-class background which means I have access to enormous privileges and advantages that working-class, disabled people and people of colour are routinely denied” (Winter, 2015). Although discriminated against by her sexual orientation, Winter is able to use other priviledges she possesses to empower herself or others in her

As an society is constantly progressing throughout a variety of perspectives, privilege plays a role among the conflicts of the person's life. In the terms of injustice and hardships, it is quite difficult to address these issues and to cope with them. Privilege is a term that is described as an unearned right that is given to an individual for the purpose of a specific power based on one's culture, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. It is important to acknowledge privilege as many people have rights in some kind of way in which they can misuse it in negative ways, which can be the cause oppression against another individual. I am going to discuss the content of 'invitation' and reflect aspects of my life which I have greater power and privilege than others. The questions corresponding to this article is why are you interested in exploring these issues related to privilege? and is your interest connected with any particular hopes for your work, for your life, for the world in which we live.