White Privilege And Male Privilege

Shannon Sullivan wrote the book “Revealing Whiteness: The Unconscious Habits of Racial Privilege”. She does agree with McIntosh that whites do in fact receive these hidden privileges. In her book she wrote “Blithely wrapped up in a white world, white people often do not see their own ignorance and cannot be faulted for not addressing it...” (18). Sullivan explains that white people do not realize that they are receiving these certain benefits for just being white. They also can’t fix this problem until they realize that they are privileged.

When asked about white privilege, many whites believe that it is a myth while other deny the existence of white privilege entirely. However, white privilege is not a myth. White privilege is very prevalent in society and uniquely effects many different groups. Peggy McIntosh discusses white privilege in her article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” McIntosh states, “I have come to see while privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was, "meant" to remain oblivious” (par. 3).

Prior to beginning my readings on white racial identity, I did not pay much attention to my white race. If someone had asked me to describe my appearance I would have said short blond hair, blue eyes, average stature, etc. One of the last things I would have noted was the color of my skin. Growing up in overwhelmingly white communities, I never thought to use the color of my skin to differentiate myself from others. Over the course of this dialogue I have learned that my white racial identity is one of the most defining aspects of my appearance in this society. There is a certain level of privilege that I am afforded based solely on the color of my skin. According to Peggy McIntosh, “White privilege is like an invisible weightless

In “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh argues that racism can be found imbedded into the culture of society; conferring and denying certain privileges on some rather than all. This is a dangerous cultivation; endowing a strong expectation that white privileges are naturally deserving. Furthermore, making the cornerstone of McIntosh’s main argument; that white privilege is just a less aggressive synonym for dominance. When you receive privileges for looking a certain type of way, the recipient becomes immune; often not being able to acknowledge their advantages. As a result, this creates a cultural divide, between racial groups.

Peddy McIntosh highlighted various unearned white privileges in her autobiographical article “White Privilege, Color and Crime: A Personal Account.” She illustrated the white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that one white person could count on cashing in each day. White people have these privileges given to them by the society in which they live in. The same society taught them to be ignorant and unawareness of these privileges. This system of unearned privileges established by white individuals made people of color feel oppressed. In this system being white is a norm and dominant power. Caucasians, who benefit most from the white privilege system in the United States, are more likely to

In Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” she expresses her own privileges as a white woman. She says things such as, “I do not have to educate my children to be aware of

In Peggy McIntosh’s, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” she introduces the topic of privilege from the point of view of a women in a world designed to favor men. She sees that men acknowledge the fact that women are disadvantaged but are unable to admit that they themselves have higher power. This denial of power is what creates the gap between men and women and is a clear stepping stone to her primary point of white privilege. The problem does not lie in the existence of white privilege but more so in the validation that is given to it. To be oblivious to this privilege is what gives it power to aid the white population, while simultaneously crippling other minority groups. She goes on to state that realizing there is hierarchy is the first step to systematically taking it down. This however has to start by finding where the problem originates.

In Marilyn Frye’s article On Being White, she brought up a few points that caught my attention. There are three points she made that support me arguing that whites carry privileges that are not available to people of color. First, whites have the power to define who is white and who is not. Second, white people have the option to hear or listen to black people or ignore them. Lastly, many white people do not understand or realized that they are privileged. I am going to explain why these points and Mark Twain’s book Pudd’nhead Wilson relates to I and Frye’s argument.

There are two prominent writer/scholars who have taken the issue of white privilege to heart and have shared their expert analysis on the subject; these authors/writer-scholars are Peggy McIntosh, a white feminist, and Beverly Tatum, an African American Psychologist. McIntosh, in her article "Coming to See Correspondences," makes excellent observations about the privilege that she has experienced just by being a white female in America. The two most significant points made by McIntosh

When discussing the issue between African-American and Caucasian the claim of is white skin privilege a myth can be debatable. Paul Kivel claims yes, from White Benefits, Middle-Class Privilege. Tim Wise claim No, from “The Absurdity (and Consistency) of White Denial: What Kind of Card Is Race?” Paul Kivel and Tim Wise both agree that African American and Caucasian have received different treatment. However, Paul Kivel states, “Privileges are the economic extras that those of us who are middle-class and wealthy gain at the expense of poor and working class people of all race.” Tim Wise believes that Caucasian is in denial that discrimination is a real problem. After reviewing both claims I believe Tim Wise made a more valid point. Wise states,

In the article Unpacking the Invisible Backpack, McIntosh states “I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege” I think that statement is true since people can become a part of situations related to privilege unintentionally and cannot help how they were born. I believe McIntosh explore of white privilege is all about and how power is established in the everyday life of all people in America. She says "White privilege" is stated to consist of an "invisible weightless knapsack" of useful goodies. A list of these goodies includes "special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks." I think her take on that would be the ability to go through society as a white person without having the disadvantages of another racial group such as African Americans however she questions on how she is going to use this advantage of having white privilege, will she use her white privilege as a means of power to benefit only herself or will she change and transfer the way of how her power is different from others. Jensen also has some of the same questions as McIntosh, in the excerpt White Privilege Shapes the U.S. Jensen askes a student “if we live in a world of white privilege--unearned white privilege--how does that affect your notion of a level playing field” the student responds by saying it doesn’t really matter, acknowledging he has an unearned white privilege but ignores

By associating the potential existence of racism with consumption, a form of rationalization is that we now live in society that does not recognize and reward race, but merit. In turn, whites do not inherently realize the privileges that they are born with. Peggy McIntosh actually used the terms unearned entitlement and unearned advantage to describe disproportionate lead that whites have over blacks (McIntosh, 103). The fact of the matter is that most white people are in denial that they have been born with unearned entitlements that minorities do not have and according to McIntosh this is because they have been taught not to recognize it. As much as white people have been taught not to recognize that they have been given white privilege, blacks and minorities recognize that they do. Although many believe that the playing field is now level, is apparent that there is an uphill struggle for people of color. But how should one first recognize this struggle?

Once brought to my attention, I realized some of the most basic things catered to my white privilege. For example, when I buy band-aids, they match my skin tone, or when I stay in a hotel, the complimentary shampoo always works with the texture of my

I was just looking at my social media homepage and then I saw that #Turner was trending. I couldn’t remember any celebrity named turner, so, I clicked the name and a story came up. It was about a white male athlete in Stanford University. The title initially attracted me, the title was “The Stanford Rape Case Illustrates the Toxicity of White Male Privilege”. The topic literally catches my attention and I was eager to read this article that this white male privilege still exist. I wanted to know about what the situation is about?

This article talked about white privilege and how implicit racism has been a part of our daily life. One of the phrases was: “I can choose blemish color or bandages in “flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin". I had always taken this for granted because my skin is considered light and so I never had to stop, think, and pick the right color for my skin tone. Overall, this was the first time I heard the concept of privilege. Thus, I originally thought that privilege was only referring to racial terms. Not until we had another class activity on different types of privileges, then I realized that privilege could take different forms such as gender, heteronormative, intersectionalities, language, and