Definition in Feminism: “Male Privilege.”
Explanation:
Often I hear individuals attempting to refute the evidence of male privilege and some argue that it is a myth. I strongly believe more men should come out and admit and then fight to end male privilege. As a man, for the longest time, I felt that male privilege was a myth. But, as I did more and more research I began to be more convinced that male privilege is not a myth but an actual reality. I was raised to think male privilege was a myth, but as I continued in my under-graduate degree to be a History Educator I found evidence after evidence in primary and secondary source historical documents that men indeed have it better in society than women. Men continue to have a better and more privileged life than women. Am I saying that men do not have a hard life, absolutely not, life in general is very hard. For example, men in America have it hard in that if there is a major war they are most likely to be drafted. Life for men is hard, if you are one to think life for men is hard like I do, then how much harder is life for women. If both sexes have a hard life, and the male sex is more privileged purely because of biological birth, then imagine how much harder life is for women.
Then what is male privilege? I chose the following sources to help define male privilege. As with all of my posts on "Feminist Musings" I welcome constructive thoughts either for or against.
Definitions:
“’Male Privilege’ is assuming one has the right to occupy
any space of person by whatever means, with or without permission. It’s a sense of entitlement that’s unique to
those who have been raised male in most cultures – it’s notably absent in most
girls and women. Male privilege is not
something that’s given to men in this culture; it’s something that men
take. It’s not that women don’t have the
ability to have and wield this privilege; some do. It’s that in most cases, this privilege is
withheld from them culturally and emotionally.
Male privilege is woven into all levels of the culture, from unearned
higher wages to more opportunities in the workplace, from higher quality, less
expensive clothing to better bathroom facilities. Male privilege extends into sexual harassment,
rape, and war. Combine male privilege with
capitalism (which rewards gree and acquisition) and the mass media (which,
owned by capitalists, highlights only the rewards of acquisition and makes
invisible its penalties), and you have a juggernaut that needs stopping by any
means. Male privilege is not the
exclusive province of men; there are some few women who have a degree of this
horrifying personality trait. Male
privilege is, in a word, violence.”
Kate Bornstein, “Gender
Outlaw,” 1994
“Male privilege is a sociological term that refers quite
generally to any special rights or status granted to men in a society, on the
basis of their sex or gender, but usually denied to women.”
“Male privilege refers to the social theory which argues
that men have unearned social, economic, and political advantages or rights
that are granted to them solely on the basis of their sex, and which are
usually denied to women. A man's access to these benefits may also depend on
other characteristics such as race, sexual orientation and social class.”
“Male Privilege: Male privilege is a set of privileges that
are given to men as a class due to their institutional power in relation to
women as a class. While every man experiences privilege differently due to his
own individual position in the social hierarchy, every man, by virtue of being
read as male in society, benefits from male privilege. Some examples:
• I am far less likely to face sexual
harassment at work than my female co-workers are.
• My elected representatives are mostly
people of my own sex. The more prestigious and powerful the elected position, the more this is
true.
• If I have a wife or live-in girlfriend,
chances are we’ll divide up household
chores so that she does most of the labor, and in particular
the most repetitive and unrewarding tasks.”
This website directs you to a checklist to describe “Male
Privilege.” This was written by Peggy
McIntosh.
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