White Males Essay Example for Free

White Males Essay What is white male privilege? It is important that white male privilege is defined because the majority of whites males want to deny that it exists at all. The denial of its existence by white people is racialized. People of color say white people enjoy white privilege while white people deny, as often as possible, that they have it and that such a power structure exists. Before defining White male privilege we must first understand the idea of privilege in an anti-oppression setting. Privilege is defined my the webster dictionary as a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor. It is a status that is conferred by society to certain groups. â€Å"It’s about advantages you have that you think are normal. † When this idea is applied to a certain group of people rather than others you begin to see a social polarization, one group that benefits from the privilege and another group that is setback by it. To understand white male privilege one must first understand each factor of privilege, how they work together, and how they effect society. White male privilege is made up of two different privileges, white privilege which is defined by race and male privilege which is defined by gender. White privilege is defined (Clark, 2005), as (1a) a right, advantage, or immunity granted to or enjoyed by white persons beyond the common advantage of all others; an exemption in many particular cases from certain burdens or liabilities. (b) A special advantage or benefit of Stephens 2 white persons; with reference to divine dispensations, natural advantages, gifts of fortune, genetic endowments, social relations, etc. (2a) A privileged position; the possession of an advantage white persons enjoy over non-white persons. (3a) The special right or immunity attaching to white persons as a social relation; prerogative. (b) Display of white privilege, a social expression of a white person or persons demanding to be treated as a member or members of the socially privileged class. (4a) To authorize or license of white person or persons what is forbidden or wrong for non-whites; to justify, excuse. (b) To give white persons special freedom or immunity from some liability or burden to which non-white persons are subject; to exempt. Peggy McIntosh describes white privilege as â€Å"an invisible weightless knapsack of special previsions† in the sense that white privilege provides the beneficiary with advantages that they don’t realize others lack. These advantages can range from being late and not have that count against your race to not worrying if your skin tone makes you the target of police brutality. Many whites against the idea of white privilege believe that the notion of racial preference originated with affirmative action programs and that is should be dismantled to address the issue of privilege. Others against white privilege simply believe it is a myth to essentially make them feel bad for there â€Å"ancestor mistakes†. Most people do not fully understand the privileges that they benefit from so they can not ever truly except this reality. Most men feel this way when they are presented with the idea of male privilege for the first time. Male privilege is a set of privileges that are given to men due to their institutional power in relation to women. While every man experiences privilege differently due to his Stephens 3 own individual position in the social hierarchy, every man, who is seen as male by society, benefits from male privilege. Male privilege branches out over all men no matter what there race, class, or sexuality is. In our patriarchal society male privilege is a bit more inherent. Female workers are, on average, are paid more than 20 percent less than their male components doing the exact same thing. Male privilege can be found in most things in our lives from tv and entertainment all the way to mannerism and how we hold ourselves in our day to day lives. Now that both white and male privilege have been defined we can go into detail about how the both are intertwined White male privilege is an institutionalized power structure in which white males are at the apex of the social pyramid. White males have a very disproportional amount of power compared to women and people of color. Some people would describe being a white male as â€Å"the lowest difficulty setting in a game call the real world†. Both white and male privilege are the most prevalent advantages throughout time. Those who are opposed to this say that white male privilege is a thing of the past and is no longer relevant because we live in a post racial society where citizens may create their own destinies. With Barack Obama as president they believe any structure that existed before hand is nullified by the presence of an African american president. To some white male privilege provides a group with advantages they don’t realize they have. Unchecked it can be used deny it’s very existence with ignorance. The them the best way to combat this issue is to face it head. It’s hard to acknowledge some you don’t you have or why you have it. If people were more aware of their privileges they could find ways to end them or Stephens 4 even making them a common thing provided for others no matter what your race, gender, or sexual preference was. To others white male privilege is nothing but an illusion. They believe that in a post racial society privilege is what you make of it and we all are equal. Some would even go as far to say that white privilege is nothing but a crutch people of color use to take advantage of the white people. Now that I’ve defined Privilege whether it be male privilege or white, showed examples of it in our day to day life , and described it implications on society how will you perceive it? Will you go out teach others about this invisible advantage or will you see it as anything else that’s invisible.