for me, fear of standing out is a privilege

[diony]

As you all know, I read LJ extremely irregularly, so it wasn't until yesterday that I came across the complex and often painful discussion about cultural appropriation that's been going on in various journals these last 10 or so days. But when I did I started to read, and then I read, and read, and read some more, and tried my hardest to listen

Comments

Re: fear being a privilege

[diony]

I think you are misunderstanding me somewhat, but when I reread my post I see a lot of room for misunderstanding in my phrasing, which was definitely not as clear as it could have been. Because yes, I do phrase it as 'being afraid is a privilege' and that's not really what I mean -- in fact, I think I mean the inverse, that being able to _not be afraid_ is the privilege. Absolutely, many people are scared because of their inability to fit in due to race (or a lot of other reasons). The privilege I feel is that I don't have to live in that fear, because I can keep my head down, and being white, middle-class, relatively thin and all sorts of other things I do blend in.

And so part of what I was getting at in my own self-discovery is that I could feel the fear (by speaking out, not keeping my head down) or I could keep on as I've been doing and avoid the fear. And being able to make that choice does seem like a form of privilege to me.

I think I get what you're saying about "when these various fears are discussed as something only white people feel," which I can definitely see in my post even though it isn't what I was meaning to say. I agree: we are, on average, less brave. The privilege I see is that I can choose not to be brave, I can choose to act in such ways as to minimise or completely avoid the fears that a lot of other people have to face every day.

Thanks a lot for your thoughts. I'm learning.