Privilege
This meme is going around, time to chime in...
As a feminist, especially in the postmodern third-wave storm that was raging when I cut my teeth in the movement, I've spent a lot of time working with privilege -- identifying and acknowledging, working out the guilt people often feel when examining the relationship between the unearned benefits I enjoy and the shaft other folks have experienced, fighting for justice when I'm a target, teaching about privilege, feeling superior because I did all this work, trying to keep it all in perspective in my work and in my attitudes. It's a tool, ultimately -- the point in not to get mired in guilt but to try to exploit other people as little as possible, and to use the benefits of my privilege to amplify the voices of folks who are limited by the system that awarded status to me.
I've noticed that insight does not equal remedy. But it's still one of my favorite hobbies, to examine the dynamics that construct our cultures. It's a good idea for me to go over what I learned again with the new eyes that time relentlessly provides, and I get fired up when I do it.
So thanks for the exercise, my fine feminist friends.
My class position is as complex as everyone's probably is. My dad is a minister and my experience of class is skewed because of that. Moominmuppet, a fellow PK, talked about this in her version of the meme...clergy occupy an out-of-strata class position, it's a poorly-paid job with high social capital. We lived beyond our means in a wealthy community, so we were looked down upon as poor kids by our classmates but were certainly rich by world standards and probably on the upper side of middle class on a US scale. My mom's social service jobs gave me more exposure to people really living in poverty than my peers got. As a child my sense of our position in the world was swirly.
So my class experience is bounded in contradictions. My mom went back to work when I was 10 -- it's amazing to me now that she was able to manage NOT working for 10 years, but at the time she was the only mom in my class who had a full-time job and I was embarrassed to go to day care. I remember the lights getting shut off one time, and creditors calling, always. But I took karate lessons and went to sleep-away camp in the summer. We went on beach vacations most years, but stayed with relatives more than in hotels. We never had cable because it was too expensive, but we ate TV dinners and had lots of Christmas presents. I went to public school, but we squeaked by in the red so that we could live in one of the best school districts in the nation. Most of my class went Ivy League, I went to a respectable private 4-year liberal arts college and there was never a doubt that I would be able to go.
The result is that I know how to sound and look like money, and it gets me benefits I never worked for. I speak authoritatively, in an educated voice, and I casually take up space when I want to. Moominmuppet's wise comments apply to me as well:
It's that classic sign of privilege -- assuming the world is going to listen to you... Additionally, regardless of what sort of mess I'm actually in financially, I sound educated, which people assume means I must have access to resources, too, which changes my interactions with the rest of world in all sorts of ways. I know that due to my race and apparent class I've gotten treated very differently than others in the same objective position. I've seen it. I've talked my way into second, third, fourth chances, extensions, etc, that others haven't been given.
Exactly. I think of myself as broke, not poor. The difference is that even though I've been consistently more or less low-income as an adult worker, creditors are constantly buzzing around my ears like midges and I owe more money than I'll ever make, I could choose to prioritize financial success and probably talk my way into a higher standard of living. I'm not exactly downwardly-mobile-by-choice, but I did and do have the option of pulling myself up some by my bootstraps, and that American myth is certainly not available to everyone.
PRIVILEGE MEME
Bold the ones that are true for you.
The list is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. The exercise developers ask that if you participate in this blog game, you acknowledge their copyright.
Father went to college
Father finished college Has 2 Masters Degrees
Mother went to college
Mother finished college and got 3/4 of the way to a Masters
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers the same. My folks combined made a starting teacher's salary at my high school when I was enrolled.
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
Were read children's books by a parent and this is the key to my privilege, I believe. I get a lot of mileage out of good writing skills.
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively -- swy said "yes and no. I'm white and highly educated, so yes. I'm fat, so no." Yep, me too.
Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs -- Loans, loans, loans and loans paid for school. They took out a little less than half and I did the other half. I worked, traded being an RA for room and board, got some grants, and still owe about $90K for undergrad and grad school.
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school No, public, but the education was spectacularly high quality and it got me really far.
Went to summer camp
Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels -- unusual but not rare
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
There was original art in your house when you were a child
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18
You and your family lived in a single family house
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home -- Maybe, I guess...they are still paying 2 mortgages, I'm not sure how home-ownership works.
You had your own room as a child
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course -- Again I second SWY "...I'm sure I would've been able to if I'd needed one. One of my more useless skills in the real world is that I'm exceedingly good at standardized testing. Give me a ScanTron and watch me go." Yeah, me too. Plus my high school pretty much WAS an SAT-prep course, that was their main focus all the way through and kids did unbelievably well.
Had your own TV in your room in High School
Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
Went on a cruise with your family
Went on more than one cruise with your family
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family -- not the exact amount, but I knew when they were due and went to the company's building to pay them on the regular.
As a feminist, especially in the postmodern third-wave storm that was raging when I cut my teeth in the movement, I've spent a lot of time working with privilege -- identifying and acknowledging, working out the guilt people often feel when examining the relationship between the unearned benefits I enjoy and the shaft other folks have experienced, fighting for justice when I'm a target, teaching about privilege, feeling superior because I did all this work, trying to keep it all in perspective in my work and in my attitudes. It's a tool, ultimately -- the point in not to get mired in guilt but to try to exploit other people as little as possible, and to use the benefits of my privilege to amplify the voices of folks who are limited by the system that awarded status to me.
I've noticed that insight does not equal remedy. But it's still one of my favorite hobbies, to examine the dynamics that construct our cultures. It's a good idea for me to go over what I learned again with the new eyes that time relentlessly provides, and I get fired up when I do it.
So thanks for the exercise, my fine feminist friends.
My class position is as complex as everyone's probably is. My dad is a minister and my experience of class is skewed because of that. Moominmuppet, a fellow PK, talked about this in her version of the meme...clergy occupy an out-of-strata class position, it's a poorly-paid job with high social capital. We lived beyond our means in a wealthy community, so we were looked down upon as poor kids by our classmates but were certainly rich by world standards and probably on the upper side of middle class on a US scale. My mom's social service jobs gave me more exposure to people really living in poverty than my peers got. As a child my sense of our position in the world was swirly.
So my class experience is bounded in contradictions. My mom went back to work when I was 10 -- it's amazing to me now that she was able to manage NOT working for 10 years, but at the time she was the only mom in my class who had a full-time job and I was embarrassed to go to day care. I remember the lights getting shut off one time, and creditors calling, always. But I took karate lessons and went to sleep-away camp in the summer. We went on beach vacations most years, but stayed with relatives more than in hotels. We never had cable because it was too expensive, but we ate TV dinners and had lots of Christmas presents. I went to public school, but we squeaked by in the red so that we could live in one of the best school districts in the nation. Most of my class went Ivy League, I went to a respectable private 4-year liberal arts college and there was never a doubt that I would be able to go.
The result is that I know how to sound and look like money, and it gets me benefits I never worked for. I speak authoritatively, in an educated voice, and I casually take up space when I want to. Moominmuppet's wise comments apply to me as well:
It's that classic sign of privilege -- assuming the world is going to listen to you... Additionally, regardless of what sort of mess I'm actually in financially, I sound educated, which people assume means I must have access to resources, too, which changes my interactions with the rest of world in all sorts of ways. I know that due to my race and apparent class I've gotten treated very differently than others in the same objective position. I've seen it. I've talked my way into second, third, fourth chances, extensions, etc, that others haven't been given.
Exactly. I think of myself as broke, not poor. The difference is that even though I've been consistently more or less low-income as an adult worker, creditors are constantly buzzing around my ears like midges and I owe more money than I'll ever make, I could choose to prioritize financial success and probably talk my way into a higher standard of living. I'm not exactly downwardly-mobile-by-choice, but I did and do have the option of pulling myself up some by my bootstraps, and that American myth is certainly not available to everyone.
PRIVILEGE MEME
Bold the ones that are true for you.
The list is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. The exercise developers ask that if you participate in this blog game, you acknowledge their copyright.
Father went to college
Father finished college Has 2 Masters Degrees
Mother went to college
Mother finished college and got 3/4 of the way to a Masters
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers the same. My folks combined made a starting teacher's salary at my high school when I was enrolled.
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
Were read children's books by a parent and this is the key to my privilege, I believe. I get a lot of mileage out of good writing skills.
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively -- swy said "yes and no. I'm white and highly educated, so yes. I'm fat, so no." Yep, me too.
Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs -- Loans, loans, loans and loans paid for school. They took out a little less than half and I did the other half. I worked, traded being an RA for room and board, got some grants, and still owe about $90K for undergrad and grad school.
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school No, public, but the education was spectacularly high quality and it got me really far.
Went to summer camp
Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels -- unusual but not rare
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
There was original art in your house when you were a child
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18
You and your family lived in a single family house
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home -- Maybe, I guess...they are still paying 2 mortgages, I'm not sure how home-ownership works.
You had your own room as a child
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course -- Again I second SWY "...I'm sure I would've been able to if I'd needed one. One of my more useless skills in the real world is that I'm exceedingly good at standardized testing. Give me a ScanTron and watch me go." Yeah, me too. Plus my high school pretty much WAS an SAT-prep course, that was their main focus all the way through and kids did unbelievably well.
Had your own TV in your room in High School
Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
Went on a cruise with your family
Went on more than one cruise with your family
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family -- not the exact amount, but I knew when they were due and went to the company's building to pay them on the regular.