Why I do not like the term "privilege"

[pozorvlak]

[This post is basically a holding page for a discussion that started on Twitter but quickly spiralled beyond 140 characters per point.]

I think that the term "privilege", as used by feminists and other equality-campaigners, is unhelpful. I think the concept to which it refers (which I attempted to explain here) is extremely helpful and important;

Comments

Re: What is blogging for?

[pozorvlak]

I guess I was assuming that the unreachable trolls were outnumbered by clueless but educable people who don't realise they're in the wrong place, but perhaps this is my unexamined privilege talking.

If bloggers avoid using it, they'll have to go round the houses to say things that they could say a lot more easily if there was just a simple word for it

I absolutely agree that this is a concept that needs a concise term. I think it's possible to find a better term than "privilege", but I don't know how :-(

muted group theory

That's a new one on me (and "group theory" tends to spark the wrong associations in my head :-) ). Reading now - thanks!

And for what?

Easier outreach, more obvious segmentation. The feminist blogs which are doing outreach will have one less misconception to overcome; those which aren't will look less like they are.

If, as you say, the majority of non-feminists commenting in feminist spaces are trolls, then this won't make much difference. But if not, it would save feminist time and energy and aid the spread of some very important ideas.