Privilege Analogy #1: Entitlement In Action

[bellatrys]

Let's say you're at a shindig of some sort - an office holiday party, a department function, the post-lecture refreshments, a gallery opening, a con, any place where there are a lot of other people, most of whom you don't know personally or well, and a lot of milling around

Comments

[skyshark]

Side question. What's the problem with "Oriental?" Wiki says its use to describe individuals can be insulting, but not why, and if it's okay in other ways.

I have an uncle who's Chinese, and my cousins have a distinctly Asian cast to their faces. I always thought it was safe to say Oriental features when describing that, since they've all three inherited a very classic eye shape, straight black hair, and lovely skin. If it isn't, I'll ask them how they describe it, but I'd like some background before trying to ask. :D

Well, what I was told by an Asian SF fan about 10 years ago

[bellatrys]

is that it's got loads of cultural baggage, from the fact that it was always used linked with negatives like "cruelty" or "cunning" or "slyness" or "treachery" as if those things were somehow uniquely or exceptionally present in people of Asian descent.

Moreover, even where you take it as an "innocent" directional, it's still intrinsically an Othering term. It's the same as the problem with using "non-white" instead of "of color." It says: we are the center of the universe, you are not yourselves, you do not have any true identity, you only exist in relation to us.

It's kind of like how "hysterical" is an intrinsically-sexist term, even if you don't realize what it means and why it was created originally.

But I'll let my Asian readers take it from here, since I may have missed something.

[skyshark]

Not that I can speak for all API/A folk, but I've never liked it much because I've always thought of it in regards to inanimate objects, like rugs or furniture. And, you know, I'm not a piece of furniture.

I went through a period of time when I tried to reclaim it as "hey, 'oriental' is based on 'orient' which is cool because like they used to have themselves at the top of the map and let's use it subversively!" but I got over that pretty quickly.

Pick a different party?

[kunacet]

If you're not fitting in somewhere, then go somewhere else. Not every space caters to you personally nor do they have any responsibility to do so.

I personally don't care for the club scene, so I don't go there. I do not go there and expect everyone to not dance, and to quiet the music or blame them when they don't cater to my tastes. That space simply isn't for me, I do not try to make it my space.

If you're not respected somewhere, go someplace where you are.

I've always considered white privilege to be a racist term where as majority privilege is more apt to the phenomenon.