What your Mother Didn’t Tell You About: Privilege

If there is one word I’ve heard continuously throughout my academic career it’s privilege. All of us have it, yet it remains as taboo as menstruation (we’ll get to this issue another day). Why is it that we’re so fearful of identifying our own privileges? First off, we feel as though we’re being blamed for something out of our own control. Often times when people are reminded of their privilege the response is along the lines of “you have no idea how hard I’ve worked for XYZ”. What those people fail to realize is that although there can be privilege within certain socioeconomic statuses, it is also exercised institutionally. 

As a cisgender-identified female and someone who passes as such, I’ve never experienced the stress of deciding on which bathroom I need to use, or been discriminated against during airport security checks. I am privileged in that way. I’m completely able-bodied, so access in places like concerts is not a concern of mine. I am privileged in that way. On the other end of the spectrum, I may experience discrimination and/or hate for identifying as a lesbian or African American or Latina. Someone with white privilege or heterosexual privilege would not share these experiences with me. Another reason privilege is problematic for some people is because they feel guilty. We are all privileged to some degree, so feeling guilty for these privileges is counterproductive. Feeling guilt is not enough, and it does nothing to better the circumstance for marginalized groups. Rather than being so afraid of this word we should recognize it. We should acknowledge our privileges, and check them. We should use them to speak up for folks who do not share these privileges with us. Not so as to erase their experience, but to use our platforms to further strive for equity in our society. 

The other aspect of privilege is knowing when to use it. You may have the privilege as a manager within a company or professor at a university to speak at events or gain celebrity on behalf of the organization you represent. Before enjoying that limelight, check your privilege and decide if there is someone more suitable to give that speech or interview for that new broadcast. For instance, if you’re the CEO of a restaurant chain who is asked to speak at a conference about the topic of minimum wage, take into consideration that someone who actually works for low wages may make a better speaker. Listen, we can’t change the privileges we have, but what we can do is refrain from denying them and use them for greater good instead.

By: Sierra Caraveo