White Privilege Unfurled
by Elouise
On the day I was born, I received unearned privileges not available to everyone. Equally true, my life has been difficult because of unearned privileges available to men but not to me.
I was born White and Female. This complicates everything: gender and race; gender and politics; gender and academia; gender and the church; gender and role expectations; gender and power; gender and social events. Sometimes I’m welcomed with open arms even though I often experience something less than full welcome into the fold of privilege.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about white male privilege. I’ve spent considerably less time thinking about my white privilege. It’s easy to say I was born white, so it isn’t my fault. Which, of course, it is not.
Yet I know I’ve been the recipient of privileges friends and strangers of color do not receive. Many privileges are invisible to me. They’re the climate in which I live. I don’t need to think about them when I get up in the morning, or when I appear in a check-out line. More to the point, I count on them daily.
Today the USA is roiling, internally and externally, from a wound that has festered from the beginning. The assumption and reality of white privilege.
Here’s what I’m doing to clarify for myself what my white privilege looks like. Not yours. For me, this includes awareness of male privilege. Sometimes white male privilege only; sometimes all males.
For starters, I’ve located a website offering free material as well as formal leadership training (not free). I found two downloadable papers that will help me personally. Not simply with self-understanding, but with ideas about how I might change my daily habits as well as personal assumptions and goals.
Dr. Peggy McIntosh is the author of the papers and founder of The National SEED Project. In each paper she describes unpacking her own privilege. The papers include end notes in which she clarifies issues that arise when people begin to talk about privilege.
If you’re interested in knowing more, here are links to the website and two free downloadable papers.
- National SEED Project
- “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh (free download, click on paper title, following opening paragraph)
- “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies” by Peggy McIntosh (free download, click on paper title, following opening paragraph)
Happy reading!
Elouise ♥
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 17 August 2017
Response to WordPress Daily Prompt: Unfurl
Telling the Truth 
This is good information that everyone should have 😊
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Yes indeed. I just finished reading the first of the two papers. It was excellent. Thanks, Sean. 🙂
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You’re welcome 😊
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I will be sure to check them out in the near future after I’m done playing catchup ❤ thank you E ❤
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Does not the matter of wealth, in great quantities come into the equation? White male privilege, but only if you’re rich, you don’t need to be famous, just rich.
I consider myself very fortunate to be a white male, that is not rich and have never had much interest in money or wealth (much to the War Office’s chagrin) and have never thought that I was in anyway privileged more than the next bloke.
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Good question, Brian. Many things contribute to privilege in one way or another. However, it’s still true that here in the USA being male confers more privilege (not necessarily every privilege one might have) than being female.
I don’t pretend to know exactly where and how it began, but the fight for women in the USA to have equal rights under the law was long and fiercely fought. Even though it got added to the constitution, it’s still the case that women don’t always receive equal rights or equal treatment under the law. That’s one example that comes to mind when I think about my own experience of male privilege.
My plan is to post about this from time to time. Right now I’m working on my personal lists, based on my experience as a female, and then as a white female.
Cheers!
Elouise 🙂
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Would you believe that the very exact same situation occurs in Australia as well?
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Sadly, yes. 😟
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Thanks for writing about this and including the links. I’ll give them a read.
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You’re welcome! I finished one of the papers yesterday. Lots to ponder!
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Thanks for these, Elouise! I was just tackling this area in class… May we have eyes to see and ears to hear.
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Hi, Laura. It’s great to hear from you. Hurray for you and your students! Wish I could be a fly on the wall….:)
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Thank you, Elouise. Racism and white privilege is a subject on which I am passionate. The more I learn, the more I realize I have far more to learn. I am hoping to have a series on the topic at church, similar to the one you organized on sex trafficking. Any guidance you could provide would be very much appreciated,
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Oh, Marilyn….Thanks for this comment and request. I’m happy to hear you might be interested. I’m still (and will always be, I think) a beginner in this. However, I’m taking your comment seriously. Let’s talk.
Elouise
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