Peggy Mcintosh's Invisible Backpack

Invisible Backpack: Reflective essay

Growing up we often fail to recognize how we are privileged and the opportunities we are given due to our privileges. In the essay “White Privilege: Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh discusses the privileges of being White and the ways she was prioritized because of her race. Throughout the essay McIntosh allows readers explore how she has been given opportunities, due to specific traits she has in her invisible backpack, privileges she once had taken forgranted. Her personal experiences take up most of the essay and with it she invites the reader to partake in her apprehensions and fears. Like McIntosh, I also have been rewarded with privilege contributed through my beauty, social class,

I realized that society determines what it means to be beautiful, through social media, Hollywood, and advertisement. In her essay, McIntosh discuesses her personal experiences and with it she invites the reader to partake in her apprehensions and fears of what it means to have privilege. While reading the essay, It has been brought to my attention about how I am being viewed within a different standard because of the way I look. McIntosh illustrates how she was “as an unfairly advantaged person, or as a participant in a damaged culture” (31). Sometimes, I too have even been put on a pedestal, not because my have made an accomplishment, but because I stand out doing so. By being attractive I instantly become the center of attention, therefore, my confidence instantly rises. My opinion instantly became valued and I recognized how I was rarely rejected. Occasionally, attractive people are on an increment list. They tend to have a higher standing in their careers due to being noticed by influential people. Attractive people are also known to have higher self-esteem. Although beauty is not the only reason I am in a positive place in my life today, it was, however, a good quality to have. I have been given opportunities to explore different career paths because of it, such as acting and modeling. I was able to experience having a career before completing high school. It is often said that our first impressions are the most important, this is very