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White Privilege: Inequality Between Men And Women

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The term white privilege has become a bad term, just like the word feminism. Society has found a way to distort and change the definition of terms like these to avoid the actual issue that the term is bringing up. By definition feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities, but the word has come to carry a negative connotation (Webster). Many who believe in the principle would not call themselves feminists or participate in trying to reach equality to avoid that connotation placed on them. Their silence only aids the continuation of inequality between men and women. This misconstruing is also being done to the term white privilege. The word privilege alone upsets people. They think you’re saying that they’ve …show more content…

The term white privilege has also been oversimplified by many. In August of 2014 Bill O’Reilly discussed white privilege on air, and stated that he, “does not believe in white privilege. However, there is no question that African-Americans have a much harder time succeeding in our society. Even whites do. But the primary reason is not skin color. It 's education…” (Talking …show more content…

The very first dissenting opinion was a girl who believed that “[she] wouldn’t go as far as saying its racism because I don’t think it was meant to be discriminatory.”. The fact is that racism in America is less likely to be blatant anymore. Systematic racism is aided by small occurrences such as these. But how could this girl understand that, if she’s never had someone compliment her on being articulate for her race? Or be told that she has such good hair for a girl of her ethnicity. She doesn’t understand, so therefore how could it be racism? Another student commented, “They literally checked a box.”. But that box implies so much more than a few pixels on a screen. He would never understand that because he’s probably never had someone try to shove him in a box that he knows he has no business being in. One of the last comments on the post was, “So what. Does it really change your life or hurt you at all?”. He simply didn’t care. All these people seemed to fail to understand the issue. Little boxes aid systematic racism; this is a micro example of a macro issue. All of them failed to understand the position that situation has put multiracial Pitt students in because they have probably never experienced a situation where someone tried to wipe away or repress part of their cultural identity. Statements from white Americans such as, if I said it, it would

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White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack While reading this piece by Peggy McIntosh, I found myself as a white woman thinking, 'yes I can do these things,' and realized right there what white privilege looks like. Looking at the fifty points McIntosh discusses, it is clear that the predominance of white privilege affects her daily life. These daily effects McIntosh discusses range from who she wants to surround herself with, knowing and feeling financially secure and feeling welcomed in public life. While only choosing fifty instances where McIntosh feels her white privilege comes into contact, it is apparent that the instances are common when discussing primarily skin color compared to race, class, and religion. Without argument,

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588 Words | 3 Pages

White privilege negatively impacts social justice which can lead to irreversible actions. Hillary Clinton once said, “If a country doesn't recognize minority rights and human rights, including women's rights, you will not have the kind of stability and prosperity that is possible.” We are all equals, whether we are woman, have a disability or are coloured. We all deserve the same rights. Without social injustice, life would be made fair.

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537 Words | 3 Pages

There is one particular example that I can think of in my personal life that goes along with this theme of ‘white privilege.’ I attended Northeast Guilford High School, which is a primarily African American high school. Therefore, I was the minority. Right before I transitioned from middle school to high school, the district lines in my county were ‘redrawn’ and many of the black students who used to attend Eastern Guilford that lived in the lower income housing were now being sent to Northeast. It was almost as if they wanted to pull as many of the African American students into one school because they didn’t want those students of color to be attending the same school as the rich, white students.

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470 Words | 2 Pages

Rebecca Griffin in “Why Don’t White People Believe People of Color About Racism?” discusses how racism is affecting today’s society. Griffin feels there is a lot of police violence toward the colored communities and also feels there is such a thing as white privilege. Griffin also includes in her article that whites cannot or will not believe that the African Americans are being victimized by the government and police because of systemic racism caused by some notion of white privilege. While many may agree with Griffin’s ideas, in the end, she is incorrect because we need to take a look into the bigger picture in this essay and realize it is not only just about one race that is experiencing these issues. The first issue with her article is that Griffin states

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421 Words | 2 Pages

In reading Meet the poster child for “white privilege” – then have your mind blown, and, To the Princeton Privileged Kid, I can say that I somewhat see and agree with both points of view. I think that both have in some way miss interpreted what the other is saying. It amazes me how people don’t want to take matters into their own hands, and always find the need to have someone to blame for their issues, and shortcomings. Instead they just keep spewing out hate. Hate breeds hate, and we can 't keep fighting it all with more hate.

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443 Words | 2 Pages

Privilege is a strong word it is define as “a special right advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people”. How has privilege shaped my life, by dealing with race, by being an African American it a privilege to be free and not bond to someone like my ancestors had to go through in the slave days. John Blake mention in his article It’s time to talk about ‘black privilege’ , that being black we have privilege it gave an example, “Black History month congress had passed a sweeping civil right act 1875 that band discrimination”(J.Blake).yes, I agree with him that a great privilege to have and be able celebrate the great things or ancestors did and how they pave the way for African American. Privilege

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1637 Words | 7 Pages

White Privilege in America Recently in America racial tension has increased because events that’s have been occurring across the country. Across the United States (U.S.) black men have been killed by law enforcement and this has sparked protest in its aftermath. The media has started to give more time to these problems so more Americans have learned about them. This has started a conversation on different social issues that include the dominant culture, social privilege in the U.S. As a young black man this has affected me directly.

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Whites are not aware of the privilege they have, simply for the fact that this is their life the majority do not know anything different. When you have been drinking coke every day of your life and everyone else has ben drinking diet coke labeled as coke you wont know the difference. Lipsitz (1995) affirms whiteness is everywhere in US culture, but it is very hard to see. This is how white privilege looks to the average American even though everyone else is not getting the same treat as the whites they do not understand it because they have been treated the same way or so they think their whole life as well. Minorities are getting diet coke their whole life, though they see the whites making more money, and treated better in turn they begin questioning and coming up with the

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1061 Words | 5 Pages

Have you ever read an article that made you so mad you just had to go blow off some steam? Yeah me too, I was asked to read two articles about privilege, and I was surprised to find myself getting irritated the farther I read. I know what you’re going to say, “Well it’s because you agreed with what was being said” or “Well that’s a natural reaction to this controversy.” But honestly it wasn’t anything like that.

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1361 Words | 6 Pages

While, on the other hand, white people majority of the time faced less discrimination than other racial or ethnic group in the nation. Unlike African-American, whites receive no discrimination for their skin color or genetic traits. It is reasonable that whites were the first one who created resource shares for them to hold more privilege than other racial groups. For example, Peggy McIntosh stated here “Thinking through unacknowledged male privilege as a phenomenon, I realized that since hierarchies in our society are interlocking, there was most likely a phenomenon of white privilege which was similarly denied and protected. As a white person, I realized I had been taught about racism as something which puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage” (McIntosh, 1988).

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815 Words | 4 Pages

We've all heard the saying "White Privilege" used loosely in society. Well folks, it exists as a factual privilege given at birth to those of the Anglo-Saxon race of people, not only in America, but worldwide. Believe me folks, it comes with its perks and self proclaimed righteousness that creates its own preconceived path to success. On the other end of the spectrum, Charlamagne Tha God introduces "Black Privilege" in the book. Yes, it is indeed a privilege to be Black, African American.

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316 Words | 2 Pages

White privilege is very real in America. Though certain ethnic groups of white people have been disadvantaged in American history such as Irish Americans, white people currently possess advantages in American society when compared to people of color or non-white people. These advantages can be seen in the amount representation in the government and mass media. They can also be seen in our own day-to-day interactions. These privileges can stem from the fact that white people are still a dominant group in American society.

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1788 Words | 8 Pages

People see whiteness because they experience its effects. A useful comparison can be drawn between the unrecognised privileges of males, and those of white people (McIntosh, 1988). It is not unusual for men to acknowledge that women are disadvantaged. With that said, McIntosh (1988) argues that white privilege is in the same manner without recognition and thus preserved. McIntosh (1988) views white privilege as an invisible collection of unearned assets that is of benefit to white people on a daily basis.

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657 Words | 3 Pages

There are still factors that have only been erased on the surface but still play a large role in the way that people of color are treated in America, and dictate to a certain extent, compromise the “freedom” that people have. On the other hand, we have white America, who have heightened chances of achieving anything that they please. This does not apply to every white American, as there are also white Americans who are living on or below the poverty line, and much like everybody else must put in a lot of effort to reach certain heights, however they have an advantage over all other denomination of people known as “white privilege” which are the societal benefits that people who can be categorized as “white” enjoy over the rest of the population and in the end, have a higher social status. Ultimately, people of color must work harder, and face many more setbacks in their climb to success than white Americans do, which is not fair,

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1036 Words | 5 Pages

She mentions in her article how whites are taught to not recognize themselves having white privilege, yet I believe this puts myself and others at a disadvantage because it seems as if we are ignoring the problems of racism in our country today. In the reading What Is Racial Domination? By Matthew Desmond and Mustafa Emirbayer, they explain how the word whiteness is associated with all powerful and positive words while blackness is associated with weak and negative words. This right here is an example of how white people, including myself, don’t have to worry or think about certain things such as being questioned from a cop just because of our race, while this could be a daily obstacle for someone of a different race. Recently, I was driving around one night in Iowa City with one of my good friends who happens to be a black male.

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