Quote from: insideontheoutside on December 06, 2012, 07:02:22 PM
Now, Wikipedia explains that male privilege, "refers to the unearned advantages or rights granted to men solely on the basis of their sex, but usually denied to women. In societies with male privilege, men are afforded social, economic, and political benefits because they are male."
I definitely think gender equality has come a long way in our society, but I still think there's some imbalances on both sides. Like others mentioned--men have hard times teaching the younger grades, they can't wear dresses while women can wear pants, they're not allowed to be too emotional, etc.
I think I've had some experiences where I know if I was male things would be different--like, I wouldn't have been told to quit the wrestling team by my father, I wouldn't have been skipped over for promotions for and paid less than the guys at some of the places where I've worked, or been told by people that I shouldn't be allowed to work third shift security because I'd get myself killed. Now, while these may seem like fairly small things, and I am sure they can all be challenged as me either being overly sensitive or it's just old people who are stuck in their ways, I think it shows that, at least in my life experience and how I've viewed things, being born in a female body has denied me of some things that men are just entitled to.
It's just all these little things that just add up to something more. Since we have laws here to prohibit gender discrimination, I can get a job as a police officer if I chose to apply, or join the wrestling team, but there's just all these little attitudes to show that females aren't wanted and aren't accepted.
Things are better for women these days in our culture, but there's still this male privilege, which to me is
acceptance. I've noticed a heck of a lot more men doing "pink collar jobs" (like nursing and being secretaries) than I've seen women doing blue collar jobs. And, some of the women in blue collar jobs I've seen are just given the "easy" assignments because the guys don't think the girls can handle the harder stuff (like, whenever I see women doing construction on the sides of the road, the women are always just the ones holding the sign telling me to stop or slow down, they're never actually driving a backhoe or working the equipment). I think these privileges are mostly invisible to those who have it, so it's hard to notice, and it's even hard for people without the privilege to notice sometimes just because we're so used to living with it.
A great article on privilege is "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" by Peggy MacIntosh.
http://www.amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html She goes through all the things that being white gives her a peace of mind with (like she doesn't have to say to herself "I wonder if X happened to me because I am not white"), and I think we can have both sexes write up nice little lists on all the things being male or female gives them a peace of mind with.
Both genders have privileges, they're just different.I don't plan on transitioning to get any male privilege; the sexist things I've experienced, while some of it does bother me, isn't really that big of a deal to me that it makes me want to go through medically transitioning to male for. Despite my lack of promotions while working for a sexist company, etc., I've done pretty well for myself despite my female body. People who say transguys transition to get male privilege are probably just ignorant, and if they're female, they're probably overlooking all the female privilege that they have.