Yeah, Bible not actually universally relevant to all. What about us Tooth-Fairy Worshippers eh?
I've noticed that when the topic of privilege comes up (not just here, I mean everywhere generally) there's often a mad scramble to deny that one has it, or to frame suggestions that one might need to check one's privilege as an unwarrented attack. Why is this? I mean, we all know privilege exists, right--we can all point to the privileges we don't have easily enough, why is it such a stretch to recognise the ones we do?
Here are some of mine, in no particular order:
White privilege: this is a HUGE one I've become more aware of it over the years. Nobody questions my right to study "white" topics, to go into "white" spaces, to have a white partner or to worship in the faith of my choice, whereas I see my BME friends get that garbage all the time. (Especially the last one.) People of my ethnicity are well represented in positions of power and in the media. Nobody yells ethnic slurs at me in the street. I could go on.
Cis privilege: This is a bit more of a vexed issue since you can't really call 3rdy "cis." But I'd say that since I don't always present as 3rd I definately benefit from cis privilege most of the time. I'm read as my natal gender by most people--nobody yells at me for going into the Ladies' loo, nobody accuses me of misleading them by presenting as the "wrong" gender, I don't suffer from employer discrimination based on transphobia, etc. I'd actually like to jettison this one if I could, but right now I couldn't do so without invoking a whole slew of other privileges (such as having a partner who'll understand and support me if I can't get a job).
Straight privilege: Again, bit of a sticky wicket because an androgyne is arguably not heterosexual unless ze only does other androgynes, and because I do experience powerful feelings of same sex attraction and even romantic love. I have also been read as a lesbian or a gay man in the past and threatened with violence based on this. But because I'm usually read as female and in a relationship with a cis guy, I'm percieved as straight and I enjoy straight privilege. Nobody questions my right to be with my bloke, nobody harrasses or threatens me for going out with him, we can hold hands and snog in public without getting beaten up, etc.
Educational privilege: This is another biggie that often goes unregarded. Again, my access to this is not 100% clear-cut, since I was deschooled as a youngin and basically left to educate myself from the age of 11 onwards. (Not my folks' fault--I was rather an uninspiring child to teach, being lazy, inattentive, and frankly a bit thick. If I'd been a better kid I'm sure they'd have been keen to offer more input.) But I did live in a house filled with books, have parents who read to me, and who let me stay in education until I left home at 18. Plenty of people with far more potential than I ever demonstrated get hauled out of school and sent off to work at 16. I even have some university education, although I didn't graduate (see a bit thick, above).
Able-bodied privilege: Again not 100% on this one as I have epilepsy (now thankfully in abeyance), MDD, and a mild case of arthritis which sometimes affects mobility a little. And I have in fact experienced ablist discrimination, being refused jobs I could do standing on my head on the grounds of my epilepsy*. But I "pass" as ab, don't have to worry about access to transport or public places, don't have to fight tooth and nail to get my basic needs met, etc. I've also had some people with other psych diagnoses argue that people with my diagnosis are privileged relative to them, which seems like a reasonable assertion.
I'm sure I could think of a lot more, but that's quite enough to be going on with!
*One potential employer asserted that she didn't have to hire "disableds" because "you're fire hazards." Apparently being epileptic makes you a "fire hazard," because, er, you might have a fit during a fire, and people might trip over you running away from the fire. Arguably the chance to work for a complete bigot is no great loss, however.
