Fundamentals: Privilege in Action
On May 15, 2010
By Dyssonance
http://www.dyssonance.com/?p=1569#more-1569Previously, I talked about Dominant Privilege and what it is.
Privilege is a challenging thing to deal with — as I noted, everyone has privilege to some degree or other. Everyone. It is not earned, and you can't "get rid of it", you can only be aware of it. It is systemic — it exists in everything we tend to do, and we all get around in the world with certain expectations. And those expectations have led to larger systems and larger institutions. When LGB talk about "elite gays" and criticize the HRC for pandering to persons in power, they are talking about a basic set of expectations that people who are wealthy have that people who are not wealthy do not have. In other words, Privilege is the HRC's problem within the LG community (at least).
It is also unconscious — we are not aware of it for the most part — it requires thinking outside of ourselves and our expereinces and that is not an easy thing to do for anyone. This is not merely "walk a mile in my shoes", this is "live my life for a decade". It takes great effort to understand that one has privilege, and to be blunt, it can piss you right the hell off to be put in a situation where you need to look at it, need to examine it.
