John Scalzi looks to be a white male, no?
Yeah, he mentioned that right in the article. I actually chose that article firstly because it is well presented, and secondly because it is a good example of how to discuss privilege whilst having it.
The sad thing is, because he is a straight white male, more people are likely to listen to what he has to say because he has those privileges. I can say literally the exact same thing as he did in the article and get called a whole host of gendered slurs for it, alongside being labeled as an idiot who doesn't know what she's talking about, while he gets praised for being socially aware.
This is not his fault at all. Nor is it mine. Privilege is not about blame.
Personally, I don't think there is a problem with white people talking about racism and males talking about sexism. I think it's very important for white people to speak out against racism directed at non-whites, men to speak out against sexism directed at women, straight people to speak out against anti-gay and anti-bi prejudices, cisgendered people to speak out against anti-trans prejudice and so on. For this speaking out to take place, forming one's own opinions is necessary and discussions are inevitable. I just don't think it's possible to be in "willing to speak out against racism" mode without being in "willing to discuss" racism mode. At the same time, I think it's important to recognize that we don't know what it's like to be someone that we're not and to inform ourselves by listening to the experiences of who we're not. That may be the best we can do.
I think there is a problem with it when people won't listen to those they are trying to help. There is also a greater danger of misinformation and offensive/destructive ideas when these discussions take place.
You'll notice I said "amongst themselves with any authority". This part is quite important. This doesn't mean that these discussions should never happen, but it does mean that everyone taking part in them needs to be aware that they know basically nothing on the subject because they have no authority. A vast majority of discussions on feminism I hear that take place between men wind up being sexist, even if those men have the best intentions in the world.
Even if one is talking to a woman about sexism or a black person about racism (as a white male), I don't necessarily think it's inappropriate to give one's opinion. For example, a female friend of mine once made a disparaging remark about "hating sluts" (referencing sexually promiscuous women specifically). I expressed my opinion that the double standard of "**** shaming" women but not men is sexist and that even if one were to do it to both women and men it would still not be something that I disagreed with. She got mad at me, but I don't think it was wrong of me because I want to stick up for people who are harmed by attitudes like that by challenging those views when I see them.
Even though I agree with what you said, this to me is still a form of talking over. Not all women or feminists will agree with me on this, so I only speak for myself here, but I feel like if a man wants to support women, he should call out other men and let the women deal with internalised misogyny. This doesn't have a lot of logic behind it, I know, and it might seem unfair and ridiculous. But women have been told what to think and what to do and what to say by men everywhere for our entire lives, to the point where we have absorbed these attitudes where we hate ourselves and other women. When men call women out on feminist issues, it can perpetuate that.
But as I said, not everyone will agree with me on this.
Regarding the article: I agree, being born white, male and straight are all advantageous more often than not. Going with the game analogy, "random straight, white male human" would definitely be an advantaged starting position over "random human". And there are many other variables too. The wealth of your parents, whether your parents are loving, abusive or neither, the country you're born into, the neighborhood you're born into, whether you are physically handicapped, whether you are neurotypical, how physically attractive you are, how naturally talented/charismatic/intelligent you are, what species you are and so on and so on. That is NOT to say that racism, sexism and sexuality-based prejudice aren't extremely important issues to fight against and be aware of. Just that a given individual male is not necessarily more privileged than a given individual female overall and so on (e.g. a wealthy American woman contrasted with a poverty stricken Haitian man).
Yep, that's pretty much the nature of privilege as I understand it. Not a guarantee of anything, not a statement about individuals, just an overall observation on society which needs to be acknowledged in order to 'fight the good fight'.
