Left of College Station

During the current month I have been devoting much of the blog postings to the subject of choice. However, the subject of choice covers much more than whether or not a woman has the right to choose to have an abortion. In fact abortion is simply the lightening rod; it is the beginning of the discussion of the much broader subject of women’s rights. Part of the discussion of women’s rights must be male privilege, and how men must acknowledge these privileges.

 

Barry Deutsch, aka “Ampersand,” compiled a list of 46 male privileges which was based on the 1990 Wellesley College professor Peggy McIntosh’s essay “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” In the essay McIntosh notes that she was “taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group.” Deutsch notes that “in the spirit of McIntosh’s essay, I thought I’d compile a list similar to McIntosh’s, focusing on the invisible privileges benefiting men.”

 

In analyzing this list of privileges I identified ways that I am privileged, and I also tried to delve deeper into the privileges themselves. Many of the privileges are indisputable, no matter what kind of argument made to the contrary; these privileges can be proven by facts and statistics:

 

 

According to one study 31% of the female workers claimed to have been harassed at work, compared to only 7% of their male counterparts. According to the same report studies suggest between 40-70% of women and 10-20% of men have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. At the very least women are twice as likely to be sexually harassed and at the very worst women are seven times more likely to be sexually harassed. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the fiscal year 2007, EEOC received 12,510 charges of sexual harassment and 84% of those where filed by women.

 

 

According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), 1 out of every 6 American women have been the victims of an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime, while 1 out of every 33 American men have been the victims of attempted or completed rape in their lifetime. This has an even greater affect when you consider that victims of sexual assault are 3 times more likely to suffer from depression and 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide.

 

 

In the United States Senate there are currently 16 women serving as senators (16% of senators); in the United States House of Representative there are currently 74 women serving as congresswomen (17% of congress members). There are currently 4 women serving in the Texas State Senate (13% of state senators) and there are currently 32 women serving in the Texas House of Representatives (22% of state representatives). In Bryan, Texas one out of the six City Council members is a woman (not including the Mayor) and in College Station, Texas one out of six City Council members is a women (also not including the mayor). World-wide women make up 18.2% of all parliaments, the high percentage being found in Nordic countries (41.4%) and the lost percentages being found in Arab states (9.7%).  

 

Other privileges are not as easily proved by statistics, but are factual privileges:

 

 

Not only is a man’s masculinity not questioned if he does not have children, but if a man has children depending on the circumstances his masculinity can be unquestionable. This could actually be tied into another privilege; men do not have to bear the physical burden of pregnancy and child birth and as men grow older to not face a higher health risk if they want to have children. Women who are in the twenties have a 5-10% chance of miscarriage while women in their thirties face a decline in their fertility and a 20% chance of miscarriage; women over thirty five have miscarriage rate of 25%, the risk of Down syndrome becomes about 1/350. By the time a woman is 40 years old fertility rate per month is only about 5% and even with in Vitro Fertilization (IVF), the miscarriage rate jumps to 33% and complications of pregnancy that increase including elevated blood pressure, gestational diabetes, premature labor and bleeding disorders such as placental abruption.

 

 

This particular privilege is on display every day where I work, a college campus. Now, that is not to say it is not found in all other working environments or in other settings, I have just found it to be particularly highlighted on a college campus. Of course it is present in the faculty; male faculty are much more likely to wear more comfortable clothes and clothes that do not follow the dress code as stringently while female faculty are more likely to have to wear much more formal clothing. You are far more likely to see a male faculty member wearing a collared shirt and jeans without eyebrows being raised than you would be to see a female faculty member wearing a similar outfit. Among the student population a male student rarely if ever faces questions about his promiscuity based on his clothing choices, and male students rarely if ever are subject to gender identification or sexual preference stereotypes based on their clothing choices.

 

 

This privilege in particular I have noticed to be the subject of many of my fellow female bloggers, and is probably generally one of the least recognized of male privileges by men. However, in on itself it is a perfect metaphor for male privilege, sexism and a male desired dominance over women. Men seemingly think it is an innocent, friendly, and flirtatious gesture. However, you are not greeting someone; you are basically ordering a stranger to conform to a command that you want them to perform, not for their benefit but for your own.

 

The privilege of privilege:

 

 

Acknowledging this privilege does not make it no longer a privilege; because of the nature of privilege you are only aware of the privilege if you are consciously acknowledging the privilege. Also, because I have written this blog I may receive praise from both my fellow male and female bloggers for acknowledging my privilege. However, if one of my fellow female bloggers writes a blog about sexism or male privilege she is far more likely to face ridicule and disrespect.

 

Choice. Those that think it is just about abortion are missing the point. Those that think 77 cents on the dollar is just about equal pay are missing the point. Those that think that think one election can break the glass ceiling forever are missing the point.

 

What’s the point? Not having one choice affects all the other choices. Not being sexist is not enough. Acknowledging privilege is not enough. We must support our mothers, sisters, and daughters, and we must encouraging our fathers, brothers, and sons to support the women in their lives as well as those women who they may never meet.

 

This was only an analysis of a few of the privileges listed, and more than likely many more privileges exist. But for now, I would just like to add one…