The Ultimate Backpack: Unpacking your own Male Privilege

[evolveme]

Originally Posted by Linus

That wasn't the intent or meaning of it. If that is how it appeared, then I apologize for a poor example. The intent and idea behind the example was more that a person should be chosen on ability and not because they are one of the good ol' boys. It's not to say that the WOC wouldn't be able to speak up or stand up for herself. If I said that the white male was told of the job offer after others left, then no one else would have been aware. In that instance, the offer is made based entirely on WMP and the rejection the offer is/would be a rejection of WMP.


little man: haven't forgotten your request. Just trying to see if I can think of a better example.

I understand your intention wasn't to be demeaning in this way - that it is only positive. The intention of Affirmative Action was a positive one, as well, and in all the ways that it did and does work, it's still good, but a lot of people it is meant to serve come away with a very negative feeling. They do not ever wish to be seen as having merely been hired to meet a quota. Privileged groups and racist others will believe this is why, no matter what.

It feels good to say, "No, you accept the position because you are more qualified," but in a system that has, for so long, taught us that women and people of color, et al, cannot possibly be more qualified (and has ensured the unlikelihood they will be), it will continue to ring disingenuous.

What needs to happen, instead, is that the ground becomes more level. Not because individual men lie down and flatten themselves, but because everyone participates in the razing of the old institutions and thinking that has made the ground so steep in the past.