What &#8216;privilege&#8217; means to me
<p>Recently there&#8217;s been some back and forth on feminist blogs about the term &#8220;privilege&#8221;, beginning with <a href="http://noseriouslywhatabouttehmenz.wordpress.com/2011/07/05/shut-up-rich-boy-the-problem-with-privilege/">“Shut Up, Rich Boy”: The Problem With “Privilege.”</a> and continuing with several responses defending the use of the term.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s what the feminist term of art &#8220;privilege&#8221; means to me.</p>
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<p>1. I, as a straight white male, am being what feminists called &#8220;othered&#8221; &#8211; that is, consigned to a category of the threateningly alien that justifies misbehavior ranging from verbal assault all the way up to actual violence and organized political coercion.</p>
<p>2.  The speaker is uninterested in (or outright incapable of) seeing beyond race/gender/ascriptive-identity labels to the individual reality of individuals in the &#8220;privileged&#8221; category.</p>
<p>3. The speaker is stuck in an epistemically-closed belief system, and will interpret logical or fact-based criticism of it as a power-seeking maneuver. Reasoned argument with this person is thus essentially impossible. </p>
<p>4. The speaker has failed to apply power-relations analysis to her (or his) own behavior, and so does not realize that use of the term &#8220;privilege&#8221; passes all that theory&#8217;s tests for a power-seeking maneuver intended to suppress thought under the pretense of provoking it.</p>
<p>5.  If the speaker has not already attempted to <a href="http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=2122">kafkatrap</a> me, such an attempt is near certain within the next few minutes.</p>
<p>That is all.</p>
