My privilege as a straight, white, cisgender, middle class thin male

[Regina]

Just want to share my opinions on this thread before it really goes stale.

I find the word "privilege" to be the wrong word to use, let me explain why.

These third-wave feminists on the internet throw around this big word "privilege", in such a way that it suggests these things they are calling "privileges" shouldn't exist. To me, most of the things they describe as privileges are not privileges at all, they are rights. I feel like to call it a privilege suggests they are something that should be taken away from the people who have them, rather than given to the people who don't.

Let me give you an example, if you take the issue of catcalling in the street, which is harassment towards women. It's not a "privilege" to not be harassed, it's a right. Women should have that right too.

Being someone who is pretty middle-of-the-road on the almighty "privilege check" (I'm privileged as a white able-bodied male, but disadvantaged as a relatively poor gay person) I can kinda see both sides of the coin here. If I'm going to talk about the whole gay thing, for me the fight for gay rights shouldn't be about dragging straight people down to the level of "oppression" I face. It shouldn't be about making them feel bad for having rights which, as human beings, they are entitled to. It should be about trying to enjoy the same rights they do. By the same token though I can recognise that I'm not oppressed by the double whammy of both homophobia and racism that a black gay man may face, so that is a point for me to be considerate on.

Also if we're going to talk about every person who is in exactly the same level of "privilege" as me, that is to say a gay, white, poor, able-bodied male, we'd still have different experiences. A whole range of outside factors can influence how easy you have it in life. My parents may be a lot less accepting of my sexuality than the next gay person, but I may have some wealthy or influential contacts that the next poor person might not have.

It's all very wishy-washy and unrealistic to me. Intersectionality works on paper for pointing out the general trends, but the real world is more complex than "straight white male = easy life, black lesbian = struggle struggle struggle".

My point isn't to say that these people are wrong by any means, but I think we should change the use of the word "privilege". Think of these things as basic rights that everyone should have, not bonuses that should be taken away.