White Privilege And White Privilege

In Peggy McIntosh’s paper “White Privilege and Male Privilege”, Macintosh expresses that white privilege is unearned dominance that whites posses unknowingly, which gives them an advantage in society. She argues that by reviewing the denials surrounding white privilege, acknowledging white privilege’s existence, and the factors that protect these unearned advantages and dominance, we can then use these same unearned privileges to weaken the invisible privilege systems (McIntosh). Whites are taught in a careful manner not to recognize white privilege, further denying it even exists. Whites are taught that racism is something that puts others at disadvantage, but the more important part we are not taught about, is that it put others in advantage. …show more content…
By acknowledging white privilege’s existence Mcintosh expresses we must not only acknowledge other’s disadvantages, but also acknowledge your own unearned advantages. She even gives examples from her daily life in which she experiences unfair advantages due to her skin color. She says “I can be reasonably be sure that if I ask to speak to someone in charge, I will most likely be facing someone of my own race” and “I can choose bandages in “flesh” color and they will more or less match my skin”. Even I experience unearned privileges daily, I personally as a college student have the privilege of learning about my race, in my school curriculum. I have the unearned privilege of not having to face any violent stereotypes that are associated with my own race. These examples given by McIntosh and myself acknowledge that white privilege is indeed alive and …show more content…
Mcintosh says all of these oppressions are distinct but also interlocking. There is one very clear part about all of these interlocking oppressions, that there are forms we can see as an outsider to the members of the advantageous group, and there are also embedded forms that member of the group in advantage are taught not to see, similar to how whites are taught not to see theirselves as a racist, since they are taught to see racism as individual acts of meanness by members of the white race, not as individual systems that puts certain groups like whites at an unfair advantage from birth. In a similar manner, sexism is taught to be see as intentional, individual acts of discrimination, meanness, or cruelty, and not as individual systems that grant unsought after dominance on certain sexes. In order to fix these unfair advantages on certain groups whether that be sex, race, nationality, or age privilege we must acknowledge their “colossal unseen dimensions” by talking about the denials around each privilege, and to keep thinking about equality and the factors that protect these unearned advantages and conferred dominance (McIntosh). As almost all of the population is in some way “privileged” we can use