#342
White privilege is not having your religion called mythology.
i call everyone a nigga.
white people.
black people.
mexican people.
italian people.
jamaican people.
if i feel like calling you a nigga. i will call you a nigga.
i even call my self a nigga , nigga.preach mah nigga.
I’m sorry, but you’re white. You’re not allowed to use that word.
Why?
Because white people historically have been assholes with that word. It’s a word of oppression and hatred. It’s a word that is still used in that sense by racist asswads today.
God, get off of your privilege high-horse.
Oh privileged people…really? REALLY????
these conversations are becoming so tedious. once again, is no one able to understand institutionalized classism/racism and the barriers they create? is it impossible to understand that generational poverty and or systematic racism exist to deny opportunity to the marginalized for the benefit of the privileged?
Let me tell you a little story.
Both of my grandmothers had rich grandfathers. My paternal great-great, Don Porfirio, raped his maid and never acknowledged the child as his own. The child, great-grandfather Salvadore, worked hard all his life to try and keep his kids from starving to death. My Nana lived enough to get married and live a little better with her family. I don’t have any connections to Don Porfirio or anyone rich.
My maternal great-great came from a rich Texan clan. When his child decided to marry someone they loved, he disowned her because she couldn’t be marrying a rival Baldwin. The resulting family grew up poor, having to put their children to work in the fields in order to survive.
My parents can’t pay for my college. I have to take out loans. I tried to work constantly this summer. I tried for three months and said I would take any job that wouldn’t threaten my health (I have a neurological condition that prevents me from working in a factory). There were no jobs because I live in the state with the highest unemployment rate in the country. I managed to secure a bit of field work that paid for my books and my first month’s rent.
Right now I have a job where I am incapable of getting more hours because the economy is bad and everyone is underemployed. I could only get that job because I have a car and I’m willing and able to give up Saturday nights. Working that many hours is out of the question unless I drop out of college.
I’m going to be a high school teacher. My girlfriend is going into social work. I’m going to be living in debt and maybe even poverty for a long, long time.
I’m the 99% and in order to not be, I’d have to come from a family with some privilege or change my dreams or drop out of school. So kindly fuck off.
On Being a Male Feminist
I am a male feminist.
I know it can be stupid to complain that one is part of what is considered normal or on top of society, but the fact is that gender roles hurt every part of society. I like to describe it as women being bound in a sphere and men being stuck on a pedestal. Leaving our roles, even a little bit, will end up with us being derided and even hated.
I feel like I am in a prison of privilege. Like I constantly have to hold up this ideal of a strong, emotionless man. I can’t cry. I can’t not know what to do. And of course, I can’t complain that I’m stuck in this role I never chose because my role happens to be considered better by society than any alternative.
I have a somewhat strained relationship with my father, in part because of our differing political views, but much of that stems from his expectations of gender. I self-identify as a mostly straight cisgender male, but I acknowledge that most of my actual personality is more feminine than masculine.
But back to my dad. He often gripes that men in today’s society have to be touchy and sensitive bleeding hearts and that there’s no place for the “man’s man” who is overly tough and a strong and competent leader who lets no emotion impede his progress. When I hear that kind of talk, a little part of me breaks inside. Because every time I am told I must be some independent übermensch because I happened to be born with a dick.
So yes, I’m a feminist because life sucks for women and the lgbt community. I’m a feminist because aspects of my race and body image let me see what it’s like to feel marginalized and othered. I’m a feminist because I believe in equality and fairness.
But I think it’s important to note that feminism has something to offer men. We need feminism because the abolition of gender roles would free men to take whatever path we choose just as it would with women or any other gender.
