Male privilege…In black and white
Dorrell Anthony Alexander
Western Washington University

What is “Privilege”? When we speak of privilege, what exactly are we speaking of? Many find it easy to get the basic fundamentals of a “right” and a “privilege” confused, so for foundational purposes, I would like to lay out how they differ. First, let’s talk about two of the different kinds of rights; “natural” and “legal”.
According to Merriam-Webster (2013) Natural rights are “rights which are "natural" in the sense of "not artificial, not man-made”; “as in rights deriving from logic, from human nature, or from the edicts of a god”. They are ”universal”, (they apply to all people, and do not derive from the laws of any specific society),”They exist necessarily, inhere in every individual, and can't be taken away” ( Merriam-Webster, 2013). For example, it has been argued that humans have a natural right to life. They're sometimes called inalienable rights.
Legal rights, in contrast, are “rights based on a society's customs, laws, statutes or actions by legislatures” (Merriam-Webster, 2013). An example of a legal right is the right to vote of citizens. “Citizenship, itself, is often considered as the basis for having legal rights, and has been defined as the "right to have rights"(Broidy and Agnew, 1997), Legal rights are sometimes called civil rights or statutory rights which Broidy and Agnew (1997) believe are “culturally and politically relative”, since they depend on a specific societal context to have meaning. In layman terms, a “right” is something that is due to a person or governmental body by law, tradition, or nature. The pursuit of happiness, for example, is a right defined by human nature. A “privilege” is a special benefit, exemption from a duty, or immunity from penalty, given to a particular person, a group or a class of people. The main difference that I see between these two concepts is that a right cannot be taken away from you because of your bad behavior.(with the exception of certain rights if one is convicted of a felonious crime) Privileges, on the other hand, are things you can lose if you behave badly. There is one type of privilege that has caused untold harm to both men and women, but has not been truly challenged by any social or political movement within our community. The privilege that I am referring to is male privilege.
Male Privilege
“Male privilege is a sociological term that refers quite generally to any special rights or status granted to men in a society, on the basis of their sex or gender, but usually denied to women” (Rothenbegr,2008)). In legal cases alleging discrimination, "sex" is usually preferred as the determining factor rather than "gender", because it refers to biology rather than socially constructed norms which are more open to interpretation and dispute. Although gender and sex are separate concepts, they are interlinked in that gender discrimination often results from stereotypes based on what is expected of members of each sex. According to Rothenberg (2008);

“The word “gender” has cultural and attitudinal characteristics (as opposed to physical characteristics) distinctive to the sexes. That is to say, gender is to sex as feminine is to female and masculine is to male. So, biologically, "male" privilege is only one of many power structures that may exist within a given society. Levels of male privilege differ between societies and can have different contexts within the same society”.

Basically, the term "male privilege" does not apply to a single occurrence of the use of power, but rather describes one of many systemic power structures that are interdependent and interlinked throughout societies and cultures.
Cultural factors regarding male privilege
In every aspect of modern life in politics, the law, the churches, the business world, the schools, and the family, the issue of sexual (sometimes gender) discrimination has grown. A core assumption is that sexuality and sexual behavior are natural outcomes; a simple result of genetics or biology (Broidy, 1997). An alternative view is that sexuality is a social construction, “where men and women are nurtured and encouraged to become appropriate members of the ambient society, as decided by the majority” (Rothenberg, 2010). These assigned gender roles carry with them “packages” of rights and duties. Sex or gender-based differentiation manifests itself differently in different cultural contexts. Rothenberg points out that It is evidenced by the “glass ceiling and the wage gap in Western cultures, genital mutilation, dowry-related violence in Asian cultures, and the sexually exploitative trafficking of women and young girls”.(Rothenberg, 2010).
Male privilege is more than just a "double standard", because it is” based on attitudes or actions that come at the expense of women. Just as white privilege comes at the expense of African Americans and other people of color and gender double standards come at the expense of women” (Rothenberg, 2008). Given the devastating history of racism in this country, one has to understand that getting black men to identify with the concept of male privilege isn't easy. For many black men, the phrase "black male privilege" seems like an oxymoron; three words that simply do not go together.
Black Male Privilege What does "privilege" have to do with Black men? Well, we understand some kinds of privilege. The privilege to call a black man "Boy", even if that black man happens to be 60 years old or older, the privilege to drive a car and never have to worry that the police will racially profile you; privileges that have nothing to do with what a person has earned, but rather are based entirely on who a person is, or what color they are.
As African Americans, we condemn these types of "unearned assets" because we recognize that these privileges come at our expense. We have also learned from social and political movements that have sought to redress these privileges, and academic disciplines that have provided us with the tools to critically examine and explore them. Inviting black men and boys into a conversation about male privilege does not deny centuries of discrimination or the burden of racism that we continue to suffer from today. In the words of J.R. Feagin (2006) “As long as a black man can be tasered 9 times in 14 minutes, shot at 50 times on the morning of his wedding night, or receive less call-backs for a job than a white man with a felony record, we know that racist sexism that targets black men is alive and kicking”.
Intersectionality
The term “intersectionality” refers to “the study of the intersections (meeting points) between different minority groups” (MacMillan Dictionary, 2012). For example, how being a gay woman or a black woman affects the inequalities experienced by women as a whole. Audre Lorde, an admitted “forty-nine-year-old Black lesbian feminist socialist mother of two, and a member of an interracial couple” states; “As white women ignore their built-in privilege of whiteness and define woman in terms of their own experience alone, then women of Color become “other,” the outsider whose experience and tradition is too “alien” to comprehend” ( Lorde, 2010). I believe that this quote spells out the concept of intersectionality perfectly. The division of the races (or genders) tends to lead to different levels of oppression pertaining to privileges that are supposedly allotted to the whole. For instance, can you truly say that a white woman and a black woman are able to enjoy the same privilege? Or that a bisexual or lesbian woman regardless of race, can enjoy the same privileges as the others? The oppressions of each affect the inequalities of the whole. The field of intersectionality has evolved, and many scholars now recognize the ways that race, class, and gender are connected in the lived experience of others besides black women. Yet, there remains a significant blind spot on the part of white liberal feminists as to the way these intersect. For example, the way skin-color and class privilege shape the way white women frame issues of “safety” as a feminist issue, while remaining oblivious to the serious “collateral damage” this issue wreaks on the lives of men of color (and those who love them) who are targets of a vicious criminal justice system.(Broidy and Agnew, 1997) I can’t say that I have not felt the sting of inequality at times when it comes to interracial relationships and the justice system, and have come to view these interactions as a form of systematic oppression. I can never put myself into white skin and undergo sexual reassignment in order to truly confirm my belief, so I can only hypothesize based on experiential learning. Perhaps I would not have been viewed in a certain way if I were in a different environment or social class; I wouldn’t automatically be seen as a “thug” and treated as so, and I wouldn’t see my partner treated with kid gloves when thought to be a victim, but then treated with a sort of “flippant” attitude when it’s found that she is not; almost as if she is being punished or admonished for being with a man of color. The sad reality of all of this is that it isn’t only about race; it’s about class as well.
Oppression
If any random group of human beings had a chance to listen to each other about the reality of their lives at a deep level, it would be clear that most, if not all, of them would say that they had suffered systematic disrespect and mistreatment simply because they had grown up in a particular group in society. According to Jean Harvey,” All people are or have been oppressed— that is, systematically denied equal justice, opportunity, freedom, or the development of their full humanness” (Harvey,1999) This is not to say that all oppressions are equal. Oppression is different for each group, some more damaging and vicious than others. Some groups are coerced or offered "benefits" for playing oppressive roles towards other groups. He goes on to state; “All people have been forced into a more limited life by their societal conditioning. All people have had their share of systematic mistreatment, mis-education, and disrespect that have warped their full humanness” (Harvey, 1999).
Oppression as a system
McDonald and Coleman (1999) say that there are four interrelated faces of any oppression, stating; “We think it helps people understand how oppression is a system, not just prejudice” (McDonald and Coleman, 1999). For example, when most people, including young people, are asked what racism is, they typically say that it is prejudice or discrimination against people of color. This is certainly a part of racism, but only the most visible, personally experienced part.
(1) Ideological Oppression First, any oppressive system has at its core the idea that one group is somehow better than another, and in some measure has the right to control the other group. This idea gets elaborated in many ways--more intelligent, harder working, stronger, more capable, nobler, more deserving, more advanced, chosen, superior, and so on. The dominant group holds this idea about itself. And, of course, the opposite qualities are attributed to the other group--stupid, lazy, weak, incompetent, worthless, less deserving, backward, inferior, and so on.
(2) Institutional Oppression The idea that one group is better than another group and has the right to control the other gets embedded in the institutions of the society--the laws, the legal system and police practice, the education system and schools, hiring policies, public policies, housing development, media images, political power, etc. When a woman makes two thirds of what a man makes in the same job, it is institutionalized sexism. When one out of every four African-American young men is currently in jail, on parole, or on probation, it is institutionalized racism. When gay or lesbian couples are banned from the military, it is institutionalized gay oppression. When young people are excluded from decision-making in almost every area that affects their lives, it is institutionalized oppression of young people, or adultism.
(3) Interpersonal Oppression The idea that one group is better than another and has the right to control the other, which gets structured into institutions, gives permission and reinforcement for individual members of the dominant group to personally disrespect or mistreat individuals in the oppressed group. Interpersonal racism is what white people do to people of color up close--the racist jokes, the stereotypes, the beatings and harassment, the threats, the whole range of personal acts of discrimination. Similarly, interpersonal sexism is what men do to women--the sexual abuse and harassment, the violence directed at women, the belittling or ignoring of women's thinking, the pornography, the sexist jokes, etc. Most people in the dominant group are not consciously oppressive. They have internalized the negative messages about other groups, and consider their attitudes towards the other group quite normal.
(4) Internalized Oppression The fourth way oppression works is within the groups of people who suffer the most from the mistreatment. Oppressed people internalize the ideology of inferiority, they see it reflected in the institutions, they experience disrespect interpersonally from members of the dominant group, and they eventually come to internalize the negative messages about themselves. If we have been told we are stupid and worthless and have been treated as if we were all our lives, then it is not surprising that we would come to believe it. This makes us feel bad. Oppression always begins from outside the oppressed group, but by the time it gets internalized, the external oppression need hardly be felt for the damage to be done. If people from the oppressed group feel bad about themselves, and because of the nature of the system, do not have the power to direct those feelings back toward the dominant group without receiving more blows, then there are only two places to dump those feelings--on oneself and on the people in the same group. Thus, people in any target group have to struggle hard to keep from feeling heavy feelings of powerlessness or despair. They often tend to put themselves and others down, including their own children, in ways that mirror the oppressive messages they have gotten all their lives. Acting out internalized oppression runs the gamut from passive powerlessness to violent aggression.
Where We Go From Here
There is much work to be done to bridge the gender divide. However, given the dynamics of the relationship between dominant and subordinated groups, real and lasting change requires the thoughtful work of the dominant group. In this case, it means that the responsibility for creating lasting change in the culturally-installed patriarchy is the work of men in our society. This important work of extending privilege, power, and influence to women as a group does not require the disadvantaging of men. The work also requires men to self-assess and to address the issues of overt oppression of women.
What Men Can Do
• Recognize and accept the culturally-installed bias toward male privilege, power, and influence.
• Become more aware of the group-level patterns of behavior exhibited by men acting out of their group-level identity.
• Become more aware of your own behaviors and the impact those behaviors have on the people around you.
What Women Can Do
• Make a personal choice to develop your signature capabilities to the maximum degree possible without regard for culturally-installed barriers or obstacles.
• Make a personal choice to fully contribute your signature capability to family, work and community without regard for culturally installed barriers and obstacles.
• Learn to partner with dominant group allies to alleviate the negative impact of culturally-installed oppression on all groups.
• Call out and name those circumstances and instances of gender oppression as they present themselves.
Success in closing the gender gap also requires the partnership of women. This partnership requires women to assert their talent, skills and ability in the home, at work, and in the community at large. It calls on women to point out what is not working in the gender gap, which means not colluding with the patriarchy with silence and the denial that serious problems still exist and must be addressed.

References

Broidy, L., & Agnew, R. (1997). Gender and crime: A general strain theory perspective. Journal of research in crime and delinquency, 34(3), 275-306.
Croteau, J. M., Talbot, D. M., Lance, T. S. and Evans, N. J. (2002), A Qualitative Study of the Interplay between Privilege and Oppression. Journal of multicultural Counseling & Development, 30: 239–258.
Feagin, J. R. (2006). Systemic racism: A theory of oppression. CRC Press.
Harvey, J., & Harvey, J. (1999). Civilized oppression. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Laws, G. (1994). Oppression, knowledge and the built environment. Political Geography, 13(1), 7-32.
Lorde, A. (2010). Age, Race, Class and Sex: women Redefining Difference. In P.S. Rothenberg (Ed), Race, class, and gender in the United States (pp.663-669). New York; Worth Publishers.
McDonald, P., & Coleman, M. (1999). Deconstructing hierarchies of oppression and adopting a ‘multiple model’approach to anti-oppressive practice. Social Work Education, 18(1), 19-33.
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