#recognizing privilege

[55555-555-5]

I got tagged by @changingandhealing to do a little picture board thing and I’m very excited to be included!

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I’m choosing @namidaass and @vibrantvoid to do this board if you would like to!

[awkwardgoddessyrt]

I had a unscripted script-flip interaction today with a college officer that I found hilarious and wonderful.

[thatveganwhiterose]

A head's up about recognizing privilege

So a lot of people have sent me messages, expressing how much they like my 'privilege page' on my account and wanting to make use of it as well. Of course I don't mind; we all need to know what our group and individualized privileges are.

But I want to list a few very fucking important reminders about this:

Just because you are aware of and educated about the privilege(s) you benefit from does NOT make you a special snowflake.

Just because you are aware of and educated about the privilege(s) you benefit from does NOT mean you should get ass-pats, or cookies, or constant "Oh you're such a good person!" remarks. 

Knowing your privilege(s) makes you simply a person who knows about them.

Knowing your privilege(s) doesn't suddenly make you part of a group (especially the group(s) you have privilege(s) over). It does not make you at all valid, or right, or awesome, or all-knowing.

Having privilege(s) and knowing about them should always mean that you actively want to change yourself, challenge yourself, assist others where it is needed/wanted, and to be a decent fucking person. It means putting that group before you when it comes to that group's needs/wants. It means shutting up when an under-privileged individual or group is talking. It means fixing problematic behavior with a simple "You fucked up, please stop that"; not causing a shit-fit or defending your behavior.

Me putting up my own list of privileges is a reminder TO ME that I have unfair, fucked up advantages from being part of a group that got there in a fucked up way. It doesn't make me awesome or special. It makes me a normal human being that cares about others and wants to help in whatever fucking way I can.

[fidelishaereticus]

(Invisible) Social Privilege

Yes, I am aware that even if I could discover and pursue the most effective means of sharing excess of material resources with those who need them, I would still enjoy the excess of immaterial resources that have been concentrated in my mind (not counting 'innate' ones --- just the ones that have been socially cultivated and provided for me). 

I feel neither pride nor guilt with respect to this condition, nor do I want anyone to congratulate me on my awareness of it. I don't know where I am going with this observation. Sometimes knowledge is power, but most of the time it is awareness of a state of powerlessness. Relatively speaking, I know much more than I ever deserved to know, and still I do not know enough. What I feel, perhaps, is a combination of awe, and anger, and insignificance. I have been given riches of which I cannot divest myself. My life is testament to an injustice that I cannot undo, not even by undoing myself.