Is female privilege a real thing? If so, why don't equality movements talk about it?

[ehtheist]

I've been hearing the term "female privilege" being tossed around a lot recently and I was curious what Sherdog thought about it? It usually is mentioned in reference to the Western world, the U.S. most commonly, and is usually tied to a wide variety of things. Some of the things I've heard mention are "the right to vote without signing up for the draft" among other things that men don't get unless they sign up for selective services, but women are freely given. I hear it referenced concerning the hundreds of female only shelters for various things in the U.S., with next to no male shelters. I hear it referenced concerning the high male suicide and homelessness rates that seem to get less attention/funding than female. I hear it referenced in relation to prostate VS breast cancer funding, which is - so I hear - wildly off par. I hear it referenced when the Duluth model dictates that men are always picked up on domestic violence calls. I hear it referenced when people compare the media and league responses to Ray Rice VS Hope Solo. I hear it mentioned a lot - but not by major equality movements.

The thing I'm wondering is, is female privilege real or is it just the whining of a bunch of men who are scared of losing their privileged position? If it is real, why don't equality movements talk about it much, almost never seeing it as something that needs to be dealt with to achieve equality, whereas "male privilege" seems to be a buzzword?

A quick bing search of "female privilege" brought up a few things worth looking at in relation to the subject. Links provided.

http://thoughtcatalog.com/mark-saun...m-to-not-understand-because-female-privilege/

http://wihe.com/the-female-privilege-checklist/

https://www.quora.com/Does-female-privilege-exist

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2015/10/21/first-male-only-shelter-in-state-opening-in-dallas-next-year/

 

[GoldenAzazel]

I think the term "privilege" when used in this context is retarded and 99% of the time is used to silence somebodies argument. That being said if men had these advantages that women have then we'd never hear the end of it.

 

[TeTe]

I think society is just screwed in general. All people do is complain about whose struggle is worse, whose privilege is better, who's winning the oppression Olympics.. etc.

Think if people just focused on solutions and just caring about other human beings how much more would be accomplished in life. Or how much happier people would be. Remove yourselves from the dependence on negativity towards others.

Maybe it's just the Buddhist in me.. pipe dreams I suppose.

 

[Tycho- Taylor's Version]

The question is a dull one. Different qualities are privileged in different scenarios.

A better question is whether some are privileged in a ways that have social consequences worth discussing.

 

[Tamriel Terror]

The problem is all you hear about are the people that want to play the blame game and want to be entitled. A lot of the radicals of any equality movement dont want equality, they want inequality, which is pretty damn ironic.

Like other poster said, anytime someone brings up privilege 9 times out of 10 its to just try and shutdown someone without having any actual argument or intellectual debate.

 

[ehtheist]

The question is a dull one. Different qualities are privileged in different scenarios.

A better question is whether some are privileged in a ways that have social consequences worth discussing.

Glad you found a better question. Rather than posting here, might I suggest...

 

[Tycho- Taylor's Version]

Glad you found a better question. Rather than posting here, might I suggest...

Right. I forget sometimes that you're stuck to a script.

 

[ehtheist]

I like the notion that the notion of privilege is oftentimes brought up as an argumentative trump card, to silence another person. Kind of a sketchy way to go about it.

Though, is an early consensus that female privilege does exist then?

 

[ehtheist]

Right. I forget sometimes that you're stuck to a script.

Eh, you're the one who keeps on dropping in on places I post to state how bored you are with what I'm saying or how formulaic it is. Sometimes I think you're getting sweet on old Ehtheist..

 

[Serana]

I think society is just screwed in general. All people do is complain about whose struggle is worse, whose privilege is better, who's winning the oppression Olympics.. etc.

Think if people just focused on solutions and just caring about other human beings how much more would be accomplished in life. Or how much happier people would be. Remove yourselves from the dependence on negativity towards others.

Maybe it's just the Buddhist in me.. pipe dreams I suppose.

View media item 23055

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

Too macro of a variable. For places like DRC, Afghanistan, Yemen, et cetera, i would say it is hard to argue female privilege as real concept.

If you want to mine a bit deeper into more defined sub groups, i think you see a greater evidence of "female privilege" For example, attractive females get preferential treatment. As do wealthy females, white females, thin females.

However, if you weigh the pros of female privilege and weight them against the cons of perceived hindrance that extra X chromosome brings you - do you have an overall net positive or negative sum? Zero sum?

 

[ehtheist]

Too macro of a variable. For places like DRC, Afghanistan, Yemen, et cetera, i would say it is hard to argue female privilege as real concept.

If you want to mine a bit deeper into more defined sub groups, i think you see a greater evidence of "female privilege" For example, attractive females get preferential treatment. As do wealthy females, white females, thin females.

However, if you weigh the pros of female privilege and weight them against the cons of perceived hindrance that extra X chromosome brings you - do you have an overall net positive or negative sum? Zero sum?

To be fair, I do mention that it is usually in reference to the Western world, the U.S. in particular. Bringing up other areas with different power dynamics is something we have to do at some point, but whether women in Yemen have distinctive female privilege doesn't have much to do with whether women in the U.S. have distinctive female privilege.

Though, it sounds like you're asking for an intersectional approach to the problem. This is, of course, an approach worth taking, but it's one I'd examine a step down the road. Once it's established whether or not female privilege exists, then we could work out a hierarchy of privilege and lack thereof.

The main reason I ask the question is because, when I see people bring it up, I often hear the unqualified response of "female privilege doesn't exist." Though I think this plays into the above mentioned dynamic of trying to shut down argument.

 

[Tycho- Taylor's Version]

Eh, you're the one who keeps on dropping in on places I post to state how bored you are with what I'm saying or how formulaic it is. Sometimes I think you're getting sweet on old Ehtheist..

Because your threads are always weighed down by what you actually want to say but don't for some reason. You couldn't even say "feminism" in this thread, replacing it instead with "equality movements" lol.

So, straightforwardly - do you think female privilege is a thing? Do you think it's a thing that "equality movements" should be talking about?

Too macro of a variable. For places like DRC, Afghanistan, Yemen, et cetera, i would say it is hard to argue female privilege as real concept.

If you want to mine a bit deeper into more defined sub groups, i think you see a greater evidence of "female privilege" For example, attractive females get preferential treatment. As do wealthy females, white females, thin females.

However, if you weigh the pros of female privilege and weight them against the cons of perceived hindrance that extra X chromosome brings you - do you have an overall net positive or negative sum? Zero sum?

Ah, nuance? Make your own thread!!!11!!one!!

 

[Jack V Savage]

 

[ehtheist]

Because your threads are always weighed down by what you actually want to say but don't for some reason. You couldn't even say "feminism" in this thread, replacing it instead with "equality movements" lol.

Do you think female privilege is a thing? Do you think it's a thing that "equality movements" should be talking about?

Oh, there's some irony. The very first person in the thread using the F word is accusing me of wanting to say it. Sounds like you were the one itching to do so. First, feminism isn't the only equality movement active in the world. Second, maybe I didn't use the term to keep this from instantly bringing the usual crowd of pro/anti feminist warpathers?

I have thoughts on the issue. I'm more interested in hearing other peoples' thoughts than turning this into a gallery for attacking my thoughts which, yes, would probably be controversial. You're the one who seems dead set on making this about me at this point

Any chance of you discussing the topic without you fixating on me, or going to make your own damned thread which I promise I won't participate in so I won't bore you?

 

[ehtheist]

It's sooooo cute Thanks for posting!

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

To be fair, I do mention that it is usually in reference to the Western world, the U.S. in particular. Bringing up other areas with different power dynamics is something we have to do at some point, but whether women in Yemen have distinctive female privilege doesn't have much to do with whether women in the U.S. have distinctive female privilege.

Though, it sounds like you're asking for an intersectional approach to the problem. This is, of course, an approach worth taking, but it's one I'd examine a step down the road. Once it's established whether or not female privilege exists, then we could work out a hierarchy of privilege and lack thereof.

The main reason I ask the question is because, when I see people bring it up, I often hear the unqualified response of "female privilege doesn't exist." Though I think this plays into the above mentioned dynamic of trying to shut down argument.

Fair enough; if you want to keep it the US alone. I can not think of a privilege all females receive just because of being born a woman. Perceived privileges become more evident the more you drill down into the variables.

 

[Serana]

lol awww

 

[ehtheist]

Fair enough; if you want to keep it the US alone. I can not think of a privilege all females receive just because of being born a woman. Perceived privileges become more evident the more you drill down into the variables.

Under this criteria, yeah, the only one I can think of is the selective service thing... And that's kind of a hypothetical privilege, because it's signing up for something that might happen to the men forced to sign up. I suppose a fair amount of privilege discussion/rhetoric is concerned with "because you were born X, you get..."

Though, on that note, what types of privilege do men receive just in virtue of being born a man? And, should we effectively disqualify claims to privilege like "female privilege is knowing that you have a domestic violence shelter nearby if you need it"? If we disqualify such things, wouldn't that *hugely* undermine the rhetoric/narrative concerning things like white or male privilege as we see them in popular culture?

Also I realize you likely have no personal investment in these questions or the movements perpetuating these notions of white/male privilege. Just posting them for interest.

 

[stellarborg]

no it's not a real thing, lol at having to bring up a quora thread as a link supporting the assertion

women still face tremendous negative cultural stereotypes about being weak emotional not fit to be in charge and so on, that's a very real thing, although it has been getting better in western countries recently