Shall we?
There has been A LOT of attention to the topic of privilege over the last year and a half in particular & often what I see is the theme falling into 1 of 2 camps … 1 I’ll call “The Defence” and 2 I’ll call “The Victim” …
Basically Camp 1 is the denial of the existence & impact of privilege and Camp 2 is here to tell us how terrible it is …
This afternoon, while contemplating my baguette in a little office in Mexico, I wanted to speak to both camps and BEYOND …
First let’s just address the simple fact that YES privilege exists and YES it totally has to do with your skin colour, the language(s) you speak, your gender, your sexual orientation, and the country you just so happened to be born in.
Does all of that make you a better or worse person?
Of course not (I’ll be addressing this little innuendo in a moment) …
But …
Denial of the privilege you have is denying how you can actually USE it for the betterment of all.
Privilege is really just about understanding how you see the world and how that’s shaped by opportunities and gifts that we just assume everyone has access to.
Oh, and something else …
Can we just throw out the “privilege finger pointing” out there?
Like just because I’m a woman, I’m not down with going around shaming all of the middle aged white men who have no clue of their privileged status, both victimizing myself, and just stirring up more toxicity without doing anyone any good.
I have access to credit cards and credit.
I have a passport.
I’ve flown around in an airplane to countries just for fun for vacation.
I have fucking privilege too.
Mine just looks different.
In fact the more I sit with this, the more I think we need to see privilege a little bit like money.
It’s neither good nor bad.
It can be used with ill intent & manipulation … and it can be used for good intent & help self & others.
It’s a resource & it’s how we actually USE it that matters!
So this is the whole point (congratulations for arriving!)!
Having awareness of our privilege is important because it’s a damn important resource!!!
So my message for those in Camp 1 in denial that you have privilege is that I hope you can open your eyes and perspective to all that you have because you can really do some GOOD in this world!
My message for those in Camp 2 is to please stop victimizing those who are “less privileged” or yourselves even and let go of all of the BS around what privilege MEANS as it’s history in civilization & humanity so we can start to reclaim it as the resource it can be!
Thank you for coming to my TedTalk 😉
If you’ve made it this far, I have a fun little eccentric privilege checklist for you …
You have privilege if you:
~ Have access to credit (either you have a credit card, or loan, or mortgage)
~ Have a passport
~ Can go to the police or authorities for help & they both believe & help you!
~ Are literate
~ Chose how to dress yourself
~ Go on vacation from time to time
~ Have access to post secondary education
~ Have access to credit to allow you to attend post secondary education
~ Were born in a 1st world country like Canada, the USA, etc.
