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[threeplusfire]

Some of you will say you know this. But this goes further than just knowing. it's not just about saying "Oh, I know this!". It's about DOING. It's about lifestyle. It's about every day words and actions. It's about changing the world we live in, one word at a time, one action at a time. Over and over and over again, until it sticks.

http://meallanmouse.livejournal.com/1043361.html

Yes. For heaven's sake, live what you talk.

Comments

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Positive reinforcement is all well and good - but it sounded to me that the point being made was that doing the right thing wasn't something we should do just so we can get a thank you and a cookie or whatever. That sometimes good deeds do go unacknowledged for whatever reason. Certainly in that moment the person may be too upset to remember to thank someone.

As far as the blinders of privilege - I don't get how that is related to male bashing at all. We all should try harder to notice when our privileges let us get away with things. Whatever that privilege is - be is gender, race, biology, religion, culture.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Are you really going to make me explain how male members of various societies have traditionally held power and privilege over women for the past few thousand years? Really? Are we really going to have to go over persistent, deeply ingrained cultural and social stereotyping that exists to this day regarding men and women? Such as that men are paid more, across the board?

[lizkayl.livejournal.com]

Any time you see someone different than you being discriminated against because of that difference? That what's commonly called a privilege.

I see it more as an absence of discrimination than a privilege.

Because the things that 'privilege' afford us, should be expected behavior.

[amyamy.livejournal.com]

I don't see myself as having privilege, or blinders of privilege - and I take issue with anyone who says that all men do. What is this privilege, and how exactly does it work? I'd like to know.

From places too numerous to link to, do your own search and you'll find yet more:
Male Privilege
-If I fail in my job or career, I can feel sure this won’t be seen as a black mark against my entire sex’s capabilities.
-I am far less likely to face sexual harassment at work than my female co-workers are.
-If I choose not to have children, my masculinity will not be called into question.
-If I have children and a career, no one will think I’m selfish for not staying at home.
-My elected representatives are mostly people of my own sex. The more prestigious and powerful the elected position, the more this is true.
-When I ask to see “the person in charge,” odds are I will face a person of my own sex. The higher-up in the organization the person is, the surer I can be.
-If I’m careless with my financial affairs it won’t be attributed to my sex.
-If I’m careless with my driving it won’t be attributed to my sex.
-I can be confident that the ordinary language of day-to-day existence will always include my sex. “All men are created equal,” mailman, chairman, freshman, etc.
-My ability to make important decisions and my capability in general will never be questioned depending on what time of the month it is.
-As a child, I could choose from an almost infinite variety of children’s media featuring positive, active, non-stereotyped heroes of my own sex. I never had to look for it; male protagonists were (and are) the default.
-I can turn on the television or glance at the front page of the newspaper and see people of my own sex widely represented, every day, without exception.
-I can ask for legal protection from violence that happens mostly to men without being seen as a selfish special interest, since that kind of violence is called “crime” and is a general social concern. (Violence that happens mostly to women is usually called “domestic violence” or “acquaintance rape,” and is seen as a special interest issue.)
-Every major religion in the world is led primarily by people of my own sex. Even God, in most major religions, is pictured as male.
-Complete strangers generally do not walk up to me on the street and tell me to “smile.”
-I have the privilege of being unaware of my male privilege.

You haven't asked for it, you may not want it, but every day of your life you experience events which are made easier for you because of a genetic chance of fate and millenniums of hisotry. That is what privilege is.