There are usually two types of people: either you have privilege or you’re scared to walk alone at night. This is usually segregated by gender. It’s a little thing called male privilege. Now, you might be thinking: “That doesn’t exist Raina, you’re a girl. You don’t know anything about male privilege.” To that I say, “Do you happen to be a straight, white man?” If the answer is yes, then educate yourself.
This article was prompted by my article last month about the Minnesota rape laws and also that one person who sits near me at lunch who talks about how “male privilege doesn’t exist.”Anyway, though it’s not as apparent today, male privilege still does indeed exist. Yes, women can vote and yes, they have similar job opportunities as men, but let’s take a look at how women are treated in a day-to-day life compared to a man.
Say a woman wakes up one morning for work. This woman doesn’t own a car, so she takes the train to work. Not only does she risk getting catcalled on the street, stared at, or touched in ways she doesn’t want to be (yes, women get groped and raped in broad daylight, often with no consequences, it has happened countless times before), she also risks being on a train car with someone who has more time and opportunity to do so as well.
Let’s say this woman does have a car, but she lives in an apartment with some sort of parking garage. This situation is also full of risks for her, as her creepy neighbor could follow her down and do something bad in the darkness of the parking garage, but he or someone else could mark her car or remember the license plate for kidnapping and/or sex trafficing.
The thing is, some men don’t care about being seen or the consequences of their actions, because nothing is enforced. I have a friend who was harassed at her place of work. She was working the drive through at a fast food restaurant when she went to hand a man his change back and he grabbed her arm. He tried to pull her through the window and into his car, but obviously he couldn’t take her. The man then waited outside in the parking lot and lingered there, waiting for her to be done with work.
Living life as a woman is terrifying. As a man, you don’t think twice about daily things that scare women. This is male privilege.
The funny thing is, most men are really sensitive. If a woman is talking about her sexual assault story on social media, a lot of the comments would be riddled with guys saying “not all men,” but according to them, all women are emotional, all women can’t make proper decisons, and all women are the same. The sheer hypocrisy is laughable.
It seems that lately, this behavior has been becoming more and more acceptable. It starts out at a young age with sexist dress codes. Girls are told not to wear tank tops that have too-thin straps or shorts that are above your fingertips, because it “distracts the little boys when they’re trying to learn.” Here’s an idea: how about you teach the little boys to respect women as their equals, instead of telling girls what they can and cannot wear.
This is also seen when boys bully girls on the playground. When said girl goes up to an administrator or teacher when a boy pushes them or makes fun of them, they’ll most likely tell the girl that “he just has a crush on you,” which tells them that when a boy is mean to them, it must mean that they like them. This sets up a whole array of messed up standards and ideals in her head, which often leads to abusive relationships.
Even young boys don’t get the proper consequences for their actions. I have a few friends in eighth grade who’ve experienced a student’s offensive behavior. He made group chats of people strictly in the LGBT community to call them slurs, he hacked into girls’ Snapchat accounts to get their nude photos; he touched a girl without her consent; he has gone around with his friends to take down sexual assault awareness posters; he posted videos saying slurs; he posted videos making fun of other girls at the school; he posted videos making fun of the LGBT community, and much more. He hasn’t received any direct punishments for anything he’s done, but I was told that the administrators would be talking to his parents. Personally, I think that the school administrators should’ve taken more action sooner.
Let’s jump to toxic masculinity for a moment. It’s a societal thing that tells men what they can and cannot do based on their “manliness” which is completely made up. Ultimately, it’s not a good thing. It sets up this view of what a man should be: strong, stern, void of emotion, and not feminine. This also starts at a young age when boys are taught certain things, such as they shouldn’t wear nail polish or dresses, and that if they have a girlfriend then they must want to be with them romantically.
The root of the issue is older generations teaching their children through prejudice and refusing to be educated. Their children are raised through sexist ideals. Not only do boys grow up getting told what’s “manly” or not, but girls are told that they should respect boys and men and do what they say. I’ve heard countless stories everywhere of teenage girls told to change their clothes, because a certain male relative was coming over, which is genuinely disgusting.
In conclusion, male privilege is an extremely toxic thing in our society today that needs to be dealt with. The thing stopping us from doing that is people who had toxic masculinity hammered into their heads who refuse to be educated. They fail to seek empathy and see what life is like for people that aren’t like them. These people also tend to be racist, homophobic, transphobic, etc. because they don’t understand their oppression.
A good way to fix this is to try to be more open minded: you can’t control your first thought, but you can control your thoughts after the initial one and your actions. If you’re a man, you can be an ally to your female family members and friends by shutting down your male friends when they make misogynistic remarks or stop encouraging them when they take advantage of women. You can also do this for POC and members of the LGBT community: let your friends know that making fun of them isn’t cool, because it’s not and people are dying every day because of their race, sexuality, and gender all over the world.