Privilege.
If there is a single concept in feminist thinking which requires a more complete shut down of the rational and logical facilities of the human mind I do not know of it. Often when an unapologetic male encounters the toothy cunt schreecher he is told to "check his privilege" when he expresses forbidden sentiments. When we express disbelief in the more, shall we say, reality disabled tenets of feminism we are told our "privilege" is blinding us. We are told that, as privileged males, we can not empathize with the plight of the oppressed female. We are told we do not understand, as Lisa Fortuner recently remarked "the stifling and oppressive gender roles" in our society.
There is a reason those not fully indoctrinated into feminist propaganda do not understand how "stifling and oppressive" gender roles are or how"privileged" males are though. Simply put, neither is even close to approaching reality. The simple fact is the only sex which is privileged is Women. Men in western society do not have "privilege" we have responsibility.
Privilege, in the most basic sense of the word is an unearned benefit, and no one, other than children, have more privileges in our society than women. Don't believe me? then ask yourself this, which sex, of the two has the privilege to choose whether or not to work? Which sex of the two has the privilege of choosing whether or not to support oneself? Which sex, of the two, has the privilege to choose whether or not to become a parent? Which sex, of the two, has the privilege to choose whether or not to engage in rational thought? Only women have these choices. Men are required to work. Men are required to support themselves. Men are required to become parents at anther's whim. Men are required to engage in rational and logical reasoning. Women are not required to, expected to, penalised for failure to, do any of theses things.
Women may choose to work, if they wish. They are not however required to. A woman may, at her choice, attach herself to a man and require him to work instead. If a woman does choose to work, and feels offended by the behavior of those required to work, or feels in any way that she is not "respected" then the full force of the United States government, and all the coercive power of the United States government is brought to bear on the offending parties. If a woman does choose not to work and instead requires a Man to do so in her stead, and he refuses, then the entire coercive power of the United States Government is again brought to bear on the offending party. Men do not, in any circumstance have this privilege. We instead have only the responsibility to work. We do not get the privilege to choose whether or not to work, as we do not have the privilege of choosing not to. Failure to do so triggers penalties ranging from societal scorn to legal incarceration. No such responsibility is required of women.
Likewise only women have the privilege of choosing whether or not to support her own life, both in the minute and in the grand. Women have the privilege of choosing whether or not to pay for their own meals, men have the responsibility to do so. Women have the privilege of choosing whether or not to pay their own rent, their bills, and the other requirements of life and society. Men are required to do so. Men do not have the privilege of requiring others to pay for them. We do not get to choose whether or not we do, because we do not have the privilege of choosing not to.
By the same token only women have the privilege of choosing whether or not they and men, become parents. Only women may choose to become parents, and only women may choose not to become parents. This choice is not, in any way shape or form granted to men in even the most diminutive of ways. Women and Women alone, have the ability to force parenthood upon men. This privilege, like the others mentioned, is not reciprocal. A man may not force a woman to bear his child, yet a woman may easily force a man to father hers. Again, men are not given a choice, as we do not have the right to choose not to. We have only the responsibility.
Even within the space of our own minds Women have privileges Men do not. Men are required to be rational and logical. We are required to make clear and compelling cases in order to convince others. Women on the other hand have a choice. They may engage in rational thought if they so choose, however they also have the privilege of engaging in emotional reasoning and the privilege to "prove" their points through such reasoning, and men are required to accept such reasoning as "valid" even though we are restricted from engaging in such ourselves.
Despite this, despite the mountain of privileges which are given, unearned, to every woman upon birth, feminists somehow manage to convince themselves that it is Men who are "privileged". Even more irrationally they often use the side effects of men's responsibilities in an attempt to prove that privilege exists. As an example, in one of the innumerable "privilege" lists one can find strewn throughout the Internet like intellectual land mines, B Deutch states, among others that males are privileged because,
I am not taught to fear walking alone after dark in average public
spaces.
The only problem is that once we ask a pertinent question, this so called male privilege can actually be seen for the responsibility it is. The question is of course can a man choose, if he so wishes, to be afraid of walking alone after dark in public places?And the answer of course is, No. We may not. We are required to be unafraid, even in circumstances in which any reasonable human being would be afraid. This is despite the fact that men, and not women, are overwhelmingly the victim of violence in our society. Men, by a wide margin, are more likely to be robbed, beaten, stabbed, shot, mugged, or murdered. Yet women, and only women, have the privilege of being afraid. Furthermore in the event that a man and a women are together when violence is brought to bear, the woman has the "privilege" to either fight or flee, to choose whether or not to fight in her own defense or in the mans, or to choose to abdicate that role to the man. The man has the responsibility to defend both himself and the woman. He is not given the privilege of choosing. He is not extended the choice of allowing the woman to take that responsibility from him.
Like wise this point of "privilege".
If I'm a teen or adult, and if I can stay out of prison, my odds of being
raped are so low as to be negligible.
Again as is the pattern, a male responsibility is turned on its ear and proffered as a privilege. Men are required not to be the victims of rape. Whereas a woman who suffers such an attack has a huge support apparatus available to her to overcome the trauma of such an attack, the Man is required to never be a victim of such an attack in the first place. A woman who is raped does not become less than she was prior to said attack, nor can she in any way shape or form be blamed for becoming the victim of the attack. Men do become lessened, and are blamed for their victimisation. Furthermore while a man who rapes a woman is not in any way shape or form exalted, a man who rapes another man is, in many ways, made more of a man as a result. Even when it comes to victimisation women are given the privilege of non-culpability, whereas men never are.
Lets take a look at some more shall we?
If I have children but do not provide primary care for them, my masculinity
will not be called into question.
Notice that the question of having children is conveniently side stepped here. The fact that men do not get to choose if they do or do not have children is effortlessly swept under the rug in order to serve the narrative of "male privilege" Women not only have the privilege of choosing whether they (and the man) become parents in the first place, as well as the exact level of participation in parenting the man may engage in, they also have the choice of providing either "primary care" or material care. Men do not have this choice and are required o provide material care. They may not substitute "primary care" for material care, nor can they choose whether or not they are allowed to provide any primary care at all. And yet somehow, this is a Male privilege.
This central obfuscation of the meanings of the words "choice" and "privilege" lie at the heart of the feminist Newspeak. Any privilege, by definition, must be voluntary in order to count as such. If one does not have the ability to forgo said "privilege" then it is not in fact a "privilege" but a responsibility. By way of example contrast the terms of military service in the United States with that of Israel. In the US we have the privilege of serving in the US military. It is a choice we can make to either do, or not do, based on our own desires. Israeli's on the other hand have the responsibility to serve in the Israeli Defense Force. An Israeli may not choose not to serve. Lacking the ability to choose the negative, they can not be described as having a privilege. Lacking the ability to decline, they can not be described as having a "choice" Yet somehow, feminists have managed to define "privilege" in such a way that only those who have no choice are described as privileged.
And so Violent Reader's I leave you with this bit of homework, go to the afore mentioned list of "male privileges" ( or any other for that matter)and look at each of the listed items with the new eyes I have given you and ask yourself, is this "privilege" something I can choose not to take advantage of? Or is it really a "responsibility" being described in Newspeak? I s this privilege really just a description of yet another responsibility described form another angle, or is it truly a privilege which I may, or may not take advantage of, based on my own desires. If its not, if you can not choose not to take advantage of it, then its not as privilege, its a responsibility.
7 comments:
I prefer not being raped to having a support apparatus b/c it's more likely I would be. :\
And victims are often blamed. For being too pretty, or attracting somebody's attention, or saying the wrong thing, or stuff. :\ It's used a lot in court.
I'm glad you think that it SHOULDN'T be :) (tho you'll retract that now that we agree no coubt xD)
It sounds very personal to you tho. :\ Were you raped? :O I'm so sry if you were :(
But rape is a very traumatizing and awful experience, it's something that stays with you, male or female, sometimes for your whole life. :(
I'm sry if you were raped tho and didn't get the support services you needed :(
And you should work to creating better support systems for men who are raped since this is clearly an important issue for you :)
Astounding. Women have the privilege of not paying their rent or working? Try being one of the millions of women of the under and lower-middle classes who must work because she has no other option.
Not all women have the dubious "privilege" of being stay-at-home wives or mothers, but even when they do numerous studies have shown that women actually do *more* work than men, overall. What's more, when a woman and a man marry, a man's overall amount of work decreases and a woman's increases.
Additionally, plenty of women are victimized as a result of their rape - both by the rape and by the justice system which may try to pin the "fault" on them or just decide their cases aren't worth prosecuting.
And finally, re: reproductive rights, what country do you live in? In the U.S. there are tremendous limits on women's choice whether to be a parent or not - so women's aren't "forcing" you to be a parent so much as they don't have a choice. I'm sure, given a *choice*, most (all?) women would rather NOT choose you as a father.
Yeah, great research there, buddy. Way to spout off about things you clearly know nothing about.
Ami,
No never been raped. Simply pointing out that victimisation is different. Yes some do blame women for "inviting it", which is an issue unto itself. However no one sugggests that a woman is less womanly because she was raped. Sh may be blamed, but not in a way that lessens her.
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Additionally, plenty of women are victimized as a result of their rape - both by the rape and by the justice system which may try to pin the "fault" on them or just decide their cases aren't worth prosecuting.
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Nice try. But there are valid reasons for that, not the least of which is the large number of false reports made for retributive reasons, not to mention the cases where "buyers remorse" leads to false rape charges. Yet despite this, a not insignificant percentage of men prosecuted for rape have been exonerated. Can yo say Duke Lacrosse team? I knew you could.
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And finally, re: reproductive rights, what country do you live in? In the U.S. there are tremendous limits on women's choice whether to be a parent or not - so women's aren't "forcing" you to be a parent so much as they don't have a choice. I'm sure, given a *choice*, most (all?) women would rather NOT choose you as a father.
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Im talking about actual rights, the right to see your children for example, not the right to slaughter them like veal. Oh wait, never mind no one cares when you slaughter a infant.
You dont wanna get preggers? Ill give you the same advice the judge gave my buddy when he got a chick pregnant after a one night stand. "shoulda kept your pants on"
Tell you what skippy, hows about you drop the kool-aid, slip your leash, and open your eyes.
Man, I'm glad I'm not you.
that makes two of us skippy
I disagree. No matter what your gender, as soon as you leave parental support, you are responsible for paying your own bills. That's what equality is all about. Equal right means equal responsibility. Re: Reproductive rights. Everyone has a choice here. It's very, very simple. Don't want kids? Don't have sex. ;)
I agree women have a staggering variety of choice in birth control where men only have three: vasectomy, condom, or complete trust that the partner has taken steps to avoid pregnancy. Yes, there are more medications for preventing pregnancy available for women, meaning more options. This goes back to differences in biology. Men and women will never be the same as far as that goes. Although, drug companies that were researching a birth control pill for men stopped working on it. I guess it is just easier to stop one egg from developing than stopping millions of sperm from developing. :/ However, even the "privilage" of hormonal birth control has it's strings. Ever heard of a pulminary ambolism? Yeah, it's kind of fatal. Every woman risks it by taking those hormones. Though from what you have written here, I suppose you would like the privilage of choosing that risk...
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