Privelege; Is It Really Blinding Or People Just Don’t Care.
Privilege is an advantage a person or group of persons have over another group who are often marginalized. Privilege exists in different ways and it is what maintains the unbalance of life. In other words, it is what separates the sheep from the goats but in real life involving actual humans.
I read somewhere that privilege blinds us and I took it to mean that the advantage you enjoy as a person who does not belong to a marginalized group shields you from the lived experiences of that marginalized group. This I believe to be true. For instance, going by society’s beauty standards, I am an attractive woman and I have the body that society deems great and sexually appealing. Therefore, this gives me access to pretty privilege (quite bullshit but that’s not my point here) and protects me from living the experiences of fat women or women who do not meet society’s standards. Agreed that in this patriarchal society, women have similar experiences but that is not to say that it is the same for everyone. Pretty privilege gives some kind of advantage that blinds me to other experiences of other women. This is to say that I cannot speak on their experience because it isn't my reality.
Being part of a dominant group or enjoying certain privileges that comes with being a part or proximity to such power is no one’s fault. Privileges are meant to be enjoyed to be quite honest but people do not want to acknowledge their privilege or admit the advantages because power is important. Privileged people do not care. It is why skinny people speak over fat people when conversations on body shaming happen. It is why rich people think poor people are lazy and don't work hard enough. It is why straight people can open their mouth to tell Queer people that all they talk about is their sexuality and what is not homophobic. It’s why light skinned people have the audacity to speak on bleaching. It’s why society is so ableist because people without disabilities do not care or listen. The list goes on and on an on…
So yes, privilege may be blinding but privileged people need to do better by acknowledging these advantages, listening to marginalized people, caring, treating each other better and not speaking over people whose lived experiences you do not share.
