A White Male on White Male Priveledge

After reading White Privilege and Male Privilege A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies, by Peggy McIntosh, I have to admit that I was a little taken aback and I felt almost attacked.  It was interesting how towards the beginning of the paper she said, “I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege.” (McIntosh 1998, 95) I must be one of the males taught not to believe that I had any sort of privilege here in the United States because I certainly in no way believe that.  At first the writing as a whole offended me, but then I kept referring back to that quote and thinking that maybe she was right.  It’s probably true that most white people take for advantage the fact that he list of 46 things is actually true and all of those are very applicable. I personally just struggle to agree, and therefore support her theory, that males really have that much of an upper hand in the work place.  She states that “Virtually all men deny that male over-reward alone can explain men’s centrality in all the inner sanctums of our most powerful institutions.” (McIntosh 1998, 96)
This is believe is quite a bold statement because I do not think it is fair by any means to assume that the only reason men own or run many of the most powerful institutions just because they are men.  That is completely discounting all of the hard work, perseverance, and hours that they had to put in, in order to achieve that high status as leader of the institution.  This seems to be one of the more offensive portions of the article.

Moving on from her arguments about male dominance, I do think that she proposed many good points regarding the white privilege that many of us experience and take for granted on a daily basis.  I personally cannot comment on how it would feel on the other side, but I do find it easy to agree with all of her reasons and observations of things that we are able to do without question.  I have to say that I do agree with her when she said, “I have listed conditions of daily experience that I once took for granted, as neutral, normal, and universally available to everybody.”  I will no longer be able to go about my daily routine without thinking as to whether or not this would be something universally accepted or if I am solely getting this treatment because I am white and a male.