I'm glad you took the time to create a post like this. As someone who is considered a minority in a couple ways, it's difficult to talk to people about these issues and I avoid them more often than I approach them. Phrases like "playing the race/gender card" often seem used to avoid and shutdown conversations like these, almost defensively.
It's natural for individuals in the majority to get defensive when they are told they have a systemic advantage; I think it takes a much bigger person to look at the whole picture and understand the advantages and disadvantages society has made for them regardless of what innate identifiers they fall into.
More recently, I got ballsy enough to talk to one of my friends about gender issues and was surprised by how receptive and understanding he was; this was so fundamentally different from other interactions I had when I was younger. It can really mean a lot when people outside of the disadvantaged group, especially those with society driven privilege, are able to acknowledge certain situations. Like you were saying, even if this sort of dialogue opens up the door for one person to think differently, critically and notice some systemic problems in our society, it's totally worth it.
Thank you for creating such an eloquent post sushmonster!
It can really mean a lot when people outside of the disadvantaged group, especially those with society driven privilege, are able to acknowledge certain situations.
This UN campaign addresses exactly what you're getting at and you are completely right in thinking this way! Glad you liked the post! :)
I'm glad you took the time to create a post like this. As someone who is considered a minority in a couple ways, it's difficult to talk to people about these issues and I avoid them more often than I approach them. Phrases like "playing the race/gender card" often seem used to avoid and shutdown conversations like these, almost defensively.
It's natural for individuals in the majority to get defensive when they are told they have a systemic advantage; I think it takes a much bigger person to look at the whole picture and understand the advantages and disadvantages society has made for them regardless of what innate identifiers they fall into.
More recently, I got ballsy enough to talk to one of my friends about gender issues and was surprised by how receptive and understanding he was; this was so fundamentally different from other interactions I had when I was younger. It can really mean a lot when people outside of the disadvantaged group, especially those with society driven privilege, are able to acknowledge certain situations. Like you were saying, even if this sort of dialogue opens up the door for one person to think differently, critically and notice some systemic problems in our society, it's totally worth it.
Thank you for creating such an eloquent post sushmonster!
This UN campaign addresses exactly what you're getting at and you are completely right in thinking this way! Glad you liked the post! :)