priv·i·lege
ˈpriv(ə)lij/
noun
1. a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people.
"education is a right, not a privilege"
synonyms: advantage, benefit;
I grew up in unincorporated Columbus, Ohio in 1952. Second child, first daughter. Soon there were 6 of us children. Those were the days when only the Dad worked away from home. He was a carpenter and during the winters, he was mostly laid off.
It was, for me, a great childhood. While we were not poor by any means, we were definitely lower middle class. One car. Hand me downs from cousins. Never missed a meal but often had beans on toast. (Which I still love to this day!)
Recently on Facebook someone posted a "quiz" to see how "privileged" you are. Since I am not black and I am heterosexual, I came up with pretty darned privileged! Here is where I object to being part of a special "advantaged" group. I could not choose to be any other race. I am what I am. Just like I can't choose to be transgender or bisexual or gay.
When I moved away from home, it was a step up in life for me. I probably earned almost the same as my father did ... by being a secretary/bookkeeper. Each time I changed jobs, it was another step up in pay and status. For the life of me, I don't think I am where I am because I am "privileged." I worked hard, commuted and helped raise a kidlet who is rather ashamed of her "privilege".
Sorry I just don't feel privileged. I feel very LUCKY to have had humble beginnings and great parents who raised me to reach higher. To give to community. To use my talents.
Here's a link to this totally unbiased quiz ..
See what you think!
Did you take the test? I scored 'under privileged' by 18 points. I could be wrong, but I think the whole point of the test is to open people's eyes to the fact that a lot of advantages come to us through no particular effort on our part. Privilege isn't about how much we've had to work or not to get where we're at in life but rather about how much or how little society holds us back for things we can't control...like the color of our skin or being a woman or being born to wealthy parents instead to a drug addicted woman with no family support. I don't use the word 'privilege' and prefer 'lucky' the same as you. By the grace of God and all that....
ReplyDeletePure luck for sure! I didn't even take the test after looking at the first 20 questions! You were UNDER privileged?? Really? We must compare answers!
DeleteYou quit reading the questions too soon. I almost did, too. But they changed their theme down the list.
DeleteI did take it last night ... questions were worded a little tricky. I got 40 which isn't very privileged. Although if all questions had been asked about the last ten years, O Lucky Me!
DeleteI am not even looking at the test... If it is out there, it is skewed, to show White Male Privilege.
ReplyDeleteThis is the message, of just about all news outlets.
The message of the Liberal Left.
That only White Straight Men, are Privileged.
All the rest of the black, brown, yellow, purple, green men... All women... And all the people of the various gender identifications... Have the Right To Victim-hood.
Sooooo... The over all message.... Be ashamed! You white straight men, mostly. But white straight women too. 'Cause Society gives you a break. Be ashamed!!!!
What a bunch of "Horse Excrementum"!!!!!
Luna Crone
Unashamed...
Glad that you can express yourself! I just feel lucky about my lot in life. Crazy but I have never felt like a victim. Even though ....
DeleteI agree, at different times of our life the answers to those questions would be different.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I'll have to go take the test. I think at least part of privilege is about opportunity or lack there of, though I think it's hard to identify if someone is refusing to give you a job for certain reasons: your a woman, over 50, black, gay, etc.
ReplyDeleteI got 40 also. It says I am not privileged. Well, I disagree. I was privileged to be born when and where I was and into the family I had. I still feel privileged to be where I am and alive at 78 years old. That doesn't make me any better than anyone else. Stupid test wants us now to feel "bad" because we are white, heterosexual. Not my fault I was born that way. HAH!
ReplyDeleteI didn't take the test but after reading the questions I can imagine I would have been lacking in "privilege" (based on the term they use) in some ways. I think there are different kinds of privilege/advantages for a whole variety of reasons and they tried to cover just some of them. I expect the test is simply designed to make people think, maybe to consider whether they may have had, or not, advantages over others, or have been privileged in some way they may not have realized.
ReplyDeleteCan't recall if I knew you were from Columbus, but I was there for a few years in fifties-sixties at WLW-C.