Male and White Privilege

Anthony Pipia

WGSS1000

9/21/15

Last week we discussed in class white and male privilege. I wanted to learn more about these topics, so I did a little research of my own. For starters I simply googled what white and male privilege were. Male privilege is a term for social, economic, and political advantages or rights that are made available to men solely on the basis of their sex. A man's access to these benefits may also depend on other characteristics such as race, sexual orientation and social class. White privilege is a term for societal privileges that benefit white people in Western countries beyond what is commonly experienced by non-white people under the same social, political, or economic circumstances. These issues are very real and there are many examples of each.

            An example of male privilege is that on average men get paid more than women. Women make on average about 79% of what men do. The pay gap is even worse for women of color who make significantly less than their white counterparts. Some examples of white privilege are “you are less likely to be arrested, you are more likely to get into college, you are more likely to fit in and get called back for a job, you are less likely to be perceived as a thug, you are less likely to be labeled as angry, you are more likely to make the headlines when missing, and you are more likely to find adequate housing”. How true are those examples? I’m not too sure in my opinion, but I do know that as long as racism exists so will white privilege.