Yes. Inasmuch as society caters to that.
True story:
One of my wife's closest friends raised her boy on her own. The two of them are each others' only family. In school, the kids were given an assignment to draw their family. They were given a template that had father, mother, child 1 and child 2 and told to colour them in. What could the boy do but draw a big black x through father?
What is the takeaway for this vulnerable kid? "A family consists of a father and a mother and children. You are different. You are in the margins."
A wise person once said: "Privilege isn't about the privileged being given a hand out or hand up. Privilege is about moving smoothly through life without encountering the roadblocks that the unprivileged encounter".
Privilege is invisible to the privileged. That's why the privileged tend to think it's bunk.
Privilege is
- getting through a job interview without having to answer the question "I see you're young and female. Do you plan to get pregnant?"
- walking into a Starbucks without being spotted as a black person and being asked "what's your business here?"
- being in a child-birthing class that talks about "mommy and daddy" without hearing them mutter "sorry, and um I guess - other mom? Non-breeding mom? Um".
- being able to fill out a form and tick the box that identifies your gender without having to scratch in box that says "other".
- getting through your formative years without more than 27% of your community attempting suicide.
You still haven't addressed my comments regarding non-binary gender.
I understand why. Logically, it's hard to defend.
Regarding privilege, it's one of those concepts that is true but meaningless or probably more specifically it's just life and when applied in a hypersensitive way, it just creates victims without helping anyone.
It's like telling someone, of course you aren't doing well, you are a black, female who didn't have a father growing up. Sure, you aren't educated and have 5 kids and your boyfriend sells drugs but you didn't grow up with a father.
Is that really the issue? I didn't grow up with a father (he died when I was 3). Three of my four grandparents were dead before I was born. My mother was 10 years older than most of the other parents, money was adequate but tight.
Is any of that something that I need to use as an excuse or is any of that anything that "society" needs to understand about me? That's life, everyone's circumstances are different.
That's not to ignore that someone that is black in America has issues to face that many others don't. That's obvious but hypersensitivity regarding "privilege" isn't helpful, IMO.
It's the same with hypersensitivity to "non-binary gender". Let's focus on male/female/trans and straight/bi/gay. Non-binary gender is more in the category of self-indulgent. "Privilege" is often (but not always) the same, IMO.
When people whose family income is over $150k are complaining about the high cost of education and yet families making less than $60k are able to send their kids to school, the concept is being abused.
You could make $500k a year and spend it all on a mansion and expensive cars and still not be able to afford to send your kids to school. "We" are bending over backward to offer everyone an excuse rather than focusing on what the best course of action would be given their circumstances.
If you are black, living in a single parent home in the inner cities the best course of action would be to move. Hearing constant talk of "white privilege" isn't helping anyone.
I grew up "poor" and without a father. That isn't the issue. It's the values in your home and in your community and how you use what money you do have. There is always someone with more money, more "privilege" but that's life. Dwelling on it isn't a solution for anyone nor is blaming the rich.
What I see is frequently well-intentioned but it's also a race to the bottom, IMO.
