Female privilege

[lose24lb]

There is a lot of talk of male privilege but not female privilege? Can we discuss things from the other point of view?

As a white female in a developed country, my privileges are:

1. If I am a child and I go missing, the media is far more likely to give my case more attention than if I were a boy. And if I'm pretty with blonde hair then all the better, I can guarantee the entire country will know I'm missing and be out looking for me.

1. From an early age the opposite sex will be instructed never to hit me but I will be given the same instructions. And should I strike males I can expect not to be hit back and any social penalties that occur from my actions will actually fall on the male.

1. If I'm not smart and unable to get a well paying job, all I have to do is marry a wealthy man.

1. Most homeless are men, yet most homeless shelters are created with my gender in mind. Which means if I go homeless I am more likely to get a bed in a shelter than if I were male.

1. If I commit a crime I am more likely to get more leniency than a man in the exact same circumstances. People will want to try and understand what made a pretty woman like me do such a thing and look for reasons. Unless I go on a mass murder spree I don't really have to worry about going to prison.

1. If I am attacked, passers-by are far more likely to intervene to protect me than if I were male.

1. As a female I am less likely to be physically attacked in the first place or challenged to a fight.

1. Despite killing almost as many people, prostate cancer gets only a fraction of the funding than breast cancer does. It benefits me if my health issues are given priority over men's health issues even if the men's issues are almost as deadly.

1. If a man masturbates it is seen as disgusting and perverse. If I masturbate then I am seen as pleasuring myself. Female masturbation doesn't carry the same stigma as male masturbation.

10. If I am pretty and/or I can make myself cry I will be able to get away with anything and everything.

11. If I am upset I am allowed to cry without being ridiculed. I don't have to be all macho and bottle my feelings up like boys and men have to do.

12. Similar to #11, I am encouraged to seek help if I need it. Seeking help is not seen as a weakness for my gender. If I seek support I will get it and people won't laugh at me or ridicule me or tell me to "man up" or "take it like a man".

13. I can wear almost anything I want without having my sexual orientation being questioned. If a man doesn't want people to think he is gay then his wardrobe will be extremely limited. But with the possible exception of dungarees I can wear anything I want.

14. One word- chivarly. Because I am female I can expect little perks here and there. One seat left on a bus? It's mine! Expensive dinner bill? The guy can get his wallet out.

15. If my husband lays a finger on me he will be labelled as a wife beater for the rest of his life, be beaten up by other men and spend time in prison. But if I hit my husband people will say "you go girl!" and say he must have deserved it. I can hit my husband and he won't dare hit me back out of fear of what I just pointed out.

16. Violence against women is the worst crime on earth. Violence against men is hilarious, especially if it involved injury to the titter penis/balls.

17. On today's TV programmes my gender is portrayed as being smart, strong and independent. The male characters in today's soaps, comedy's, cartoons etc are shown as complete idiots, deadbeat useless fathers or criminals.

18. I can work with children without being worried about people thinking horrible things or making horrible allegations.

19. If I live in the USA and there is a military draft, I won't be forced against my will to sign up to the army and go fight in battle.

Wow. I applaud the tenacity of many of you to continue arguing with someone who made the statement:

I think more gains would be made if feminists wised up a bit to the biology and just started campaigning on solid grounds - equal pay for equal work, basic rights like not to be raped etc.

They lost their credibility there and then. Evo Psych is a junk science.

Chub. I luff you

Why thank you. I'm watching the apprentice, it's improving my day. This thread was a low point.

I can't improve on Chubfuddler's laconic brilliance.

Interesting how privilege as a political concept is rapidly entering the mainstream. And as awareness of this way of framing things grows, so do the attempts to undermine it as anything meaningful or important. Witness Louise Mensch's dismissive article re Laurie Penny, 'check your privilege' etc as sterile identity politics.

The OP is either completely confused about privilege or cynically misrepresenting it. I can't decide which.

When women own 99% of the world's wealth and two thirds of the income is earned my women compared with currently the other way around we can start worryig about women having too much in their favour.

Xenia, if the people who owned that 99 per cent of the wealth were equally male and female, would feminism have achieved one of its aims? As an extreme example, if that wealth was owned by one thousand people, we would have 500 men and 500 women owning it. Would that be an aim of feminism?

That was never an aim of radical feminism.

Radical feminism has always dismissed the idea of "equal privilege" as shit.

Rad fems want to get rid of the patriarchal system where so much wealth is concentrated in so few (mostly male, mostly white) hands.

But that is not the form of feminism promoted by mainstream media. For obvious reasons, I suppose

Interesting, Basil. Re this redistribution of wealth, does rad feminism have any practical methods for achieving it, short of armed revolution? Is it an offshoot of communism in this respect?

Oh well, kim - console yourself with the fact that 'The Firm' is headed up by a woman

Or lizard, according to David Icke.

I am not a socialist feminist. Many feminists are not. If women have 99% not 1% of the world's wealth that would be much better. I am not suggesting wealth shoudl be equally given to everyone on the planet, just that there is no sexual inequality about it.

Interesting. Why would it be better if women had 99% of the wealth? Isn't 50% the target? Do you think women would put that money to better use? I think that they'd have it in offshore accounts and tax havens, just like men do now.

I don't.

And actually, the way women live and women's priorities versus men's, totally gainsay what you say NCG.

It is absolutely well known that if you want to improve the situation of a whole community, you'd better put the money in the hands of the women, because they will spend it on the whole community - while men will spend it on themselves. Ask anyone who works for a NGO in the developing world.

The reason child benefit (or family allowance as it was then called) was paid to mothers and not fathers when it was first introduced, was because it was glaringly obvious that if you put the money in the purse not the wallet, it would be more likely to be spent on the children not on the men.

And the people who knew this were not militant radical feminists - they were privileged white men who wanted more equality in the world.

Im probably mansplaining but is linked to but I think the structure of society is:
Top 20% male
Women
Then 80% male

Men are judged on a at least 2 of these: Achievementsrich Looks and Personality.
Women are judged on Looks, Looks again and Personality.

This means a good looking woman can sail through life without a problem. However the downside is women cant move up down the ladder. Its difficult to change your looks.

On the other hand, men's destiny is in his own hands. He can work hard and change his personality to move up to be the top 20% of men.

Its not fail proof but I think it explains a lot, 'female privileged' exist if you are a good looking women. Otherwise its hard but not impossible to move up the ladder for a woman.

Hmm. Yes. You are mansplaining.

As you say good looking women have some advantages over not so good looking women in the society we have.

Big fucking deal.

That is a criterion set by a misogynist patriarchal society. It's not an advantage. It's a slightly smaller handicap.

Again - gosh. Thanks.

Total codswallop. Where is the evidence that 100% of women have a higher status in society than 80% of men?

Mostly I go for 50.50 but if men have had power for 5000 years, 5000 years now of female power, 100% female boards etc might be good for the planet and then after our 5000 years we then revert to equality. That seems quite fair to me.

I don't know any 5000-year-old men.

I know some who seem like they might be that old.

OP, it seems that all those female privileges that you're talking about come with a caveat: that you have to be a pretty female. That's quite an accidental prerequisite to be talking about these privileges extended to all the female population.

Therefore they are very restrictive and only applied to a minority who was lucky enough to have been born pretty. As we all know, looks are temporary anyway. What happens to those privileges when you get old and ugly? Of course, they are removed, arent' they?

However, if you are a man, you can be a fat, ugly, nasty toad and still have the opportunity to access wealth and political power with no major restraints if you have average intelligence and average capability.

Whereas most women of average intelligence and capabilities do not have the same opportunity when it comes to a have a fair share of a society's resources.

"you can be a fat, ugly, nasty toad"

I am. When do I get the money and power?