Very basic, obvious examples of male privilege please?

[tigersox]

Examples every man will experience. Undeniable and obvious

I'm trying to make male privilege simple to a friend who feels us feminists have gone too far.

Thanks

Not having to scrutinise every interaction with a new man to make sure I'm not coming across as "flirty" or in some way giving out a signal.

Im a male who to be fair has not really paid much attention to the feminist movement and has only read articles about some of the broader issues such as the gender pay gap etc, I wouldnt consider myself a feminist but I agree a lot with what feminism stands for and I believe the only way for a society to thrive is for all people regardless of faith/sex/race or age to work together in a fair society.

saying that I do tend to agree with the friend of the OP that feminism sometime strays too far from its original goal and sometimes has a false image of what men are really like, how we behave and how we live our lives, I was asked a similar question by a female friend recently and I asked for some examples, and the examples she gave me except for a few were largly not true and I can see the same examples being given here.

1. Men dont fear going out and walking down a street alone at night

• I hear this one a lot and I cant speak for all men but if I see a group of men or women at night I tend to cross the street or look for a place with more people around, I've had verbal abuse shouted at me while passing a group of men as well as sexual/verbal abuse from a group of drunken women coming from a nightclub on a number of occations. Being a man doesnt prevent harm coming to me while walking down a street, if a group of people or a single person tries to attack me theirs nothing much i can do.

1. Gender Pay

• Now this I agree with to a point, Many work places pay the same but some jobs, mainly the really high payed jobs such as acting, law, politics etc do have a pay gap that needs to be addressed, and I would say you'd find it hard to find a man that disagrees with women getting payed equally. Its wrong to pay a woman less for doing the same job as a man.

1. Men can sleep with lots of women and be applauded for it but if a woman does the same shes a whore.

• This is another subject I see pop up a lot, again this is only from my perspective as a man but I hate men that use women just as much as women that use men unless both parties are fully aware of what they're getting themselves into. contrary to popular belief men actually dont talk about sex and woman anymore than i expect women talk about men, I've been around many social groups and the topic never comes up, we talk about sports, tv, music, holidays, work, family and the idiot that spilt coffee on us in the morning, basically generic boring topics. I think Tv especially reality tv has put men in a negative light, what you see on shows like that is so different from reality

1. Work enviroment

• again i think this depends on the type of work that you do, generally normal jobs will treat men and woman just as shit, but certain sectors treat the oposite sex worse depending on a job you apply too, for example women would generally be looked down on if they decide to work in a garage or as an electrical engineer even though they're perfectly capable of doing so, men equally get looked down on in professions like childcare and caring roles even though we have the same capabilities to care about kids and the vulnerable.

1. Health (physically and mentally)

• Men are lacking in this department quite a bit, some of it is our fault, we tend to not go and get checked up but the amout of support out there for women compaired to men is astounding, men who are abused/raped/ or facing depression havent got the support networks a woman would generally have, men sometimes are even vilified and are told to man up or are laughed at because it cant possibly happen to a man. many men suffer in silence just as many women do and again i dont think its a man vs women problem more a social problem where men and women who have been abused should support each other and fight for a change together.

they'll be things men take for granted that women wish they could have for example standing up and peeing :P but I think theres a lot of things men lack that women take for granted too, so its not so much male privilage but more just things that both genders need to improve upon to make society fairer for both sexes

You step up and campaign for improved support services for men then. Or start health screening campaign groups for men. Or join one of the many men's campaign groups aimed at breaking down toxic masculinity.

You do you. Women do feminism.

I dont see why men cant fight for womens rights and women cant fight for men, isnt feminism supposed to be fighting to make society equal for all, I do support campaigns for men to have improved support services as I do for women to have more power in the workplace and to close the gender gap on payment, I was merely responding to the comment that male privilage is a thing, I personally dont think it is or at least not to the extent some people believe, I was just giving my opinion and a perspective from a male standpoint and to take a way a females perspective which I may have never thought about, I could totally be wrong on some points i made but thats why I responded here to give my take on the subject and to take something away from it too

Men hurt women with impunity - how much greater a demonstration of male privilege is necessary. This is one state in Australia.

Men are only interested in women's rights when they take attention away from men's rights. Please don't tell women how to do feminism. Please go find a group that can help you. A Call To Men UK is on Twitter. Try them.

isn't feminism supposed to be fighting to make society equal for all

Sorry no. How do you make abortion 'equal'? Or FGM. Or rape? What feminists do is fight for women's rights.

I also work in homelessness, mental health, offending and addiction, almost exclusively with men. No one, literally no one, has ever asked me why I work with men.

when did i once say i was trying to tell you what to do? i was only having a discussion, im sure feminists dont see eye to eye on certain subjects what makes it any different with me? I have a penis between my legs but it doesnt make my say any less valid whether im right or wrong, thats the whole reason you have a discussion to talk through differences, find common ground and expand your knowledge

If you went to a forum for mens rights and had your say I mightnt agree with you but I certainly wouldnt think you should leave, and what you say about me only caring about womens rights only because its taking attention away from mens rights thats completely false, I have a girlfriend, a sister and a mother who i care for, and I could have a daughter who knows, why would i not care about the education they're getting or the money they make or not wanting them to be protected in the home or streets, men arent all evil or sexist pigs, a lot are dont get me wrong but theres a lot more men that find those types of men disgusting as they would any human being that would hit another person or make any sexual remark

I'll admit i came here out of curiosity just to learn what male privilage actually meant but when i read some comments I thought i'd give my thoughts, I am not trying to be a troll or take away from womans problems, I just thought i'd join in the conversation and give my two cents. I dont know what i did to offend you I was trying to be polite but im sorry, we may have got off on the wrong foot but im not here to cause trouble just wanted to have a look and respond :/

dont feminists fight for lbgt rights too, that involves men doesnt it? anyways I was never suggesting feminists should fight for mens rights too, I was just saying i dont believe male privilage is a thing, men have some benefits within certain parts of their life as do women in others thats all i said and that life would be better if men and women could work together to fix the problems, i cant see how i offended people, maybe what i said some may not agree with but its not offensive, at least i hope not

Ok. Well, there we are.

lol seriously someone asks a question and if another person posts a answer you dont agree with you get hostile, im sorry but that was uncalled for, you couldve said no you're wrong on this, this and this, heres what actually happens and I wouldve happily listened but no i basically get told to leave because I posted that in my experience some things that were said i believe were false

honestly if you want people to listen and get interested in subjects related to womens rights what you just did was a shitty way to go about it

The wall of text.

The announcing the poster is male.

The explaining how to do feminism.

The amazing revelation that if women were nicer we'd magically get treated like humans.

Not all men are like that.

It's all so predictable and boring.

There was a vote very recently in a western democracy (Ireland) where men (and women, but men) decided whether women should have the right to make medical decisions about their own bodies. Their own bodies! And you think male privilege doesn't exist? How fucking ignorant.

And yes, we are hostile. I feel very hostile when men come to a feminist place and tell women male privilege doesn't exist. I might even get hysterical or irrational or nagging or bitchy. All those words pissed off women get called.

So if I didn't say I was a man that would've made a difference? I don't get what my sex had anything to do with it

I never said how to do feminism, actually I said I wanted to learn more about what male privilege means and my view on some of my experiences contradictory to some statements here

Again all I said was I wasn't here to hurt anyone's feelings just to read up on a subject that was mentioned to me and yes people being nice to one another goes far I never said anything about women being treated less than human beings its just common decency, I basically got abusive text as soon as I said something you didn't agree with

And not all men are like that, I've never hit anyone, I would never cheat, if I'm ever lucky enough to have kids I'd always want to be there for them and I don't view women as sex objects and I know many people like me, many guys don't view women as anything less than equal

I guess you get a lot of trolls but I wasn't one of them I was just generally interested

And I never once said that women have it easy and have nothing to fight for, I see the issues women face, pay, lack of support for abuse, more laws to keep dangerous men away from women and children, a social change to some men's behaviour towards women etc but I was just listing things people mentioned that were actually in my view not completely accurate and that I believed in the west at least men don't have a special privilege but that both sexes have things that need improved

Anyways im not here to cause bother sorry this turned into the shit show it did, i was generally just trying to have a conversation to learn more

men don't have a special privilege but that both sexes have things that need improved
Do you think that the scale of things that need to be improved are the same for men and women?
I think it's evident that women have many more barriers in life than men. It always puzzles me that some men claim to be sympathetic to women yet say men are equally affected. I just don't see the evidence for that.

Seatbelts are designed for men, breasts interfere with them sitting right.

Ooh yes, one of my personal bugbears!

Did I read correctly further up the thread that someone thinks females are privileged because they get to “reproduce”??

Must enlighten DH that my two sons are nothing to do with him. He is currently under the apparent misapprehension that we have both reproduced but that because he is male, his bit was a lot easier and more pleasant than mine...

Not having to constantly police your thoughts or the way you express them in case it hurts someone's feelings.

Getting to be the one who has their feelings hurt and being heard.
For example, airlines reviewing their policies about children travelling alone because a man got upset, this has been in the news several times over the last decade.

Drugs are designed and tested for you. Such privilege!

Ok I see I must've pissed many people off for believing male privilege wasn't a thing in western society, it was from my perspective, I'm not a woman I don't have first hand knowledge I just go from what female friends and family tell me about their experiences in the work place/life in general, maybe in my walk of life women don't have as many barriers whereas your experience you might be different, I was never trying to detract from women's problems or say they were equal in scale, a woman from the UK has more equality than a woman from Iran, but I was just trying to correct the misrepresentation that men have no fear and that we say and do what we like and see women as sex objects, which might be true for some men but that I wouldn't call male privilege just arrogance on their part and not a representation of men in general, anyways I apologize for anything controversial or triggering I might've said and sorry if anyone took anything I said negatively it was never my intention, I just see certain things that were said about men as a whole that being a man myself know is not exactly accurate at least in my life

And honestly I was here with a open mind for example medicine, I never knew was geared towards men, i always believed it was developed and trialled on both men and women which surprises me and if that indeed is true it needs to be changed

It was in the news a while back. Awful isn't it.

females are privileged because they get to “reproduce”
Ooh yes, I loved being ripped into my anus twice and the consequent incontinence and urgency issues. Such a privilege.

Fathers are so deprived in compsrison

*Not doing all the thinking about children

Not being the default carer of children: being able to get praise for 'babysitting' their own children and 'helping' their wife*

^this