In a recent TED talk by Michael Kimmel he talks about how he came to see the world from the point of view of minorities such as women or black people. In a discussion with some of his peers he came to the conclusion that
Privilege is invisible to those who have it
He was talking about how as a white middle-class man, he was about as privileged as he could be, but he didn’t see the world that way because he saw how opportunities were being provided to women and racial minorities all around him. The experience of women and black people was different however, who still saw the world around them as it oppressed them.
As someone privileged he didn’t know what it felt like to be stared at by men all day long or looked over because of the colour of his skin. And he has a good point. As a middle-class white man in America I’m about as privileged as they come and while I acknowledge that opportunities have never been more equal, I don’t know the struggle of what it means to be female or black or gay or Muslim. Let Michael explain it better than I can and pause to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and resolve to make the world more equal.
