Let’s Talk About Privilege

I don’t know what was in the water last week, but there was something. And whatever it was, it prompted many organic conversations around privilege for me.

Privilege.

That word seems to prompt a visceral response in people when it is said. It’s a word that elicits an emotional response from many and has come to carry a meaning that prompts feelings of shame, blame, vulnerability, vindication, and many other emotions.

We need to talk about it if we hope to make meaningful changes in our societies and correct many of the inequities and injustices that exist.?

Defining Privilege

Privilege, in its most basic form, refers to the unearned advantages and benefits that some groups and individuals receive in society and are often based on dimensions of identity like race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, etc. Privilege is not something you actively earn or seek out and is usually something you possess as a result of circumstances beyond your control. Much of privilege and power is influenced by Eurocentric standards, due to colonialism, which influenced and shaped much of the modern-day systems and structures we operate in today.

It is important to understand privilege so we can better understand inequities that exist in society, remove barriers that marginalized people encounter when seeking opportunities, and acknowledge that everyone’s starting point is not the same.?

Nuance of Privilege

A pattern I saw emerging within conversations last week was the limited understanding and discussions that were being had around privilege. In the conversations, most of the discussion around privilege was limited to focusing on privilege based on race and sexual orientation. The people I was speaking with were a variety of individuals, from aspiring allies to ERG leaders in organizations, but this was consistent across the conversations. More importantly, the lack of belonging that people felt in this conversation because they are considered more privileged in certain areas of identity but marginalized in other areas of identity was something we had to explore and correct understanding together.?

Privilege is not a binary topic. Rather, it is something that falls on a spectrum, and we all have varying degrees of privilege based on the different dimensions of our identities. In the Western world, much of this is determined by how close we are to being a cisgender, heterosexual, white, Christian man. Why? Historically, and arguably even today, these are the individuals who hold the greatest degree of privilege, power, wealth, and influence in society.

Sylvia Duckworth created an excellent set of illustrations to demonstrate this point. In the image below, you’ll notice that the center of the circle are dimensions of identity most closely associated with privilege. The further out your dimensions of identity are on the circle, the less power and privilege you possess as an individual, and the more likely you are to encounter systemic oppression and inequity. On the right-hand image, you will also see different facets of identity that give us greater or less privilege, depending on where you fall on the continuum.

The point is that it is a continuum, not a binary.?

When we distill privilege down to only elements of our identity like race and gender, we’re limiting the conversation and who can be included in that conversation. We also don’t address the multifaceted and varied needs of people that cause inequity in society in the first place.?

The futility of shame

A final, but important, point that I want to touch upon is the futility of shame when discussing privilege.?

I’m not going to tell you to not feel your feelings. You’re entitled to feel how you want to feel, and I understand that discussing privilege may evoke feelings of shame. If you do feel shame, I don't think that is necessarily bad. It lets you know that your humanity is still intact. You care about the inequity that exists in the world and feel bad that others have to experience it.

However, when you sit and stay in your shame, you also sit and stay in your privilege.?

I recognize that, on the Wheel of Power/Privilege, I have some degree of privilege. I am not sitting on the outer ring for every dimension of my identity. Am I the most privileged? No. But I do have some degree of privilege.?

So I have two choices here:

1. I can choose to sit in my shame and also languish on the privilege I don’t have, or
2. I can choose to leverage the privilege I have to advocate for those further marginalized than myself, while also seeking allyship and solidarity from others who are more privileged than me.

Because that’s how collectivism works. We work toward the common good and leverage our respective degrees of power and influence to create a better future for all of us.?

Otherwise, what are we working towards??

Registration for Active Allies is Here!

Registration for the second cohort of the Active Allies Cohort is here! We'll be kicking off on the week of August 19 and I'm excited to welcome my co-facilitator, Paul R. Johnson into the mix! If you're interested in learning how to move your allyship from:

• Theoretical to practical
• Fragility to resilience building
• Performative actions to lifelong practice

Then you belong in this program, and Paul and I can't wait to meet you!

Learn more about the program and sign up here. We can't wait to welcome you to our community.