We've all heard a thousand times: men have it so easy. Men are so f**king privileged. And I want to talk about why that's bullsh!t.
I was personally told when I was homeless, even after I had already thoroughly explained my disabilities, that as a "privileged" male it was my own fault for being "too lazy to get a job". While this sounds like something you'd typically hear from right wing Republicans, it was from a so-called "progressive" feminist.
The male privilege lie relies heavily on the Apex Fallacy. The Apex Fallacy occurs when the elite members of a group are erroneously presented as representative as all members of that group. An example would be: Brazil has won more World Cups than any other country, therefor all Brazilians are exceptionally skilled at football. This is similar to arguing that because all cows are mammals, all mammals therefore must be cows.
The argument for male privilege goes as follows: the majority of wealth and power in the world is held by men, therefore all men are privileged. The problem here is that feminists are treating all men as one homogenous collective, which simply is not true. They are not taking into consideration the complex hierarchy among men, in which those who possess power abuse and exploit those who do not. The majority of the world's power and wealth is not possessed and controlled by "men", but rather by a small subset of men. The rest of do not enjoy any of the benefits or privileges afforded by wealth and power.
A popular example of so-called male privilege is the gender wage gap. The gender wage gap does exist, but it is commonly misinterpreted and misunderstood as meaning that all men are paid more than their female counterparts are paid for doing the same job. This is not accurate at all. Male teachers do not earn higher wages than female teachers. Male cashiers do not earn higher wages than female cashiers. Male tellers do not earn more than female tellers do. A man does not earn more than a woman does for doing the same job. The wage gap is calculated by comparing what men earn collectively to what women earn collectively. Because most of the highest level earners such as politicians and CEOs are men, this skews the numbers in men's favor. However, men are not a monolith, and low earning men do not benefit any more than low earning women just because they happen to share a gender with a CEO. Another example of the Apex Fallacy.
Another common example is glass ceilings. Again, feminists look at "men" being promoted to top positions much more frequently than women, but fail to understand that in reality is only an elite subset of men and not all men. Studies have found that a man's income increases with his height, and that over 90% of men in upper management positions are above 6 feet tall. The reality is that men of average height or below face significant discrimination in promotion to higher level jobs. In other words: glass ceilings are as real for most men as they are for women. Another example of the Apex Fallacy.
Another factor to consider is the phenomenon known in sociology as Male Disposability. The overused popular example is the scene in Titanic where women and children are rushed to the lifeboats while the (poor) men are told to stay behind and die. Non-elite men are seen as disposable by society. We are often sent to die in wars defending the interests of the elite. And when there isn't a war, poor and downtrodden men are expected to do all the dangerous jobs that involve high mortality rates like mining. When faced with adversity or violence, we are told to "toughen up". We can handle it because we are men. When soldiers die in wars it is considered normal, as it is a soldier's job and duty to die on the battle field. And note that the wealthy and powerful subset of men are yet again exempt from this; while foot soldiers are treated as disposable canon fodder, the elite remain heavily guarded safe away from the action because they are "too important". Even when they partake in battle, it is as highly decorated generals who lead from behind a literal army of human shields.
90% or more of what feminist consider male privileges are in reality exclusive to the elite subset of men.
I am not denying that there are certain specific situations in which men are generally privileged over women. However, there are also plenty of situations in which women are privileged over men. Examples include the following:
-Women have longer natural lifespans than men.
-75% of homeless people are men.
-Men die by suicide much more frequently than women.
-Over 90% of work caused fatalities are men.
I need to make this next part very clear to everyone, so PLEASE PAY ATTENTION: I am not in any saying that women do not face significant discrimination, adversity, or violence. My intention is not to imply that any group has it worse then another. I'm simply saying that men face adversity and violence too. And I am fed the f**k with the lie that we are "privileged" and that our problems are not real or not significant.
Imagine living in poverty, being beaten and abused regularly, being taken advantage of and used the discarded on a regular basis. Then imagine having to endure that your entire life while being constantly told that you have it way too easy and you need to check all your many privileges.
There is no male privilege. Get over it!
07 Mar 2022, 11:38 pm
