There was an article circulating on the Inter-webs this past week regarding sexism in our society, which I think warrants some response.
A University of Wisconsin-Madison grad student, and my current, wonderful TA, Kelly Fox wrote an editorial response to an article on the notion female privilege entitled “Is My Female Privilege Showing?! An Open Letter to Mark Saunders” for guerillafem.com. In the article she all but denies that any notion of female privilege could possibly exist, and she is wrong to do so. While admittedly she does make some very good points on combating certain specific notions of female privilege, she is wrong to imply that it altogether does not exist. Female privilege exists in a dysfunctional harmony with male privilage. Let me be clear: I am a feminist. I believe the Western world’s adherence to a patriarchal hierarchy is unethical and harmful to our society as a whole. I believe our society must act meaningfully to protect and advance the rights of women. I realize that there is a powerful and complicated societal structure, created in part by all of us, working against women, and that this is a force that we must combat. However, to say that women are the only victims of our patriarchic tendencies is an oversimplification. Men are also harmed by our society’s misconstrued constructions of gender roles.
Each and every one of us has a vested interest in combating our society’s oppression. Systems of oppression are complicated, and they work to harm both the oppressor and the oppressed. It is in everyone’s interest to tear these structures down. We don’t need them.
Women get the short end of the stick; there is absolutely no doubt. However, in their oppression they are granted certain exclusive privileges. These privileges are sometimes used against them in their oppression. For example, a couple of weekends ago a friend of mine chose to wear a dress that sexualized her, because she felt like being sexy. A man does not have the privilege to do such a thing. There is no way for a male to hyper-sexualize himself and be taken seriously in any normal social setting. This is something everyone should have the privilege to do. This privilege, however, was used against her, as a strange man grabbed her butt. The man clearly had no right to do this, and was grossly overstepping a general doctrine of respect that every human being should have for one another. Perhaps, had he been brought up in a society in which men could be hyper-sexualized, he would have a better understanding of this doctrine of respect.
I am not, by any means, denying the existence of male privilege or rape culture. These are two problems that are very real and are clearly much larger than the small privileges that our male-dominated society create for women, however I would argue that they are the product of the same oppressive system of patriarchy. You cannot argue that it is always better to be a man than it is to be a woman, and it would be laughable to suggest the inverse.
We should therefore reach an understanding that our social construction of gender roles grants each gender certain privileges and disadvantages and that we should do our best to erode these discrepancies in a general manner that helps women realize true equality.
I entirely agree with the feminist cause, but one cannot be a feminist and expect the man to pay for every meal.
The entire structure must go. Some small sliver of female privilege does exist, and it works to oppress men in certain (relatively insignificant) ways. Male privilege works to oppress women and is clearly the much bigger issue. These privileges are created by a social construction of gender, which in and of itself works to preserve male dominance. We all have a vested interest in throwing this system out. We should create a system in which one is free to construct their gender-role in any way they see fit, that recognizes the equality of all and that compels us to always treat others with respect. This is a far cry from what we have now, and we all must do our part to dismantle this patriarchal system of oppression.
What is your take on female privilege? Do you agree with Spencer that we should get rid of the social construct of gender? Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
