There is a checklist of the “Privileges” here men have from being men. I’ve decided to rebut some of these points.
The Male Privilege Checklist
1. My odds of being hired for a job, when competing against female applicants, are probably skewed in my favor. The more prestigious the job, the larger the odds are skewed.
This one is very wishywashy, the argument is presumed to be true so I’m supposed to agree. There are jobs/employers/environments where this will be true AND there are jobs/employers/environments where it will be false.
2. I can be confident that my co-workers won’t think I got my job because of my sex - even though that might be true. (More).
This one is annoying because it’s a double standard. On the one hand it implies that women should be hired even if they’re less optimal employees simply to stay “PC”, and then whines about it. Pick one.
3. If I am never promoted, it’s not because of my sex.
4. If I fail in my job or career, I can feel sure this won’t be seen as a black mark against my entire sex’s capabilities.
Insecure much? And when I as a male get the flu does that reflect ill on men the world over? Duh?
5. I am far less likely to face sexual harassment at work than my female co-workers are. (More).
Valid
6. If I do the same task as a woman, and if the measurement is at all subjective, chances are people will think I did a better job.
This is another ontalogical argument. It’s presumed true because it’s presumed true.
7. If I’m a teen or adult, and if I can stay out of prison, my odds of being raped are relatively low. (More).
Valid, although applied more to straight males than gay males
8. On average, I am taught to fear walking alone after dark in average public spaces much less than my female counterparts are.
This is beating the dead horse on the rape subject
9. If I choose not to have children, my masculinity will not be called into question.
This one is women judging women. If this is sexism against women, then all the times men judge other men should count as sexism against men. Eg. how good a job is, how “hot” the significant other is, car, “faggyness”, etc
10. If I have children but do not provide primary care for them, my masculinity will not be called into question.
This one is BS. There are soo many dual income familys where the kids only see thier parents on weekends it has become (I think) the norm
11. If I have children and provide primary care for them, I’ll be praised for extraordinary parenting if I’m even marginally competent. (More).
This one is BS too. ANYONE who takes a hit on thier carreer to look after thier kids will be praised. Only women with crapy jobs (secretary, waitress) won’t be, just as men won’t if they leave crapy jobs (fast food, manual labour)
12. If I have children and a career, no one will think I’m selfish for not staying at home.
Again this is BS, it’s the norm
13. If I seek political office, my relationship with my children, or who I hire to take care of them, will probably not be scrutinized by the press.
BS, eveything is scrutinized. I don’t think it should be but everyone goes under the microscope when they go up for ellection
14. My elected representatives are mostly people of my own sex. The more prestigious and powerful the elected position, the more this is true.
This is about gender trends for certain types of jobs. The same can be said for crapy drangerous jobs, the more dangerous the more likely it is to be male.
15. When I ask to see “the person in charge,” odds are I will face a person of my own sex. The higher-up in the organization the person is, the surer I can be.
This is the carrier complaint “Women don’t avance as far as fast”.
16. As a child, chances are I was encouraged to be more active and outgoing than my sisters. (More).
Flat out lies. Girls are encouraged to communicate, and interact (aka be outgoing) boys are told to go play tag or shoot immaginary guns
17. As a child, I could choose from an almost infinite variety of children’s media featuring positive, active, non-stereotyped heroes of my own sex. I never had to look for it; male protagonists were (and are) the default.
Dunno, haven’t been paying attention to female roles in childrens entertainment, although Dora the explorrer makes me wonder
18. As a child, chances are I got more teacher attention than girls who raised their hands just as often. (More).
And as children boys are generaly believed to be doing much worse in school. The whole girls are taller, smarter, more mature thing? thats from 8-13
19. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether or not it has sexist overtones.
This is insecurity again
20. I can turn on the television or glance at the front page of the newspaper and see people of my own sex widely represented, every day, without exception.
Hrm. Then howcome most TV anchors are women? Unless you mean the topic of news coverage, then yes if it is about a crime it is most likely about a man
21. If I’m careless with my financial affairs it won’t be attributed to my sex.
Uh hello? As far as I’ve been hearing women handle money much better than men. All the men I work with who are married say thier wives manage the family piggy bank
22. If I’m careless with my driving it won’t be attributed to my sex.
Where as if men are at all agresive while driving it is attributed to thier sex. It’s called a difference. Men and women are not the same. One obvious example if driving habits
23. I can speak in public to a large group without putting my sex on trial.
I don’t even understand this one. It’s more of the insecurity like #s 3,4,9,10
24. Even if I sleep with a lot of women, there is no chance that I will be seriously labeled a “slut,” nor is there any male counterpart to “slut-bashing.” (More).
This is mostly judment rendered by other females. And men to get called names if they sleep around alot
25. I do not have to worry about the message my wardrobe sends about my sexual availability or my gender conformity.
This is about the visual nature of attraction for men and the competitiveness of women seeking a male partner. Most of the juding of this “message” is by other women. Not my fault women are mean to other women, please stop blaming me
26. My clothing is typically less expensive and better-constructed than women’s clothing for the same social status. While I have fewer options, my clothes will probably fit better than a woman’s without tailoring. (More).
This is more of the same from 25. Men are innitially attracted visually. Than means people interested in attracting men need to be visually appealing. And I’m betting “better-contructed” means thicker. Hetro men don’t need to worry as much about appearences so they don’t need thin/semi-transparent clothes
27. The grooming regimen expected of me is relatively cheap and consumes little time. (More).
Again see #25,26
28. If I buy a new car, chances are I’ll be offered a better price than a woman buying the same car. (More).
And if a man buys furniture or a kitches package he won’t get as good a package. Because it’s assumed that men are more intereseted in cars than women (because they predominantly are) just as women are more likely to comparison shop for quality/selection on furniture and kitchens. It’s called a difference. Look it up
29. If I’m not conventionally attractive, the disadvantages are relatively small and easy to ignore.
More insecurity
30. I can be loud with no fear of being called a shrew. I can be aggressive with no fear of being called a bitch.
Yeah ‘cuase obnoxious guys are soo great to deal with
31. I can ask for legal protection from violence that happens mostly to men without being seen as a selfish special interest, since that kind of violence is called “crime” and is a general social concern. (Violence that happens mostly to women is usually called “domestic violence” or “acquaintance rape,” and is seen as a special interest issue.)
If this is true it’s just dumb. Although one significant problem with domestic violence is women often refuse to press charges or testify against men they are in love with. I can see how that could annoy the crap out of a cop called to a domestic violence after the first time at the same residence
32. I can be confident that the ordinary language of day-to-day existence will always include my sex. “All men are created equal,” mailman, chairman, freshman, he.
I’m sorry but certain words evolved predominantly male, just as others evolved female. If you don’t like it come up with a better solution than “ze” (to replace “he”) and “womyn” or learn another language. Or just deal with the fact than just because the word “man” or “men” is involved it doesn’t mean “male”. It means “human” or “homo sapien”
33. My ability to make important decisions and my capability in general will never be questioned depending on what time of the month it is.
I’m sorry but this one is human nature. If I had a long ongoing on-again-off-again relationship with a woman, and everytime we broke up I was more emotional or grumpty, people would make comments about the likely state of my relationship everytime is said something abrupt or teared up. If a variable is known to cause a change to a given state, people will speculate on the state of the variable when they observe that state. If you can’t deal with it go on one of those birth controll pills that make your period go away
34. I will never be expected to change my name upon marriage or questioned if I don’t change my name.
This is the evolved culture. It’s getting more commen for women to keep thier name. And in ancient China it was a common practice for men to take thier wives name to continue the name if it was more prestigious. So Nah
35. The decision to hire me will never be based on assumptions about whether or not I might choose to have a family sometime soon.
As long as women take more time off then men, this will continue. Either suck it up and stop whining or take less time for your family. If I own a business and it takes $X to train a full time employee and women who have kids tend to not come back to work full time…. Financial sense says to hire men. Although this may not be the correct call, or the “PC” decision, it is a fact of life
36. Every major religion in the world is led primarily by people of my own sex. Even God, in most major religions, is pictured as male.
True. But realy, God has had some serious anger management issues. If God was depiced as a she feminists would whine about how it furthered the image of PMS induced insanity
37. Most major religions argue that I should be the head of my household, while my wife and children should be subservient to me.
Baring domestic violence I have yet to see a “subservient” wife
38. If I have a wife or live-in girlfriend, chances are we’ll divide up household chores so that she does most of the labor, and in particular the most repetitive and unrewarding tasks. (More).
I belive this has more to do with women wanting a cleaner house than men. Apparently people that don’t think a messy kitchen is a problem don’t like to clean the kitchen when it’s just a little messy! Shocking
39. If I have children with a wife or girlfriend, chances are she’ll do most of the childrearing, and in particular the most dirty, repetitive and unrewarding parts of childrearing.
See #38, and add lazyness and procrastination. If I can get away with it I will
40. If I have children with a wife or girlfriend, and it turns out that one of us needs to make career sacrifices to raise the kids, chances are we’ll both assume the career sacrificed should be hers.
See #36. Again, as long as women take more time off, they’ll be assumed to take more time off.
41. Magazines, billboards, television, movies, pornography, and virtually all of media is filled with images of scantily-clad women intended to appeal to me sexually. Such images of men exist, but are rarer.
See #s $ about men being attracted to visual representations. This is why men have Pornomags with pictures (which you have to be 18-21 to purchase) and women have “romance” novels which are about as graphic (available to any age purchaser, hint hint boys, just buy romance novels, they’re graphic as all get out and they’ll sell then to you)
42. In general, I am under much less pressure to be thin than my female counterparts are. (More). If I am fat, I probably suffer fewer social and economic consequences for being fat than fat women do. (More).
Again with the visual attraction
43. If I am heterosexual, it’s incredibly unlikely that I’ll ever be beaten up by a spouse or lover. (More).
True, however now that we have the term “emotional abuse” in the lexicon, guess who does that more?
44. Complete strangers generally do not walk up to me on the street and tell me to “smile.” (More: 1 2).
WTF? Seriously? I don’t even get what this one is about. For me it’s my family telling me to “smile”
45. On average, I am not interrupted by women as often as women are interrupted by men.
OMG I’m interrupted by constantly by women, although I don’t have any data about relative frequency
46. I have the privilege of being unaware of my male privilege.
This is BS again. This is the crap about feminism that pisses me off. There are valid complaints about sexism, valid points about the relative safety between men and women, but when feminists go off on these “Aha! But you can’t even DETECT when you’re getting something better than a woman ever could just because you’re a man!” rants I lose all respect for the ranter in question. Point it out. If people disagree with you odds are either you’re talking to an asshat or you’re not 100% correct
