Male Privilege

Privilege is often conflated by statistics showing misfortune, such statistics could demonstrate many things but none of it is privilege. So, the lesson in what privilege is begins, using male privilege as the example.

Bring victims of crime does not show privilege, criminals are not the system of governing in power. But a statistic showing wrongful prosecutions, harassment by law enforcement, and unfair judicial rulings does show privilege.

Women are often plagued with rape and abuse, men do as well, but the difference is what happens when such instances are reported. Often the woman is blamed in every instance, regardless of who actually perpetrated the rape, and shamed for "dressing wrong" or being courageous enough to stand against their attacker.

Most rapes of men are never reported, yet the few that are reported will always blame the attacker. In instances of abuse, the men are treated with dignity and respect while women run to homeless shelters for protection.

In the media, male victims are always portrayed as strong, while female victims are portrayed as weak, even in nearly identical stories. When society blames the victim it is always the female they are blaming.

Even in courts of law, you often hear the persecutor make statements about the clothing, location, or choice of transportation instead of presenting facts. To make it worse, the judges do consider such ignorant statements as facts, if the victim is female.

A well dressed woman walking down the street alone is often harassed and accused of prostitution by law enforcement, while males are almost never harassed just for looking good and being alone.

In domestic abuse cases men are usually never prosecuted, even though the law states that perpetrators must be prosecuted. Female victims are usually left with the abuser and told to file their own report, while female perpetrators are arrested on the spot.

These facts are common knowledge among social workers, most women who are in the shelters are hiding from dangerous abusers and not even reported in statistics. Anonymity is a rule in women's shelters, punishable by banishment or even criminal prosecution, depending on who breaks it.

So before anyone presents any idiotic statistics about men, present the ones of those reported rape and abuse cases where the perpetrator was prosecuted and the victim made safe. Present the homeless statistics of those who are fleeing from a dangerous situation, not just homeless by circumstance.

Present the statistic showing the deaths caused by abuse, number of officials who are female, how easy it is to get medical care, ...