Class 9_17

When reading Peggy McIntosh’s article, “White Privilege and Male Privilege”, I found myself many numerous connections to the article we read for Monday by Johnson. McIntosh’s article discusses the simple everyday things we, as white people, take for granted, when in fact we are unknowingly privileged. She lists many conditions that we do not notice, and as she says, “white privilege has turned out to be an elusive and fugitive subject.” I connected this with Johnson’s article on the system of patriarchy. As Johnson describes, we don’t tend to question the system in which we live. We don’t notice that we are somehow superior to other races; we do not associate that since we are at an advantage, other people must be at a disadvantage. I agree with McIntosh when she says that privileges like the ones she mentions should be the norm in a society. Everyone should feel comfortable in their environment, and no one should feel singled out.

This also relates to Miles article, in the sense that most of the women on the Rag felt singled out, or excluded from the group. Many of the reasons associated were because of either their race or their economic class status. This is something to think about in today’s society, that some little action can have a much bigger effect and force others to feel uncomfortable or unwanted. This article also reminds me of the history of women’s rights that we have been discussing in class. We had talked about the second wave of feminism and how there were many groups, composed of different people, because it was impossible for everyone to be in the same group without conflict. This is similar to the issues happening on the Rag because initially they all wanted to write this journal together, but in the end their differences split them up.

When trying to do something on the path of least resistance, I found myself talking amongst friends at dinner. We were discussing certain girls at Colgate, and many people were trash-talking this one particular girl. I have nothing against the girl, I don’t even know her, but I allowed myself to go along with their comments. This is a good example of following the path of least resistance, because if I had stood up for the girl I might have faced criticism or weird looks across the table. I think this occurs a lot, especially in groups of females because appearance and looks dictate our society to a certain extent. I wish that our world could learn to appreciate a person on their personality, rather than solely on how “cool”, or attractive, they are.