"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, ... (WARNING: HOF THREAD) [View all]

when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"

Do you think that Upton Sinclair's quote (which I was recently reminded of in a thread about a DEA official's desperate attempt to keep pot illegal) could also apply to privilege?

In the discussion here about bigoted, anti-woman slurs, I remarked that IMO even reclaimed forms of one very popular anti-woman slur are off-limits to men. Cinnabonbon said that people are just so used to using insults that describe anything female as worse than masculine, that they don't see it. I agree.

Then, she said this: "Seeing it would mean that they realize that they've have male privilege."

And that reminded me once again of this Sinclair quote. It made me think that similarly, It is difficult to get someone to understand something, when their unacknowledged privilege depends upon their not understanding it.

For men, to acknowledge this immense disparity in insulting language, which is so heavily skewed to coding female as somehow bad and/or inferior, would require acknowledging (and, for people who consider themselves progressive, disavowing) male privilege.

For women, it simply requires acknowledging how much the world hates you. Not you, personally, or course (for the literal-minded out there), but it makes this insidious, widespread form of misogyny -- which permeates society at every level -- just that much harder to dismiss as meaningless, inconsequential, 'little stuff', etc.

Thoughts?