that privilege meme

[firecat]

Swiped from everybody

Acknowledgment to http://quakerclass.blogspot.com/2007/11/what-privilege-do-you-have.html. The list is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University.

You know, for me it will be more efficient just to include the items that didn't apply and/or have complicated answers.


* Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
Technically speaking, possibly not—mom was big on getting rid of stuff we weren't using. But I had access to all the books I wanted.

* The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively
Insofar as I am white, yes. Insofar as I was/am fat and a geeky dresser, no. And I might argue that women and girls in general were not portrayed positively in the media in the 60s and 70s.

* Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
This trend must have come along after my time. None of my peers did, as far as I know.

* Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
I worked in the summers and that paid for a little bit.

* Had a private tutor before you turned 18
I wonder if these came along after my time, too. I mean, I know they existed before, but they seem more common now.

* Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
The clothing my mother bought me was bought new. I bought some of my own clothing at thrift stores, but that was my choice, not a necessity.

* Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
I got hand-me-down cars, but my dad worked at GM and was required to buy a GM car every year. So the hand-me-down cars I had were almost new.

* Had a phone in your room before you turned 18
Parents didn't approve of the idea, I guess. Actually, despite all the time I spent on the phone just like most teenagers, I think it never even occurred to me that I might want a phone in my room.

* Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
After my time?

* Had your own TV in your room in High School
See the bit about the phone in my room.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised at how many people I see responding with dismay that they score as "highly privileged" on this test, as if that meant there was something wrong with them. It doesn't mean there is something wrong with you. It just means you were given some of your opportunities and resources, and didn't start from zero. It's important to be aware of that.

Comments

[ailbhe]

I grew up very privileged but the quiz didn't cover most of my privileges. Stuff like intelligence which was recognised and encouraged, accent, the peculiarly useful mother I had, being given the ability to make and sell my own crafts as part of a necessary contribution to household finances, growing up bilingual - the quiz mainly covered financial privilege, not class privilege. Although the two are connected, they're really not the same at all.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking somewhat similarly to this. I didn't have any class privileges, but I was smarter than most people, performed professionally starting when I was five, and adults treated me as another adult. That's a lot of privilege.

[ailbhe]

I had almost no economic privilege but TONS of class privilege. It made things much easier in many many ways, especially when I was a homeless teenager.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I actually left home five times, twice before I was a teenager, but when I came back after a day because I couldn't leave my brother there, nobody had noticed. It wouldn't have been easy for me, but I don't think I could have handled things for my brother, too, when I was that young. When I was 17, I became emancipated and my brother's guardian.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

It's very much North American, and specifically USA-based. Here, "class" is very highly dependent on economics.

Racial privlege is another issue -- it's correlated with class in the United States, but racism and classism are two distinct things here.

[ailbhe]

I changed social classes when I moved to England. I had been impoverished upper-middle or thereabouts; now I'm comfortably-off lower-middle, stretching to middle-middle when my accent disappears.

I didn't realise, until I moved here, that one's social class is imposed from outside on one. It's almost entirely dependent on how others perceive one.

[firecat]

Financial and class privilege may be a bit more connected in the US than in Europe.

I would love to see people add to the list.

If we're talking mainly financial privilege, the list is endless!

[ailbhe]

For at least part of my childhood, at least one of my parents regularly owned or shared ownership of a car which they could drive
The accent I acquired from living in the place I did gives me job interview advantages
My inherited intelligence was nurtured by my parent(s)
My interests or talents were encouraged by my parent(s)
I always had a warm winter coat
I had properly fitted quality shoes while my feet were growing
I had my own bed
The person who prepared most of the meals was well-informed about nutrition so most of the meals I ate were well-balanced
I was given responsibilities appropriate to my age and abilities

My family had a guest bed for overnight visitors (not a sofa, though a sofabed would count) so I got to stay in my own bed
My family had a spare bedroom for overnight visitors so everyone got to sleep undisturbed
I had access to medical care when ill, and dental healthcare (not cosmetic care) throughout childhood (whether or not I used it)
I had access to cosmetic dental care (whether or not I used it)
My family were never wholly dependent on state support (welfare?)
My family were never partially dependent on state support (welfare?)
Most of my books, toys, etc were new
I spent all of the money from my teenage jobs on myself
I always knew that there would be enough to eat
I always knew that there would be a home to sleep in (even if it was with abusive family)

Re: If we're talking mainly financial privilege, the list is endless!

[firecat]

Good list!

Re: If we're talking mainly financial privilege, the list is endless!

[ailbhe]

It's funny how some of it doesn't apply to the UK - everyone here has access at least to emergency medical and dental care, even if access to routine medical care is difficult due to being unable to take time off work etc. In Ireland and (I believe) the US, even emergency care isn't always totally free.

Re: If we're talking mainly financial privilege, the list is endless!

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Yeah, one of the other questions that bothered me (as well as the ones I've mentioned in other people's journals already) was:
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them

Asking that without already asking whether your parents could even afford to own a car? Let alone more than one!

My family ran two cars when I was a kid, but one of them was always a company car.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I'm an accent mimic. If I'm not careful, I'll do it where it's not appropriate.

I grew up in the Navy, so had free health and dental care, but we also moved every two years. I liked that, but my brother nearly died of it.

No phone, credit card, TV, or car (although I did use my mother's car to drive her to radiology for her cancer treatment).

We didn't have a lot of stuff because we moved so often.

My father was severely disappointed in me and my brother and along with hurting us, did nothing that would be considered enriching other than asking each base commander to give me an adult library card. My mother didn't interfere because their religion didn't allow that.

Anything we did was for my father's benefit and his position at work and church. He bought things for himself, but my brother and I got only clothes and shoes we needed for presents.

Girls are useless even if they're smart, so I went to college not to learn, but because the college they made me go to (one year) was the largest pool of potential acceptable mates.

My father didn't like "artsy-fartsy" things, so has never seen/heard me perform. Years after Mother died, I found she had marked them all on her personal calendars, although Dad didn't let her come.

When Mother died, Dad remarried very quickly and when I came home from that year of college, I found that my Evil Stepmother had sold, given away, or thrown away everything I hadn't taken with me. My brother was able to salvage some of his stuff, but he was living next door because the ES had changed the locks on us. So I was emancipated and became his guardian.

I think that everything I've done, I've done myself, with help from friends and colleagues, but not from my family. When I retired on disability, I was a Senior Scientist, in a position that required a PhD even though I never had more than that year at a religious college.

In sum, I grew up poor in a low-class abusive home and was in a high-ranking interesting well-paid job when I became disabled.

[firecat]

What traits did you draw on to improve your position?

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Intelligence.

What I had learned in theatre about showing myself so people wanted to hire me.

Stubbornness. (One of my nephrologists, now retired, used to say I'm too stubborn to die. Well, I've been stubborn my whole life.)

The occasional happy accident.