Privilege Essay

Privilege is when you have something you benefit over others, you are at an advantage. If you ask someone who has privilege, they will say everyone has it but, each person has different types of privilege. For the privileged, most do not realize that they have advantages over other people in the world. They do not realize that they take for granted the things in their life that would be different if they did not have it. This is the situation for most of the privileged population. Specific groups of people are privileged and are even in denial about having set privilege. Privileges of one person may differ from the privileges of another. When I look around, I notice that privilege does indeed affect our lives in multiple ways, good or bad.

They do not realize that there are people below them who are not as privileged as them, working and trying much harder to get the luxuries they get handed to them. In “Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person”, Corcoran believes being privileged is okay but, she wants everyone to be aware of the people around who do not get everything as easy as they do. For her, she had to work hard and gain the privileges she now has. Before that, she was not privileged. She was a young girl who went to many different elementary schools, did not have running water or heat and lived in a camper. Unfortunately, specific groups of people such as men, are in denial about their privilege over others. Men are privileged over women in many ways. For example, getting paid more money to do the same job and a greater involvement in society. In the article “White Privilege and Male Privilege”, McIntosh believes that these privileges are by far unfair and are not earned. These privileges are just due to the fact they are biologically men. She states, “They say they will work to improve women’s status, in the society or in the university, but they can’t or won’t support the idea of lessening men’s” (McIntosh, 1988). In her article, she talks about how men realize the advantage they have over women in many cases, but in more situations, they will not do anything about it. She believes that because they are getting these

According to Corcoran, privilege is not something you can earn, it is something you are born with. It is passed down through the generations in your family. Of course, one can gain privilege within each generation but, there is no such thing as earning it. According to Fortgang in his article “Checking My Privilege: Character as the Basis of Privilege”, privilege is “the values we pass along, [and] the legacy we leave” (Fortgang, 2017). Privilege affects the life of individuals in many ways. In Corcoran’s writing she tells us how you can have privilege through citizenship, class, sexual orientation, sex, ability, gender identity and many other ways. She explains how some people may have privilege in some of these categories, but not in all of