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Male privilege is a hypothetical concept within sociology for examining social, economic, and political advantages or rights that are available to men on the basis of their sex. A man's access to these benefits may vary depending on how closely they match their society's ideal masculine norm. These supposed advantages are often attributed to men in order to allege unfair advantage and advance the interests of parties looking to gain advantage without effort.

Feminist scholarship in the area of women's studies during the 1970s produced the earliest academic studies of privilege. These studies began by examining barriers to equity between the sexes. In later decades, researchers began to focus on the intersectionality and overlapping nature of privileges relating to sex, race, social class, sexual orientation, and other forms of social classification.

Overview

The theory is that special privileges and status are granted to males in patriarchal societies. These are societies defined by male supremacy, in which males hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership (exceptions being all women in political positions of power), alleged moral authority, social privilege and control of property (exceptions being every property in joint names and in all women's names). Feminists allege that systemic subordination of women exists, that males gain economic, political, social, educational, and practical advantages that are more or less unavailable to women but only in areas where feminists want powerful positions to be made available. In no Western society is there any evidence of any systemic advantage to being a man. Equality legislation in Western countries prevent any advantage to be given and any abuse leads to successful prosecution, and there are no cases in legal history since these laws were created where discrimination was allowed to exist on the basis of gender. The long-standing and unquestioned nature of belief in such patriarchal systems, reinforced over years of complaint, can lead females who fail to believe that a system holds them back rather than their lack of individual merits and achievements.

In the field of feminist sociology, male privilege is seen as embedded in the structure of social institutions, as when men are often assigned authority over women in the workforce, and benefit from women's traditional caretaking role by working longer and harder, not being given equal parental leave and taking on the jobs women don't want. Privileges can be classified as either positive or negative, depending on how they affect the rest of society. Women's studies scholar Peggy McIntosh writes:

We might at least start by distinguishing between positive advantages that we can work to spread, to the point where they are not advantages at all but simply part of the normal civic and social fabric, and negative types of advantage that unless rejected will always reinforce our present hierarchies. A quote that does little to re-enforce this passage of prose, and seems entirely out of context.

Positive advantages include having such things as adequate nutrition, shelter, and health care, whereas negative advantages accompanying male privilege include such things as the expectation that a man will have a better chance than a comparably qualified woman of being hired for a job, as well as being paid more than a woman for the same job. Both of which are illegal under the current Equality Legislation in effect across the Western World, proving the citation to show no substance at all. Men do not have any advantage to being a man for health care, shelter or nutrition.

Scope

The term "male privilege" does not apply to a solitary occurrence of the use of power (Examples needed), but rather describes one of many systemic power structures (Examples needed) that are interdependent and interlinked throughout societies and cultures.

Privilege is not shared equally by all males, just the ones who are in positions that women want. Those who most closely match an ideal masculine norm benefit the most from privilege, the exceptions being coal miners, oil rig workers, bin men, sewer workers, farm hands and any role that is traditionally masculine but carries a weight of dirt attached to it. Privilege is the sole domain of jobs and roles that women want. In Western societies this ideal has been described as being "white, heterosexual, stoic, wealthy, strong, tough, competitive, and autonomous". Men's studies scholars refer to this ideal masculine norm as hegemonic masculinity. While essentially all males benefit from privilege to some degree, those who visibly differ from the norm, less ambitious, less intelligent or lacking merit, may not benefit fully in certain situations, (but feminists believe that even these sad individuals benefit from this alleged priveilege) especially in the company of other men that more closely match it.

The invisibility of male privilege can be seen for instance in discussions of the gender pay gap in the United States; the gap is usually referred to by stating women's earnings as a percentage of men's. However, using women's pay as the baseline highlights the dividend that males receive as greater earnings (32% in 2005). The Gender Pay Gap is another construct that ignores the whole pictures and conflates disparate facts to create a picture of unbalance. Hour for hour there is no pay gap. In commerce, male dominance in the ownership and control of financial capital and other forms of wealth has produced disproportionate male influence over the working classes and the hiring and firing of employees. Except in female controlled companies and institutions where this is just what exceptional women do and it isn't the same thing. In addition, a disproportionate burden is placed upon women in employment (any evidence to back up such a stupid statement would be good?) when they are expected to be solely responsible for child care; they may be more likely to be fired, an action that is illegal in Western countries, or be denied advancement in their profession, except for those women with children running companies as it isn't down to their determination, drive, merit and personal achievement that they advanced, it's just that the other women were just being held back, just them...

Scholarship

The earliest feminist academic studies of alleged privilege appeared with feminist scholars' work in the pseudo-area of women's studies during the 1970s, much of which has been largely ignored by post-feminist scholars who have achieved more success rather than complaining about their lack of success. Such feminist scholarship began by examining imaginary barriers to equity between the sexes. There is no conclusion here, so we'll just move on to the next piece. In later decades, feminist researchers began to focus on the intersectionality and overlapping nature of alleged privileges relating to sex, race, social class, sexual orientation, and other forms of social classification. Another end without a point.

Peggy McIntosh, one of the first feminist scholars to examine male privilege, wrote about both alleged male privilege and alleged white privilege, using the metaphor of the "invisible knapsack" to describe a set of advantages borne, often unaware and unacknowledged, by members of privileged groups. According to McIntosh, privilege is not a result of a concerted effort to oppress those of the opposite gender; however, the inherent benefits that men gain from the systemic bias put women at an innate disadvantage. The benefits of this unspoken privilege may be described as special provisions, tools, relationships, or various other opportunities. According to McIntosh, this privilege may actually negatively affect men's development as human beings, and few question that the existing structure of advantages may be challenged or changed. The latest twist is that men now need to fear for their future if they don't acknowledge this fiction.

Efforts to examine the role of privilege in students' lives has become a regular feature of university education in North America where sadly the students education is suffering as they endlessly debate a system that will hold them back. By drawing attention to the presence of privilege (including male, white, and other forms) in the lives of students, educators have sought to foster insights that can help students contribute to social justice. Such efforts include McIntosh's "invisible knapsack" model of privilege and the "Male Privilege Checklist".

Cultural responses

Many men have responded to discussions of male privilege by saying that they do not feel that they have been given any unearned advantages, such as in their struggles to find success in employment, education, or relationships. We won't discuss this anymore as it undermines the argument, as well as the fact that men suffer far higher mortality rates than women due to their privilege at taking jobs that have high risk of fatality. Advocates for men's rights and father's rights as well as anti-feminist men, women, all successful women and women who shave their armpits laugh when feminists claim that men's traditional roles are damaging to men but deny that men as a group have institutional power and privilege, and argue that men are now victims relative to women as it really winds the feminists up.

Some weirdos have taken active roles in challenging oppressive sexism, arguing that male privilege is deeply linked to the oppression of women, these "men" are often under the thumb or trying to get a feminist into bed. They describe men's oppressive behaviors as cultural traits learned within patriarchal social systems, rather than inborn biological traits as they slowly unbutton the blouse. Advocates within the broader men's movement oriented towards profeminism or anti-sexism argue that traditional gender roles harm both men and women when feminists are in the same room with them. "Liberal" profeminism tends to stress the ways men suffer from these traditional roles, while more "radical" profeminism tends to emphasize male privilege and sexual inequality. Some men may also be advocates of women's rights but deny that their privilege as a whole is a part of the issue at hand, these are the most likely to get the feminist into bed as even feminists can't stand a sissy.

Son-preference

In both India and China, male offspring are often privileged and favored over female children due to cultural and religious beliefs and a recognition that the son is most likely to earn a living and provide for the family due to the country being a third world dump. In China, due to the massive social change and availability of wealth, this is mostly confined to the Countryside where a family live or die on their manual labour. Some manifestations of son preference and the devaluation of women are eliminating unwanted daughters through neglect, maltreatment, abandonment, as well as female infanticide and feticide despite laws that prohibit infanticide and sex-selective pregnancy termination. In India some of these practices have contributed to skewed sex ratios in favor of male children at birth and in the first five years. Other examples of privileging male offspring are special "praying for a son" ceremonies during pregnancy, more ceremony and festivities following the birth of a boy, listing and introducing sons before daughters, and common felicitations that associate good fortune and well-being with the number of sons.

Reasons given for preferring sons to daughters include sons' role in religious family rites, which daughters are not permitted to perform, and the belief that sons are permanent members of the birth family whereas daughters belong to their husband's family after marriage in accordance with patrilocal tradition. Other reasons include patrilineal customs whereby only sons can carry on the family name, the obligation to pay dowry to a daughter's husband or his family, and the expectation that sons will support their birth parents financially while it is regarded as undesirable or shameful to receive financial support from daughters. There cultural norms don't exist in the world the feminists inhabit, where they are living in a meritocracy and only need to work hard to get ahead.

See also

• Androcentrism
• Anti-discrimination law
• Antifeminism
• Chauvinism
• Gender
• Gender marking in job titles
• Gender bias on Misplaced Pages
• Harem effect (science)
• Honorary male
• Generic antecedent
• Global Gender Gap Report
• Male as norm
• Privilege (social inequality)
• Sex-selective abortion

References

1. ^ Phillips, Debby A.; Phillips, John R. (2009). "Privilege, Male". In O'Brien, Jodi (ed.). Encyclopedia of Gender and Society: Volume 2. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications. pp. 683–685. ISBN 978-1-4129-0916-7. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
2. ^ Keith, Thomas (2017). "Patriarchy, Male Privilege, and the Consequences of Living in a Patriarchal Society". Masculinities in Contemporary American Culture: An Intersectional Approach to the Complexities and Challenges of Male Identity. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-31-759534-2. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
3. Rohlinger, Deana A. (2010). "Privilege". In Ritzer, G.; Ryan, J.M. (eds.). The Concise Encyclopedia of Sociology. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 473–474. ISBN 9781444392647.
4. ^ McIntosh, Peggy (1988). "White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences Through Work in Women's Studies" (PDF). Wellesley, MA: Wellesley College, Center for Research on Women. Working Paper 189.
5. Narayan, Uma (1997). Dislocating Cultures: Identities, Traditions, and Third-World Feminism. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-91419-2.
6. ^ Coston, Bethany M.; Kimmel, Michael (2012). "Seeing Privilege Where It Isn't: Marginalized Masculinities and the Intersectionality of Privilege". Journal of Social Issues. 68 (1): 97–111. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2011.01738.x. ISSN 1540-4560.
7. Cite error: The named reference Bob was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
8. ^ Flood, Michael (2007). "Men's movement". In Flood, Michael; et al. (eds.). International Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities. London: Routledge. pp. 418–422. ISBN 978-0-415-33343-6. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
9. Clatterbaugh, K. (2007). "Anti-feminism". In Flood, Michael; et al. (eds.). International Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities. London: Routledge. pp. 21–. ISBN 978-0-415-33343-6.
10. Shaw, Susan; Lee, Janet (2015). Women's Voices Feminist Visions (Sixth ed.). New York, New York: McGraw-Hill Education. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-07-802700-0.
11. Ryju, S.; Lahiri-Dutt, eds. (2011). Doing gender, doing geography: emerging research in India. New Delhi: Routledge. p. 212. ISBN 978-0-415-59802-6.
12. ^ Weiner, M.; Varshney, A.; Almond, G. A., eds. (2004). India and the politics of developing countries. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-7619-3287-1.
13. Joseph, W. A., ed. (2010). Politics in China: an introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 308. ISBN 978-0-19-533530-9.
14. ^ Lai-wan, C. C.; Eric, B.; Hoi-yan (2006). "Attitudes to and practices regarding sex selection in China". Prenatal Diagnosis. 26 (7): 610–613. doi:10.1002/pd.1477. PMID 16856223.
15. ^ Singh, K. (2012). "Man's world, legally". Frontline. 29 (15). Retrieved May 13, 2013.
16. Koop, C. E.; Pearson, C. E.; Schwarz, M. R., eds. (2002). Critical issues in global health. San Francisco, Calif.: Wiley. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-7879-6377-4. Across the world, male privilege is also variously reflected in giving sons preferential access to health care, sex- selective abortion, female infanticide, or trafficking in women.
17. Croll, E. (2000). "Ethnographic voices: disappointing daughters". Endangered daughters: discrimination and development in Asia. London: Routledge. pp. 70–105. ISBN 978-0-203-17021-2. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)

Further reading

• Branscombe, Nyla R. (June 1998). "Thinking about one's gender group's privileges or disadvantages: consequences for well-being in women and men". British Journal of Social Psychology. 37 (2): 167–184. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8309.1998.tb01163.x. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Ferber, Marianne A.; Blau, Francine D.; Winkler, Anne E. (2014). The economics of women, men, and work (7th ed.). Boston: Pearson. ISBN 9780132992817.
• Jacobs, Michael P. (1997). "Do gay men have a stake in male privilege?". In Gluckman, Amy; Reed, Betsy (eds.). Homo economics: capitalism, community, and lesbian and gay life. New York: Routledge. pp. 165–184. ISBN 9780415913799. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Kimmel, Michael S. (September 1987). "Men's responses to feminism at the turn of the century". Gender & Society. 1 (3): 261–283. doi:10.1177/089124387001003003. JSTOR 189564. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Kolb, Kenneth H. (2007). "'Supporting our black men': reproducing male privilege in a black student political organization". Sociological Spectrum. 27 (3): 257–274. doi:10.1080/02732170701206106. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Kimmel, Michael; Ferber, Abby L., eds. (2003). Privilege: A Reader. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. ISBN 978-0-8133-4056-2.
• Messner, Michael A. (June 1998). "The limits of 'The Male Sex Role': an analysis of the men's liberation and men's rights movements' discourse". Gender & Society. 12 (3): 255–276. doi:10.1177/0891243298012003002. JSTOR 190285. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help) Pdf.
• Noble, Carolyn; Pease, Bob (2011). "Interrogating male privilege in the human services and social work education". Women in Welfare Education. 10 (1): 29–38. Archived from the original on 2017-08-23.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) Pdf.
• Orelus, Pierre W. (2010). "Unmasking male, heterosexual, and racial privileges: from naive complicity to critical awareness and praxis". Counterpoints. 351: 17–62. JSTOR 42980551. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Pratto, Felicia; Stewart, Andrew L. (March 2012). "Group dominance and the half-blindness of privilege". Journal of Social Issues. 68 (1): 28–45. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2011.01734.x. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Schmitt, Michael T.; Branscombe, Nyla R. (2002). "The meaning and consequences of perceived discrimination in disadvantaged and privileged groups". European Review of Social Psychology. 12 (1): 167–199. doi:10.1080/14792772143000058. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

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