Essay On Invisibility Of Whiteness
Hello everyone!
This article was enlightening to say the least. We frequently discuss our privileges, however, I feel that we never truly acknowledge what roles these privileges serve within our own lives. This article allowed me to think about my own privileges in more depth. I also began to think about one of the past articles that had been assigned, I believe it was the one about the invisibility of whiteness by Michael Kimmel. He wrote about a conversation that he overheard between a black woman and a white woman. The white woman claims that she and the black woman are sisters because they suffer from the same disadvantages. However, the black woman disagrees and asks how she sees/defines herself. The white woman replies, "I see a woman" or something along those lines. The black woman then …show more content…
begins to explain how when she sees herself she sees a black woman and is therefore defined not only by her gender but by her race. I wanted to correlate these two articles because as a woman, I am guilty of having similar thoughts as the white woman, I only identify myself as caucasian on forms not in my day to day life.
My point is that, race causes either a lack of privilege or a gain in privilege. In my case, there is a gain in my day to day life. I identified several of my own privileges within this article alone. For example, the privilege of shopping without harassment. I've only experienced harassment while shopping once, and it was likely due to my age and an increase of store theft for this particular store. My race most likely wasn't factored in the shopkeepers perception of me. I also found this one to be relevant for today's current events, "I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider" (McIntosh p. 2). There have been so many debates authority and race. I even wrote a paper about judicial reformation in order to achieve racial equality. Even when people disagreed with me, nobody considered me to be a social deviant of any type. I was simply a girl studying pre-law and making an argument. However, I've heard countless arguments criticizing people of different races and how they choose to fight for their protection and rights. They appear to become "social deviants" for simply
stating there points.
I'm wondering how to change the stigmas associated with people of different races. How do we end the invisibility of whiteness and recognize all people as equals who are entitled to their safety and opinions? I'd like to hear more about what people thought of this article and ideas that they have in order to achieve equality through the recognition of privilege.
This article was enlightening to say the least. We frequently discuss our privileges, however, I feel that we never truly acknowledge what roles these privileges serve within our own lives. This article allowed me to think about my own privileges in more depth. I also began to think about one of the past articles that had been assigned, I believe it was the one about the invisibility of whiteness by Michael Kimmel. He wrote about a conversation that he overheard between a black woman and a white woman. The white woman claims that she and the black woman are sisters because they suffer from the same disadvantages. However, the black woman disagrees and asks how she sees/defines herself. The white woman replies, "I see a woman" or something along those lines. The black woman then …show more content…
begins to explain how when she sees herself she sees a black woman and is therefore defined not only by her gender but by her race. I wanted to correlate these two articles because as a woman, I am guilty of having similar thoughts as the white woman, I only identify myself as caucasian on forms not in my day to day life.
My point is that, race causes either a lack of privilege or a gain in privilege. In my case, there is a gain in my day to day life. I identified several of my own privileges within this article alone. For example, the privilege of shopping without harassment. I've only experienced harassment while shopping once, and it was likely due to my age and an increase of store theft for this particular store. My race most likely wasn't factored in the shopkeepers perception of me. I also found this one to be relevant for today's current events, "I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider" (McIntosh p. 2). There have been so many debates authority and race. I even wrote a paper about judicial reformation in order to achieve racial equality. Even when people disagreed with me, nobody considered me to be a social deviant of any type. I was simply a girl studying pre-law and making an argument. However, I've heard countless arguments criticizing people of different races and how they choose to fight for their protection and rights. They appear to become "social deviants" for simply
stating there points.
I'm wondering how to change the stigmas associated with people of different races. How do we end the invisibility of whiteness and recognize all people as equals who are entitled to their safety and opinions? I'd like to hear more about what people thought of this article and ideas that they have in order to achieve equality through the recognition of privilege.