WAIW | My Life With Privilege
Ever since T.O.F.U. started tackling issues beyond the plate, there’s always been pushback to varying degrees, and certain topics seem to bring on more of it than others.
Of course, most of the responses and criticisms are nothing new to those who work in activist fields that involve social justice, and I certainly don’t kid myself into thinking that the magazine has it rough when it comes to social media interactions. Sure, there are some days when I feel like everyone is against me and people will never get it, but those are the times when I remind myself of just how privileged I am to only deal with such things occasionally.
Doing this helps to give me a little more drive to keep responding to people, and it also encourages me to keep posting stuff that I know will stir things up a little since I can always retreat away from the laptop and enjoy the comfort that comes with being a white, able-bodied male in a society that treats such people as the standard.
Sadly, there are plenty of other people, especially those like me, who don’t take kindly to being told to acknowledge their privilege, and that’s what led to the latest episode of my Where Am I Wednesday series.
Personally, I don’t quite understand why folks get so upset over being told they’re privileged, but I’m hopeful that more and more will start to accept it and learn to use it as a way to help others.
On that note, if you do wish to learn more about privilege, I recommend checking out this article on the Everyday Feminism website. It does a great job of explaining what I tried to explain while walking around the yard of my current home in Thailand. Sadly, it doesn’t have any big, leafy trees though!
