Whenever powerful feminism is discussed, do men ever think about this?

Question

The Male Privilege Checklist

1. My odds of being hired for a job, when competing against female
applicants, are probably skewed in my favor. The more prestigious
the job, the larger the odds are skewed.
2. I can be confident that my co-workers won't think I got my job
because of my sex - even though that might be true.
3. If I am never promoted, it's not because of my sex.
4. If I fail in my job or career, I can feel sure this won't be seen
as a black mark against my entire sex's capabilities.
5. The odds of my encountering sexual harassment on the job are so
low as to be negligible.
6. If I do the same task as a woman, and if the measurement is at
all subjective, chances are people will think I did a better job.
7. If I'm a teen or adult, and if I can stay out of prison, my odds
of being raped are so low as to be negligible.
8. I am not taught to fear walking alone after dark in average
public spaces.
9. If I choose not to have children, my masculinity will not be
called into question.
10. If I have children but do not provide primary care for them, my
masculinity will not be called into question.
11. If I have children and provide primary care for them, I'll be
praised for extraordinary parenting if I'm even marginally
competent.
12. If I have children and pursue a career, no one will think I'm
selfish for not staying at home.
13. If I seek political office, my relationship with my children, or
who I hire to take care of them, will probably not be scrutinized by
the press.
14. Chances are my elected representatives are mostly people of my
own sex. The more prestigious and powerful the elected position, the
more likely this is to be true.
15. I can be somewhat sure that if I ask to see "the person in
charge," I will face a person of my own sex. The higher-up in the
organization the person is, the surer I can be.
16. As a child, chances are I was encouraged to be more active and
outgoing than my sisters.
17. As a child, I could choose from an almost infinite variety of
children's media featuring positive, active, non-stereotyped heroes
of my own sex. I never had to look for it; male heroes were the
default.
18. As a child, chances are I got more teacher attention than girls
who raised their hands just as often.
19. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each
negative episode or situation whether or not it has sexist
overtones.
20. I can turn on the television or glance at the front page of the
newspaper and see people of my own sex widely represented, every
day, without exception.
21. If I'm careless with my financial affairs it won't be attributed
to my sex.
22. If I'm careless with my driving it won't be attributed to my
sex.
23. I can speak in public to a large group without putting my sex on
trial.
24. If I have sex with a lot of people, it won't make me an object
of contempt or derision.
25. There are value-neutral clothing choices available to me; it is
possible for me to choose clothing that doesn't send any particular
message to the world.
26. My wardrobe and grooming are relatively cheap and consume little
time.
27. If I buy a new car, chances are I'll be offered a better price
than a woman buying the same car.
28. If I'm not conventionally attractive, the disadvantages are
relatively small and easy to ignore.
29. I can be loud with no fear of being called a shrew. I can be
aggressive with no fear of being called a *****.
30. I can ask for legal protection from violence that happens mostly
to men without being seen as a selfish special interest, since that
kind of violence is called "crime" and is a general social concern.
(Violence that happens mostly to women is usually called "domestic
violence" or "acquaintance rape," and is seen as a special interest
issue.)
31. I can be confident that the ordinary language of day-to-day
existence will always include my sex. "All men are created equal…,"
mailman, chairman, freshman, he.
32. My ability to make important decisions and my capability in
general will never be questioned depending on what time of the month
it is.
33. I will never be expected to change my name upon marriage or
questioned if i don't change my name.
34. The decision to hire me will never be based on assumptions about
whether or not I might choose to have a family sometime soon.
35. Every major religion in the world is led primarily by people of
my own sex. Even God, in most major religions, is usually pictured
as being male.
36. Most major religions argue that I should be the head of my
household, while my wife and children should be subservient to me.
37. If I have a wife or girlfriend, chances are we'll divide up
household chores so that she does most of the labor, and in
particular the most repetitive and unrewarding tasks.
38. If I have children with a wife or girlfriend, chances are she'll
do most of the childrearing, and in particular the most dirty,
repetitive and unrewarding parts of childrearing.
39. If I have children with a wife or girlfriend, and it turns out
that one of us needs to make career sacrifices to raise the kids,
chances are we'll both assume the career sacrificed should be hers.
40. Magazines, billboards, television, movies, pornography, and
virtually all of media is filled with images of scantily-clad women
intended to appeal to me sexually. Such images of men exist, but are
much rarer.
41. I am not expected to spend my entire life 20-40 pounds
underweight.
42. If I am heterosexual, it's incredibly unlikely that I'll ever be
beaten up by a spouse or lover.
43. I have the privilege of being unaware of my male privilege.

-- When 1 in 3 women are raped in their lifetimes- including in the
United States- we still have major problems in our society! When
sexual harrassment happens to at least half of all women in the
workplace creating a hostile work environment, we've got some
serious societal issues...
Rape is a war where the victims are blamed and continually battled
against by those in their own country. The effects of rape are more
horrific than for any other crime, and yet we don't see the heroes-
the women who had to crawl through the battlefield of the rape,
parts of her being blown up, her mental anguish in many forms
lasting a lifetime, affecting every aspect of her entire being....
if there is a trial, which is so unlikely anyway, she is blamed for
the war she suffered, her history is brought up, she is dragged
through the minefield yet again... do they do the same things for
our male heroes from the war? think about it....

Answer 1

I'm glad you've posted this checklist - it's bang on.

I don't know about the rape statistics. I think they come from an estimation of how often the victim doesn't step forward; it makes rapes very difficult to tally.

Someone made a good point that men get defensive about this statistic because they feel that one in four men have to be rapists to account for it. Of course this isn't true, one man can be, and often is, responsible for many different women being raped.

As to sexual harassment, I know from experience, that it would be next to impossible for a woman to go her whole life without being sexually harassed. We have to deal with it on a semi-regular basis. Being sexually harassed is part of being a woman - period.

Wage disparity: I think that it's time to remove the taboo of talking about how much people are earning. Most people don't want to say how much they make so it's difficult to compare. Certainly, there are more men in higher paying positions, no-one can argue that. Someone mentioned women in the media... there are certainly more male anchors than female ones. Women, on average, have better language skills; they should dominate the media, but they don't.

I'm saddened that you got so much backlash, it doesn't speak well for the state of things.

Answer 2

Some of the answers you got don't surprise me ...nevertheless, this list applies perfectly to the country I lived half of my life, therefore I am out in a far away continent, where women are more respected although in politics and high level businesses you generally see male faces.

I don't agree with this point though:

"20. I can turn on the television or glance at the front page of the
newspaper and see people of my own sex widely represented, every
day, without exception. "

Generally we see a lot of females, but 80% of the time, they are represented as being "sexy", you know, that look, that pose and most of the times blondes, kind of Barbie types, that you also see represented in porn by the way.

About the rape issue, it is a fact. I don't have to see any "chart", I KNOW women that have been raped, I know little girls that have been molested. It is NOT an isolated case but several. I don't have enough hands to count them.
It doesn't matter how hysterically denying some contributors become. It is a fact and I hope, honestly hope that it NEVER happens to any woman of their own family or to themselves.

Answer 3

I remember seeing this list before, and it's quite a sad commentary on our society that so much of it is still true.

Unfortunately, many of the usual anti-feminists responded, who live in their fantasy world of a non-violent USA, with women strolling through life without fearing for their safety (despite the women they ignore who've been molested and raped), where women receive equal pay for equal work (those pesky 1.6 million women suing walmart for pay discrimination are unusual? lol), where women are treated with respect and dignity at work, in their home, in the media, in politics and in religion. And of course, each of these individuals has displayed such respect for the opposite sex themselves.

It's very convenient for people to ignore what they don't have to deal with, enjoy the privileges they have, and use their privileges to discount the experiences of others.

Its regrettable that our society has this myth of equality, and therefore manage to ignore how the middle-class and wealthy mock and blame the poor, whites still discount the subtle and not very subtle racism and actually claim reverse discrimination, and it is perfectly acceptable to display sexism and contempt for women, since, after all, they're "just women".

Answer 4

Your dealing with a lot of issues here all at once. Yes, there is still a lot of gender inequity in our world, even in the US, where the most inroads against it have been made.

Rape is horrible by any perception (I hope). The reason for the agony of the court battle is the simple fact that rape shield laws only protect the alleged victims, while doing nothing to protect people from false accusations and wrongful prosections. While this may be the minority of cases, it does happen, and more than you might think. Hide both names to keep the appearnce of impropriety out of the loop, and so that the real rapists can be put away, and the guy you just regret sleeping with doesn't have to pay for your indescretion (and his of course).

And this plays into another thing you bring up about women being able/unable to walk alone at night and/or travel by themsleves. We do live in a world that considers women to be more vunreble, especially those who are likely to prey upon them. Until we solve this women need to gang up and have good relationships with sane male relatives who could pass for linebackers.

Yes advertising denegrates women. They have for decades, and it has hurt men as well. Men walk into a situation expecting nympho underwear models. I prefer real women myslef, but of course the ad-induced stero-type is in the back of even my mind. This one cuts both ways.

Women are more than evenly represented in the media. I don't know what youre watching, but there are no shortgaes of women with tv shows in movies as leads in stories ahead of men. People may choose to watch or hype the things men are doing in this indusrty over women, but to say women arent getting a fair shake in newsrooms and hollywood isn't supported by the sheer volume of women with media jobs.

I'm not saying it's perect, but its certainly not impossible for women to function and for men and women to learn to balance themselves, their relationships and their corners of the world by being a credit to their genders, not trashing the other one, or pretending they don't exist.

Answer 5

i know why you did this, but it is truly a waste of time posting these things here. for a good deal of the current users, intellectual consideration is the equivalent of jamming their fingers in their ears and screaming "LALALALA I CANT HEAR YOU!" when presented with facts about the conditions that women live in in this world. since they are not women, they dont have that first hand experience, and since they refuse to even try, they will never understand. they would rather stand there and complain about how WE are opressing THEM by discussing our experiences.

Have pity on them, they just dont want to be labeled the "bad guy." Most of them are not mistreaters of women or rapists, they just dont want to be assumed to be one because of their sex.

except for happy snappy. He's psychotic. I would be worried about his tendancies if he were a legal adult and able to function on his own, which I seriously doubt.

Answer 6

Wow you hit all the propaganda points in one question good job. Thankfully it has an easy answer. Very little of your question had ant true points to it at all. 1 in 3 women are raped last week it was only 1 in 4 both numbers are false at any rate. And if they were true that would make nearly 1 in 3 males a rapist. Oh wait a minute I forgot feminism teaches that even consensual sex is rape. I guess if you have an idea that any sex is rape then I can see where you get your lies I mean figures.
None of this crap happens in the manner in which you and your fellow feminuts portray it.
And while rape is bad it is far from the worst crime and is in no way comparable to a soldier who has been wounded in combat. I have been wounded in combat so don't even compare the two.
Oh and nice try on your attempt to flood us into submission with false propaganda. But yet again no one is buying it. Those who have already bought into this fraud I am sure will applaud you but the rest of us remain unimpressed.

Answer 7

Just glancing through this, a lot of it appears either exaggerated or inaccurate, and biased toward the feminist mindset...toward feminists who have an agenda and believe what they want to believe.

I think that just the opposite is true regarding a lot of in, and women want (and have receieved) a lot of special rights. I believe that whoever wrote this is largely in denial and has some mental issues.

Answer 8

No I just, well not just I, think that you are wack. Fancy trying to ride the wave of the old feminism when you already have equal rights.

How about helping women from countries that actually need help with REAL WOMENS RIGHTS issues.

All feminism in the western world is doing, as I said, riding the wave and bordering on eliteism.

Go fight for rape, but how. By oppressing men with unjust laws. I think not.

Maybe you should ask less questions in 1 question. Its just too much work for the anti-feminist to show an always indoctrinated feminist.

edit
BTW. The 1 in 4 fallacy has been proven false and NOW YOU are saying 1 in 3 women get raped. Theres no wonder people dont take you feminists serious. JUST A BUNCH OF LIEING BIGOTS

Answer 9

Great list. I love the hatred, but have good news:

Start your own company, hire women only for 74 cents on the dollar, rise to the top by producing goods and services for 25% less.

Nobody, I Repeat Nobody is holding you back.

Answer 10

Are You trying to gain support for the Feminist cause by using reverse psychology ? Or are You just looking to incite misandry in this forum? Please don't hesitate to qualify Your intentions.