Intersectionality/Privilege

While reading the Peggy McIntosh article, I had to stop and really consider some of the different ways that I am privileged simply because I am white. Number seven on her list struck a chord with me, "When I am told about our national heritage or about 'civilization,' I am shown that people of my color made it what it is." As a history major at the collegiate level, it is my job to break through the propaganda that my race has created. Everything is very much skewed to make it seem like the white man created everything, that the white man showed up first to everything, and was entitled to everything the white man conquered. While I recognize this now, I did not recognize this in high school, it just seemed natural that Columbus was a hero for finding the land I call home. I didn't consider the fact that Columbus had pillaged and killed tons of native people in order for me to call this place home, nor was I taught that in school.

Along with my race, I am particularly privileged because I come from a upper middle class family. I get to live in a really nice neighborhood, where I have always assumed that I would get an excellent education and go to college, and always knew that I would, essentially, get what I want. There is a clear distinction in my home town between where different races live and income levels, thus proving that racism is still very much alive in the society we live in, and I just happened to be born into the easier side of that coin.

I also identify as a bisexual female, and while I love both of these parts of myself, not everyone does. I am known to be private about my sexuality around people I do not know well in order to not listen to the typical questions that come with being something other than heterosexual. I listen to people argue over whether I should have the right to marry a woman, or whether my sexuality is "legitimate." As a female, sexual violence is used as a tool of fear to oppress me, and men feel entitled to my body. People automatically assume that I'm unintelligent, and I recall in high school that I was incredibly submissive to the men around me. I apologize to men for things that I shouldn't even be apologizing for, yet it just seems like a knee jerk reaction. These are all ways in which patriarchal society has been ingrained in me since I was young, and even if I don't always realize it, works to oppress me.

Bridget Doyle