We usually don’t think of ourselves as powerful, just as regular people. Systems of inequality, including racism, transphobia and sexism, distribute privilege to some people and take power away from others.
But having power doesn’t make you bad. In fact, checking your privileges can be an opportunity to become an ally to marginalized communities on campus.
Being gay, sometimes I feel powerless. No matter how poised and articulate I am, it would take only one homophobic remark to wrest this power away from me. If somebody rejects my sexual orientation or confronts me for acting “too gay,” then the person I am and the things I have accomplished will cease to matter. Any situation I am in, no matter how confident I may feel, could be instantly reversed. I could go from feeling powerful to feeling invalidated, ashamed or even physically threatened.
Because I am privileged in other aspects — I am white, male and able-bodied — my power is rarely threatened. But knowing that this power is temporary, that at any moment the situation can be swept out from beneath my feet without my consent, is terrifying.
Marginalization is knowing that something could happen to you — slurs, threats, sexual assault — and fearing that nobody would lift a finger in your defense. Will they say that the threat didn’t really happen, and that you’re making it up? Or that you are to blame, that you were acting too gay or you were dressed too provocatively? We live in a society that blames people for their own marginalization.
Feeling powerless, therefore, has nothing to do with being weak. If you are privileged, then you don’t need to worry about defending yourself because you aren’t likely to be attacked.
Feeling powerless has nothing to do with being emotionally vulnerable. If you are privileged, then you won’t need to worry about others trying to delegitimize your identity. People will see you as authentic.
Marginalization includes the stress of never knowing if I’m completely safe, respected or welcome. On our campus, I’m set at ease by the explicit affirmation of rainbow flags. If you are privileged, however, you don’t need a special sticker to show that you are welcome somewhere because you are welcome anywhere you go.
Even if you don’t feel personally powerful — and that includes those of us who are marginalized in certain aspects of our lives — you most likely have power that you don’t even know about. It’s essential that you become aware of this privilege and that you use it to become an ally to those who are threatened on a daily basis. A great example of checking your own privilege is the organization “Men Can Stop Rape,” which uses male privilege to combat the normalization of sexual assault.
Privilege is a zero-sum-game. If you are not directly marginalized, then you have the power to advocate, to threaten, or to do nothing at all with this privilege. But by not actively combatting oppression, you may be perpetuating social forces that systematically delegitimize, intimidate and discriminate against marginalized people.
Derek Siegel is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences.
edpage@theeagleonline.com
