Male privilege
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Male privilege is the system of advantages or rights that are available to
Academic studies of male privilege were a focus of
Overview
Special privileges and status are granted to males in
In the field of sociology, male privilege is seen as embedded in the structure of social institutions, as when men are often assigned authority over women in the workforce, and benefit from women's traditional caretaking role.[3] Privileges can be classified as either positive or negative, depending on how they affect the rest of society.[1] Women's studies scholar Peggy McIntosh writes:
We might at least start by distinguishing between positive advantages that we can work to spread, to the point where they are not advantages at all but simply part of the normal civic and social fabric, and negative types of advantage that unless rejected will always reinforce our present hierarchies.[4]
Some negative advantages accompanying male privilege include such things as the expectation that a man will have a better chance than a comparably qualified woman of being hired for a job, as well as being paid more than a woman for the same job.[1]
Scope
The term "male privilege" does not apply to a solitary occurrence of the use of power, but rather describes one of many systemic power structures that are interdependent and interlinked throughout societies and cultures.[5]
Privilege is not shared equally by all males. Those who most closely match an ideal masculine norm benefit the most from privilege.[1][6] In Western patriarchal societies this ideal has been described as being "white, heterosexual, stoic, wealthy, strong, tough, competitive, and autonomous".[1] Men's studies scholars refer to this ideal masculine norm as hegemonic masculinity. While essentially all males benefit from privilege to some degree, those who visibly differ from the norm may not benefit fully in certain situations, especially in the company of other men that more closely match it.[1]
Men who have experienced bullying and domestic violence in youth, in particular, may not accept the idea that they are beneficiaries of privilege. Such forms of coercive violence are linked to the idea of toxic masculinity, a specific model of manhood that creates hierarchies of dominance in which some are favored and others are harmed.[2]
The invisibility of male privilege can be seen for instance in discussions of the gender pay gap in the United States; the gap is usually referred to by stating women's earnings as a percentage of men's. However, using women's pay as the baseline highlights the dividend that males receive as greater earnings (32% in 2005).[1] In commerce, male dominance in the ownership and control of financial capital and other forms of wealth has produced disproportionate male influence over the working classes and the hiring and firing of employees. In addition, a disproportionate burden is placed upon women in employment when they are expected to be solely responsible for child care; they may be more likely to be fired or be denied advancement in their profession, thus putting them at an economic disadvantage relative to men.[2]
Scholarship
The earliest academic studies of privilege appeared with
Peggy McIntosh, one of the first feminist scholars to examine male privilege, wrote about both male privilege and white privilege, using the metaphor of the "invisible knapsack" to describe a set of advantages borne, often unaware and unacknowledged, by members of privileged groups.[1] According to McIntosh, privilege is not a result of a concerted effort to oppress those of the opposite gender; however, the inherent benefits that men gain from the systemic bias put women at an innate disadvantage. The benefits of this unspoken privilege may be described as special provisions, tools, relationships, or various other opportunities. According to McIntosh, this privilege may actually negatively affect men's development as human beings, and few question that the existing structure of advantages may be challenged or changed.[4]
Efforts to examine the role of privilege in students' lives has become a regular feature of university education in North America.[1][6] By drawing attention to the presence of privilege (including male, white, and other forms) in the lives of students, educators have sought to foster insights that can help students contribute to social justice.[1] Such efforts include McIntosh's "invisible knapsack" model of privilege and the "Male Privilege Checklist".[6]
Cultural responses
Advocates for
Some have taken active roles in challenging oppressive
Preference of sons over daughters
In both
Reasons given for preferring sons to daughters include sons' role in religious family rites, which daughters are not permitted to perform, and the belief that sons are permanent members of the birth family whereas daughters belong to their husband's family after marriage in accordance with patrilocal tradition. Other reasons include patrilineal customs whereby only sons can carry on the family name, the obligation to pay dowry to a daughter's husband or his family, and the expectation that sons will support their birth parents financially while it is regarded as undesirable or shameful to receive financial support from daughters.[13][14]
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4129-0916-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-31-759534-2.
- ISBN 9781444392647.
- ^ a b McIntosh, Peggy (1988). "White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences Through Work in Women's Studies" (PDF). Wellesley, MA: Wellesley College, Center for Research on Women. Working Paper 189.
- ISBN 978-0-415-91419-2.
- ^ ISSN 1540-4560.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-415-33343-6. Archived from the original(PDF) on May 17, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-415-33343-6.
- ISBN 978-0-07-802700-0.
- ISBN 978-0-415-59802-6.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7619-3287-1.
- ISBN 978-0-19-533530-9.
- ^ S2CID 222098473.
- ^ a b Singh, K. (2012). "Man's world, legally". Frontline. 29 (15). Retrieved May 13, 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-7879-6377-4.
Across the world, male privilege is also variously reflected in giving sons preferential access to health care, sex- selective abortion, female infanticide, or trafficking in women.
- ISBN 978-0-203-17021-2.
Further reading
- Branscombe, Nyla R. (June 1998). "Thinking about one's gender group's privileges or disadvantages: consequences for well-being in women and men". British Journal of Social Psychology. 37 (2): 167–184. PMID 9639862.
- ISBN 9780132992817.
- Jacobs, Michael P. (1997). "Do gay men have a stake in male privilege?". In Gluckman, Amy; Reed, Betsy (eds.). Homo economics: capitalism, community, and lesbian and gay life. New York: Routledge. pp. 165–184. ISBN 9780415913799.
- S2CID 145428652.
- Kolb, Kenneth H. (2007). "'Supporting our black men': reproducing male privilege in a black student political organization". Sociological Spectrum. 27 (3): 257–274. S2CID 144812653.
- Kimmel, Michael; Ferber, Abby L., eds. (2003). Privilege: A Reader. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. ISBN 978-0-8133-4056-2.
- Noble, Carolyn; Pease, Bob (2011). "Interrogating male privilege in the human services and social work education". Women in Welfare Education. 10 (1): 29–38. Archived from the original on August 23, 2017.
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: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) Pdf. - Orelus, Pierre W. (2010). "Unmasking male, heterosexual, and racial privileges: from naive complicity to critical awareness and praxis". Counterpoints. 351: 17–62. JSTOR 42980551.
- Pratto, Felicia; Stewart, Andrew L. (March 2012). "Group dominance and the half-blindness of privilege". Journal of Social Issues. 68 (1): 28–45. .
- Schmitt, Michael T.; Branscombe, Nyla R. (2002). "The meaning and consequences of perceived discrimination in disadvantaged and privileged groups". European Review of Social Psychology. 12 (1): 167–199. S2CID 143953546.