definitions for the record
Oct. 8th, 2005 07:18 pmWhen I talk about privilege, I think most of what I'm talking about is assigned privilege. Unless there are metaphysical systems in place of which I have no knowledge, I don't really think people can choose the color of their skin, country of birth, or sex (to name a few). The cultures into which we are born assign value to some of these variables, and penalize (to varying degrees) all others. I think I'm generally calling for an awareness of assigned privilege. I can think of no cases in which people have asked for it; it's a question, to me, of what one does or does not do with what one has been assigned that I'm most interested in.