About White Privileges

In Peggy McIntosh's article, she talks about how white people in our society are at an advantage to people of other skin colors. That makes sense to me. Although we may think that racism is dead... it isn't. Due to that simple fact, non-white people are still discriminated against. This puts them at a disadvantage. Wherever there is a disadvantage, there must be an advantage. Thus we have the white advantage.

While I agree with her main points, there are some parts of her article that I do not agree with. For example, in her list of white advantages, she lists "I can swear, or dress in second hand cothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the ba morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race." I think certain behaviors, such as swearing and certain clothing styles do connotate the bad morals and illiteracy of white people. Maybe not white people that she's used to, but there certainly exists the term "white trash."

She also mentions that there is not anything to cover blemishes unless you are white. Maybe she needs to take a walk down the makeup isle and see all of the different shades of foundation and cover up that they have. Now most of my disagreements with her are on small points. But maybe this is my unknown white advantage speaking, but she seems to exaggerate on some of her points. Nonetheless, she brings up a good point that there is still a disparity between our perceived races and that something needs to be done about it.

I think that this disparity between races, mainly the white privilege (and the fact that white people don't realize there is one) plays a huge role in the spread and treatment of HIV/AIDS. As noted in class, the main burden of HIV is in subsaharan Africa - where there are people of color. However, the main areas of spending for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention are in places like the US and Europe. Adressing large systems of opression is very important when dealing with sexual health. We need to realize that the -isms are still alive and well. And we need to take that into account when forming policies and education programs for sexual health so that everyone gets what they need to be healthy.