The Self-Reinforcing Use of Privilege

I've been thinking about the use of the "P" word lately....yes....THAT ONE.

The one that gets tossed around by folks who largely have the educational knowledge or exposure to enter complex conversations of power dynamics, social structures, and their impacts on individuals by using certain language as shorthand. Full disclosure: I am completely privy to the privilege of using the "P" word. I want to write a little bit, for a moment, on the privilege of using discourses of privilege - when you are the subject of that privilege.

This may sound a bit circular and non-sensical, and I fully admit my own difficulties in writing in ways that are accessible to a general audience. I have no idea how easy my writing is to understand for a broad spectrum audience, in terms of language or concepts. It is very difficult to step out of one's own internal language and thought process and into another that might be more useful. But, I am constantly reflecting on this when writing with the hope of conveying my ideas to the widest possible audience.

That said, when folks who experience certain access to concepts, ideas, thoughts, and conversational spaces tend to rely on the "P" word when talking about these power dynamics...I think we need to pause for a moment and reflect on what is happening. When we are explaining social and structural power relations and the differences in impact on individuals depending on one's own particular context and the factors affecting them, reliance on or overuse of language centered around 'privilege' can be self reinforcing of that very privilege.

~ Let's pause for a moment ~

Additional Disclaimer: I have no issue with folks who are affected by the power relations held in this word, to use it freely to name those power dynamics and what is going on in relationship to experiences of oppression. The use of the word 'privilege' by folks who are oppressed by others' privilege is not what I am speaking about here. Of course, this is complicated by, on the one hand experiencing levels of access based on certain aspects of one's social context, while simultaneously experiencing the effects of power-over for other aspects of that social context. However, if I am the carrier of a certain privilege and I have been successful at naming it as such, I believe I have a very rich, layered obligation to reflect upon and address the embedded processes of power and resultant discriminated access in ways that do not reduce those interactions to one symbolic word and conversations that happen in short hand around it.

What I am interested in, specifically, is the reliance on self-disclosure of one's sites of privilege to explain away the power behind that privilege, all the while leaving unaffected the systems which perpetuate it. This critique has been levelled numerous times, notably by indigenous speakers and people of colour vis a vis white privilege, and ties in with a greater critique of how learning to use anti-oppressive (AOP) language can actually make processes of marginalization, exclusion and power-over others invisible. The construction of AOP language and the use of AOP buzz words could actually have the effect of distancing those with privilege from taking direct actions that address it - instead, giving the illusion of such action.

One can think about and speak all day on the subject of one's access and complicity or neglect in addressing the systems they benefit from that negatively affect others. One can directly benefit from participating in using the "p" word to acquire social status as someone who appears to be taking direct action against their privilege by naming it as such. This act of erasure and reinscription especially interests me in academic, activist spaces dominated by white queers. I hear and take part in so many conversations around naming privilege but I see precious little restructuring of that power and access - and, sometimes even more exclusion as a result of those who don't (ironically) have access to, use, buy into, value, or have history with such language. Here I am not talking about a resistance to acknowledging power structures and the benefits accrued to certain individuals, but the elusive nature of relying on theorization of concepts of power dynamics rendering basic conversations inaccessible. There is a certain cultural cache that happens in white queer university-educated activist circles when one demonstrates the capacity to name their privileges.

Conversations around privilege can have the effect of elevating some community members for their willingness or ability to use these words while effectively shaming and alienating folks who don't, but may still be engaged in critical ways with the ideas and processes behind them. If we are thinking about using language to broaden our understandings across differences, and solicit a far reaching movement to address societal power dynamics - I think it is essential to engage with those processes we are so good at naming in some circles as opposed to relying on a dynamic of "calling out" others who just aren't *with it* who *don't get it* and who don't fall neatly into our intellectualized understandings of our own relationships with power and how this plays out.

I feel it is important to delve beyond this use of language and theorization into the actual work of crossing conceptual barriers, by addressing differences in sites of rearing of individuals and the impacts of these sites on conceptualization, in educational levels, cultural norms prevalent for the age of the person in question, and by delving into our own family and relational dynamics with those who do not share our politics or common understandings. Outside of listening intently, affirming, validating, and supporting others when they speak of their experiences of oppression in direct conversation, doing work around one's privilege should involve less reliance on self disclosure of that privilege to the people oppressed by it as a way to absolve oneself of a sense of guilt. Instead, a non-glamorous and non-self congratulatory focus on direct actions in daily life that enable power structures to begin to be dismantled in one's place of work, school, and in the spaces and groups one chooses to hang out in can be achieved by striving for conversations with others who do not share an easy common language around this stuff.