Reframing Discussions of Privilege
“PRIVILEGE ISN’T ABOUT WHAT YOU’VE GONE THROUGH,
IT’S ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVEN’T HAD TO GO THROUGH.”
— Janaya “Future” Khan
It's been a few years since we first heard Janaya Khan bring us these words — and their resonance and relevance is as piercing today, as they were then.
So often, our knee jerk reaction when someone calls us “privileged” is to defend all the hardships we’ve experienced in life. We can feel compelled to stand up against any claim that erases our struggles and begin to list everything that we’ve been through, experienced, and survived.
To move forward and partake in constructive conversations that cause less harm / don't centre ourselves when it’s not about us; it's important that we learn to frame discussions of privilege around what we haven't had to go through - rather than what we have.
PRIVILEGE CAN LOOK LIKE:
- Being white
- Being white passing
- Being cisgender
- Being able bodied
- Being straight
- Being a man
- Being neurotlypical
- Being part of a religious majority
- Being a documented citizen
- Having access to health care
- Having an education
- Having housing security
- Having access to food
- Having a car / mode of transport
Please feel free to extend this list.
When we can acknowledge our privilege with honesty through an intersectional lens without jumping to defend our struggles, we can begin to understand that although our lives may have been hard, they haven't been made harder because of Being / Having ____________.
You fill in the blank/s.
25 - 06 - 20