I’ve mostly stopped responding to these posts because many of the people on this site speak about women’s rights in a way that is super ignorant and ugly, and the truth is that no one here is really open to changing their minds.

Still, I am a straight white male, and, as the quote says on this image, privileged is often invisible to those who have it. I have tons of opportunities that other people don’t, and many times, I’m not even aware of them because they are built into our society such that we take them for granted.

Some of the ways that I’ve become aware of my privileged is by doing counseling with people in poverty and struggling with mental illness. From this, I’ve been able to get some insight on all of the challenges I am privileged not to have.

The obvious truth is that we live in a patriarchal white dominated society. Look at our images of politicians, movie heroes, doctors, lawyers, police, etc. Look at the distribution of power between men and women, between whites and people of color. As a straight white male, I have been told since birth that I will be successful, and that is a story that is not only part of my permanent narrative now, but other people consciously and unconsciously reinforce it to me regularly.

Look at all of the pictures of women on this site, who are displayed naked every few posts, and then called fat or ugly by these same basement dwellers. There’s an NSFWMyconfinedspace, a fingerorfucked, a dildoconnoisseur, just within this website.

Like Louis CK says about being white, if you’re part of the majority, and you don’t admit that it’s great, then you’re an asshole.

“Minority” does not mean less in number, it means less in power. Women are minorities in our society. They typically make less money, are awarded lower status, have more difficulties in accessing positions of opportunity.

Early feminism emphasized women’s rights in a male dominated society. Modern feminism still acknowledges the unequal distribution of power in our society, but in alignment with other types of anti-oppressive ideology, it aims to promote equality for all people.

Feminism is for everybody.

It’s true that things are not equal between men and women, between white people and people of color, between heterosexuals and people of other sexual orientations and identities. And there are areas where women are given advantages over men, such as the assumption of being the primary parent, typically less physically dangerous work, and being excused from mandatory service. It’s true that there are places where members of the majority do not have the same (usually compensatory) opportunities that members of minority groups have, but, by and large, it’s easier to be straight, it’s easier to be white, and it’s easier to be male.

For example:

>More scholarships

This is a response to institutionalized male privilege.

>More women’s shelters

The number one cause of homelessness for women is fleeing domestic violence. Sleeping on the street sucks for both men and women, and homeless individuals of both genders are regularly the targets for violence due to their lack of police protection and physical vulnerability. People that I work with are regularly stolen from, beaten up, sometimes nearly beaten to death as gang initiation, and have even been set on fire.

But life is harder for homeless women. Few of the men that I work with are also regularly raped. Many of the women are.

>Less mental health referrals
>Less likely to be depressed
>Less likely to have mental illness
>Less likely to abuse substances
>Less likely to live in poverty

No. Due to stereotypes about gender and behavior, men and women are often diagnosed with different disorders. But it’s simply not true to say that women experience less mental illness, poverty, or substance abuse.

>Lower chance of committing suicide.

I work explicitly with people considering suicide (as chronic homelessness, sexual abuse, and mental illness will do that to you). Men typically choose more violent methods. They attempt less but succeed more. Women make significantly more attempts. No kind of suicide attempt is better or worse than another.

>Positive sexual encouragement

(Straight) men receive positive sexual encouragement. Women are in a lifelong doublebind. On one hand they are objectified as sexual objects, expected to be attractive and readily available to all men at all times, and at the same time they are vilified for their sexuality, shamed as slut for expressing enjoyment of sex and expected to be always available to me, but never interested in him.

>More, better contraceptive options
>control over 60% of US wealth
>reproductive rights
>Not assumed to be a pedophile around kids
>Less likely to transition gender identity
>”Having it all”

These are just absurd.