This list is based on Peggy McIntosh’s article on white privilege. These dynamics are but a few examples of the privilege many men inherit based on their sex.
On a daily basis as a male person…
1. My odds of being hired for a job, when competing against female applicants, are probably skewed in my favor. The more prestigious the job, the larger the odds are skewed.
2. If I fail in my job or career, I can feel sure this won’t be seen as a black mark against my entire sex’s capabilities.
3. I am far less likely to face sexual harassment at work than my female co-workers are.
4. If I do the same task as a woman, and if the measurement is at all subjective, chances are people will think I did a better job.
5. If I choose not to have children, my masculinity will not be called into question.
6. If I have children and a career, no one will think I’m selfish for not staying at home.
7. My elected representatives are mostly people of my own sex. The more prestigious and powerful the elected position, the more this is true.
8. When I ask to see “the person in charge,” odds are I will face a person of my own sex. The higher-up in the organization the person is, the more certain I can be.
9. As a child, chances are I was encouraged to be more active and outgoing than my sisters.
10. As a child, chances are I got more teacher attention than girls who raised their hands just as often.
11. If I’m careless with my financial affairs it won’t be attributed to my sex.
12. If I’m careless with my driving it won’t be attributed to my sex.
13. Even if I sleep with a lot of women, there is no chance that I will be seriously labeled a “slut,” nor is there any male counterpart to “slut-bashing.”
14. I do not have to worry about the message my wardrobe sends about my sexual availability or my gender conformity.
15. My clothing is typically less expensive and better-constructed than women’s clothing for the same social status. While I have fewer options, my clothes will probably fit better than a woman’s without tailoring.
16. The grooming regimen expected of me is relatively cheap and consumes little time.
17. If I’m not conventionally attractive, the disadvantages are relatively small and easy to ignore.
18. I can be loud with no fear of being called a shrew. I can be aggressive with no fear of being called a bitch.
19. I can be confident that the ordinary language of day-to-day existence will always include my sex. “All men are created equal,” mailman, chairman, freshman, etc.
20. My ability to make important decisions and my capability in general will never be questioned depending on what time of the month it is.
21. I will never be expected to change my name upon marriage or questioned if I don’t change my name.
22. The decision to hire me will never be based on assumptions about whether or not I might choose to have a family sometime soon.
23. If I have a wife or live-in girlfriend, chances are we’ll divide up household chores so that she does most of the labor, and in particular the most repetitive and unrewarding tasks.
24. If I have children with a wife or girlfriend, chances are she’ll do most of the child-rearing, and in particular the most dirty, repetitive and unrewarding parts of child-rearing.
25. If I have children with a wife or girlfriend, and it turns out that one of us needs to make career sacrifices to raise the kids, chances are we’ll both assume the career sacrificed should be hers.
26. Magazines, billboards, television, movies, pornography, and virtually all of media are filled with images of scantily-clad women intended to appeal to me sexually. While such images of men exist, they appear much less frequently.
27. In general, I am under much less pressure to be thin than my female counterparts are. If I am fat, I probably suffer fewer social and economic consequences for being fat than fat women do.
28. On average, I am not interrupted by women as often as women are interrupted by men.
29. I have the privilege of being unaware of my male privilege.
