#2 New Way of Thinking

                                                                                                       
Reflections
Privilege, Power, and Difference by Allan G. Johnson


     This reading really made me stop and think about the way I have been going through life. It really made me stop and evaluate the way I think about the course my life has taken. this article explains in great detail the privileges that people have based upon their race and sex as well as social class and sexual preference. Johnson explains that words such as racism, feminism, and privilege evoke a feeling of defense and anger in some people. And I can completely relate to this, as I was reading the article I found myself getting defensive. I felt like I needed to defend the the fact that I was an educated white female who believed I can do anything a man can do. He states that female students are ignored in classes and that females are expected to be sensitive and compasionate if they are expected to be seen as a real woman. This evoked great anger in me. I have never been in a class where I or any other female was ignored. And wehter I am compasionate or not, I am still a woman.
     Johnson puts alot of effort into explaining privelege. He states that white, middle-class, heterosexual men have the most privilage and power. Wow did this spark a fire in me. I started verbally talking to the article saying things such as " I am empowered and I am female" I dont need to be male to have power and privilege.
     As I started to pay attention to the article and read it with an open mind I realized that he was trying to explain to us that some privileges we are just born with. We don't ask to be born white but if we are, we benfit from this privelege. I am a nursing student and never once did I stop to think that I might be able to find a job faster becuase English is my first language and because I am white or because I am female. But after reading this article I can see how that is a real possibilty. I am not sure if I should feel guilty about this privilege or be angry becuase this "privilege" exist. Then I realized that this article makes me realize that if females who do not feel like they are lacking equality ignore the issue of inequality they are reenforcing the idea of privelege.
     I know I am all over the place in this blog but the article made me bounce from one idea to another. I did feel that he repeated himself often and made his paragraphs a little wordy. But none the less I understood what he was trying to do. I agree with a lot of his points and disagree with some of them as well.
     In his last chapter he defines oppression. He explains that in order for a group to be oppressed they must be oppressed by another group. For example, women can feel oppressed by the male gender. Homosexual men can feel oppressed by heterosexual men. White men can not just feel opressed because they are men. So this takes me back to our class...... Just because I personally do not feel oppressed by men doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Not only does it exist but I should be part of the solution even if I am not directly affected by the problem at hand. I was brought up to believe that I could be what ever I wanted to be, to play with whatever toys I wanted to , and to never let anything stop me from reaching my goals in life. I just happen to choose a female dominant carreer and have had lots of support. I can see that a man chossing the same career may have a very different life course than I have had. I am not sure if any of this makes sense to anyone but me, but I totally understand the readoing and have altered the way I see the world. I would like to us the guys in the class how they feel about what the author is saying. Does David feel that he is mighter than us because he is a white male?