Media: Privileges That People Experience Because Of Their Sexuality
In our readings by Peggy McIntosh and Devon Carbado, as well as the Huffington Post article by Lori Laken Hutcherson, they talk about the concepts of privilege and power. McIntosh and Cabrado do so by creating a list of privileges that are afforded to them based on the systems of power of race (McIntosh) and gender (Carbado), while Hutcherson discusses disempowering experiences in her own life. In the process of creating these lists they discover that these systems of power serve as empowering to some, but also can serve as a means of disempowerment for others. Think about their discussion in terms of these systems of power and the intersection of these with others such as sexuality and create your own list of privileges (list between 5-7 privileges) based on various systems of power and the intersection of them. After listing these, discuss why it is important for us to identify them and what can we do with this knowledge? Please re-visit both McIntosh and Carbado's pieces to answer these last two questions.
Privileges
(Student’s name)
Social Sciences
(Institutional affiliation)
Privileges
The privileges that people experience because of their sexuality depends on where they are, who they are speaking to, and what needs to be done. If you are a heterosexual, here are some of the privileges that can be experienced:
1. It is not necessary for you to justify your sexual identity.
2. You will have access right away to your loved one in case of an emergency.
3. Talking about your partner or the relationship you have does not receive any criticism because people deem it to be normal.
4. Heterosexuals do not experience the trouble of having to come out because people already know what their sexuality is.
5. Getting a join child custody is a lot easier compared to same-sex couples s...