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Culture War Roundup for the week of March 6, 2023

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According to privilege theory, this is impossible. ADHD medications are disproportionately given to white boys, the most privileged cohort on the planet. The System was supposed to protect them from harm. Anything given to that population was supposed to be checked rigorously. Medication that helps short term but ruins you later sounds exactly like something that would be given to minorities.

As others have noted, this is a misstatement of "privilege theory." That theory does not state that everything done by those in power is purposely done to help those with privilege. Rather, it states that society is structured in a way such that some people, because of their race, gender, or whatever, get certain advantages or are spared certain costs that are experienced by others of different races, genders, or whatever, and that assumptions about what is normal tend to be shaped by the experiences of those with "privilege."

For example, years ago I rented an apartment in what was supposedly a marginally unsafe area. But I never felt unsafe, including walking late at night a couple of blocks from where I had to park to where my apartment was. However, I am a guy, so I did not have to worry about being sexually assaulted, and for all I know the signs of risk of sexual assault might have been present, but I was oblivious. A woman might well have been at risk in that area. That is a form of "male privilege." (And, in fact, my landlord told me that she rented to me over a woman who also applied because she was not comfortable renting to a woman in that area).

Similarly, when I first started teaching, I was told: "Don't assume that every kid has a quiet place to do homework at home." The assumption that every kid has such a place is a form of "class privilege."

None of this is to say that the concept is not often, or even frequently, trotted out and used stupidly, dishonestly, or both. Nor does it mean that privilege, even to the extent it exists, has much actual effect; it could well be quite trivial. But you are attacking a strawman.

For example, years ago I rented an apartment in what was supposedly a marginally unsafe area. But I never felt unsafe, including walking late at night a couple of blocks from where I had to park to where my apartment was.

But note, your supposed privilege here is entirely based on your own feelings and perception, and not reality, which is that males are many times more likely to be the victim of violent crime than females.

Is a person actually privileged if they only feel privileged because they have been psychologically conditioned to feel privileged? This does lead directly to quality of life enhancements so it's not entirely a theoretical question but that does suggest that the solution to many cases of disprivilege would be to psychologically coach a feeling of empowerment rather than changing the reality of the world, and this is exactly the opposite of how privilege theory is received at large.

  1. I specifically referred to sexual assault.

  2. Men are more likely to be the victim of violent crimes because they are more likely to engage in altercations. But I am talking about the risk of being the victim of a crime while minding one's own business walking home at night. I believe that women are more likely than men to be a victim in that context.

Do you have a citation on that second point? I haven't seen any hard data on that, but I think it may be confounded by frequency with which men are forced into more dangerous situations for criminal violence via occupation (night shift, security guards, etc) and their statistical propensity for perhaps-careless-but-not-illegal risk taking.

Well, this says that the rate of violent crime victimization for women was about the same in 2018 and 2019, so since, as you note, men are more likely to be in dangerous situations and have a propensity for risk-taking, that implies that women who are just minding their own business are indeed at greater risk than are men. And that is purely quantitative; it ignores the qualitative aspect of being a victim of rape or sexual assault.

their statistical propensity for perhaps-careless-but-not-illegal risk taking

Note that the fact that men are careless might well be evidence of "privilege" -- men can "carelessly" walk home late at night because they are at very low risk of sexual assault. They can better afford to be careless than can women.