General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: It's disappointing to see "liberals" deny the existence of white privilege [View all]nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)"There is enough guilt to go around" is more or less true. In some people's eyes, and probably justifiably so, we're all the proverbial fat, greedy Ugly American. Remembering that might help put things in perspective a bit, I agree.
Personally, I don't throw around the term "white privilege" in everyday life - in fact, I'd rarely used it even on DU up until today - and I'm sure there are plenty of things that offend some feminist somewhere but don't offend me. Yet I've never once been personally accused of racism or sexism on DU. I can only speculate, but I think it's because I don't presume to dictate others' priorities, or how they should frame a discussion - not saying you yourself do these things, I'm speaking generally - and I also don't take generalized statements about "men" or "white people" personally, because I'm not "men" or "white people," I'm me. Yes, obviously my race and gender have helped to shape my worldview and life experiences, but I'm also an individual.
BTW the recent controversy was never really about "bikini photos" per se - more about the appropriateness of such material for DU, especially GD, and the broader issue of body image and unrealistic beauty standards. And when people talk about "objectification" they don't mean finding someone attractive, or even asking them out - they mean treating a person as less than fully human, e.g. by harassing, assaulting, or verbally demeaning them. The distinction, to me, could not be clearer.
Thanks for the reasoned, snark-free discussion though. We don't get enough of that around here.