Please do not reproduce this article in full on any other site! This list is modified every so often to fix broken links, add new points, and otherwise update the material. While I appreciate readers’ support in spreading this through the internet, I request that you post no more than an excerpt onto your own site, and that you include a link back to this specific page so that everyone may have the benefit of seeing the most recent material.

This is just one list by one woman. But, at the same time, it is a list of frustrations (and hopefully some potential solutions) that I have experienced time and time again – sometimes from both sides of the fence – and that I have seen other non-privileged people experience. I wrote this in response to a question, but also in response to the frustration of a man who felt that he was always told what not to do, but never enlightened on strategies for what to do. My hope is that what’s here can help privileged people who are struggling with their place in non-privileged groups and who can’t understand why they get such negative reactions so often.

I intend to update this list when I feel something should be added or modified, so feel free to share your stories, voice your opinions (politely, of course), and what have you.2

I use the term “minority” not necessarily in the numbers sense, but rather in the sense as we are treated as if we are people in terms of rights conferred to us (ie. significantly less than “majority” groups).

This article originally posted for Blog Against Sexism Day.

Appendix I: List Origins

Please note: This message was originally written at the top of the list, but since it is more of an aside I have moved it to the bottom underneath the Appendix heading. It is not necessary to the list itself, but has been preserved exactly as it was for those who want to know what events lead up to me writing this list to begin with.

A while back I got into a discussion with OS.CB reader yocibox on his LJ about my open letter to geeky guys. For whatever reason (perhaps because I’ve been really thinking about it), I’ve been noticing a lot of posts griping about the entitlement guys I described in my letter. The open letter on Definition I highlighted here is one example of this.

I’ve been wanting to write more on this subject for quite some time, so it was rather perfect when yocibox asked me this question:

how does one successfully prove that one doesn’t consider said female gamer to be just a pretty face, and subsequently convey that the initial approach is not loaded with priviliged expectations?

Appendix 2: Why Write This?

I wanted to create something that was both a resource for anti-oppression activists dealing with privileged groups as well as something that would, hopefully, reach the people who were well-meaning but didn’t get why people who weren’t in their privileged groups got so angry at them sometimes.

I also looked around and saw a lot of lists dealing with specific privileges — male privilege, white privilege, etc — but none that dealt with privilege as a general concept and had as one of its core messages the realization that we all simultaneously benefit from privilege and are victims of it. I think understanding this intersectionality could go a long way to help people accept and understand that none of us — not a one — is totally exempt from privilege.

I don’t think this list has achieved its goals yet, but I do think that I get closer with every revise.

Last Updated: June 30, 2008.