TOW #15

All of us experience set backs in our lives due to things we cannot control. Such as gender, race, age, etc. However, what we usually do not account for is the privilege that may also come with it. Roxanne Gay, American author, published an article about this very issue, and why we should learn to embrace privilege rather than deflect it. In Peculiar Benefits, Gay uses personal anecdotes and theoretical situations in order to argue that we should acknowledge that we all have privileges and we should embrace them. The essay begins with Gay bringing us back to her childhood when her family took a vacation to her parent's homeland, Haiti. It was then that she realized what an extreme difference there was between poverty in America and poverty in Haiti. This anecdote effectively introduced how we all have privileges, even when we don't consider them to be privileges. Such as being middle collar in America, or having the ability to work two jobs. By showing how people in another country have worse problems, it shows the benefits we experience. Along with this, Gay argues that we should learn to embrace our privileges in her theoretical but common situation of a White Man being told he has privileges. She writes“It’s not my fault I am a white man.” They say, “I’m working class,” or “I’m [insert other condition that discounts their privilege],” instead of simply accepting that, in this regard, yes, they benefit from certain privileges others do not." (para. 6). This exemplifies how people tend to react when they are labeled with the word privilege. This situation helps Gay argue that just because we have a privilege does not mean life is not hard. It is just showing how we have something others do not. Just because one has a privilege because of race and gender, does not mean they don't have other setbacks. I think this article brought up a very interesting perspective on a topic I've never spent much time considering.