A simple guide to acknowledge the different forms of privilege.
The meaning of the word ‘’privilege’’ is often misunderstood. We usually all have some kind of privilege (even without acknowledging it) but that does not mean we don’t struggle at all.
The actual definition of privilege is: ‘’a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group’’
By this statement you might think that you don’t own any type of ‘’Special Right’’ but the reality is that most likely, you do.
Let’s discover it together with a fun quiz! All you have to do is mark YES or NO for every statement.
I live in a democracy YES NO
My education is granted by the country I live in YES NO
My skin is white / I am Caucasian YES NO
My healthcare is almost completely free YES NO
I am male and I identify in the sex I was born with YES NO
I identify as heterosexual YES NO
Food and shelter are always available to me YES NO
I / My guardians have a stable job and a good monthly income YES NO
I own a mobile phone YES NO
I can afford my school books YES NO
I don’t carry any disability YES NO
I don’t have a mental health disorder YES NO
My school is / was a safe environment YES NO
My religion is not illegal in the country I live in YES NO
If you agreed with even just one statement, then you have a life privilege that not everyone has. Living the life you live is not a crime and therefore you shouldn’t feel embarrassed to admit your advantage. Your struggles will remain the same but it means that your personal problems are not caused by your race, your gender nor your sexual orientation.
Unfortunately many people in this world are still judged by the colour of their skin, by their wealth and by the person they are in love with.
This is the first chapter of a series we are committed to make in order to give everyone the opportunity to learn about privileges. We will show you what they look like in different settings and how we can actually use our own privilege to fight for the ones who can’t.
If you are interested, by taking this online quiz, you’ll be able to know how many people have the same rights as you: https://www.buzzfeed.com/regajha/how-privileged-are-you
Stay tuned for the following episodes: we will be talking about the Black Lives Matter movement and white privilege, straight privilege and marriage, male privilege and wage gap and much more!
Article written by Lilou BARATAULT (FR) and Elisa CREMONA (IT)
Sources
The definition comes from Oxford Languages, Google’s English dictionary.
The quiz was inspired by the article How Privilege Are You, written by Rega Jha and Tommy Wesely. It was posted on April 10, 2004. https://www.buzzfeed.com/regajha/how-privileged-are-you
