( Would you like to fight racism while fighting sexism? One simple way is to abstain from that which is odious )

(The theme of this IBARW is intersectionality, and I am trying to put together a post on this difficult topic, but this is what came out instead. I hope I can get the other out too.)

I'd like to thank buggery for reading this for me in its draft form, making helpful suggestions, and titling this for me..

I want to talk about privilege today, because it's fundamental to most modern discussions of racism.  And sexism, and ableism, and lookism, and classism, and dot dot dot.  And because I've seen some pretty odd definitions of privilege out there.  The standard resource on privilege is White Privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack.  But I think that resource is clearly not working for some people based on some very defensive reactions I've seen, so I'm going to presumptuous and try on my own.

Privilege is not:  About you.  Privilege is not your fault.  Privilege is not anything you've done, or thought, or said.  It may have allowed you to do, or think, or say things, but it's not those things, and it's not because of those things.  Privilege is not about taking advantage, or cheating, although privilege may make this easier.  Privilege is not negated.  I can't balance my white privilege against my female disadvantage and come out neutral.  Privilege is not something you can be exempt from by having had a difficult life.  Privilege is not inherently bad.    It really isn't. 

( So what is it? )

I am so organized! Okay, now I have a IBARW icon. Is it too blinky? I can slow it down some. I'm pretty sure Shiva disapproves of racism. It means she finds herself killing people who aren't otherwise worth the time.

If you've been conscious and in the vicinity of fandom in the last week, you've probably heard about the daily_deviant community's sudden notoriety over a fic prompt. If you haven't, go here, read everything between July 30th and now. Everyone else: onward!

( So, what have we learned, as clueless but hopefully well meaning white fans? )

What I've learned from this:

Speak: when you're silent, your silence speaks for you.
Learn: knowing what you're talking about is important!

Also: Stop calling it race-wank. When you call it wank, you're saying the entire subject is, by definition (1) inherently unproductive and (2) generally something civilized persons don't do in public. Onanism hurts no one, and is pleasant pastime. Confronting racism is awkward, painful, tiring, and will expose you to metric tonnes of stupidity. But it needs to happen. Racism isn't just going to give up and die on its own.

(I'd like to thank my flist for helping me with this post. They are all very shiny people.)

Last year I had nothing to say for International Blog Against Racism Week.  I was sort of feeling stupid, and terrified of saying something that would reveal that.  This year, you'll wish I had nothing to say. 

I'm not claiming to be Super WhiteChick! She knows everything about race, has ONLY Black friends, and gets stains out!  In fact, I think I spent the entire month of July apologizing for various failures on my part at being aware of my privilege.  So, please take my posts in the spirit of "Betty's pretty sure about this one!  But if she's wrong please tell her?"

So, if you are, like me, a white girl, who finds this stuff unpleasant to think about, you could do worse than read A little clean up from our last discussion on race, by jlh. 

( Quotes of the parts Betty found particularly thinky )