Check Your Privilege!

[Griffolion]

You're not privileged at all. You grew up with an intersectional, complicated identity, and life never let you forget it. You've had your fair share of struggles, and you?ve worked hard to overcome them. We do not live in an ideal world and you had to learn that the hard way. It is not your responsibility to educate those with more advantages than you, but if you decide you want to, go ahead and send them this quiz. Hopefully it will help.

White heterosexual male with 43/100. They really need to phrase their questions better. For instance, I have heard the phrase "you have been selected for secondary passport control". I just haven't heard it being said to me. I do know what Sallie Mae is, but I've never had any business at all with them, I just read the news occasionally.

I've actually had a really good, privileged life. But their questions just didn't capture that. I've a feeling a better worded questionnaire would put me at around 80/100. Of course, this is Buzzfeed doing a test from some thing that came out of Tumblr. So this already bad idea of "privilege checking" is being dragged through two different pig sties before being presented to us in a poorly worded questionnaire.

Also, I just want to re-quote this:

It is not your responsibility to educate those with more advantages than you, but if you decide you want to, go ahead and send them this quiz. Hopefully it will help.

How sanctimonious do these people want to get?

 

[Bruce]

I'm a straight white dude.

32.

 

[Aramis Night]

16/100

I'm sure it would have been lower if it didn't count simply being white/male or straight as some privilege on its own despite how my experiences seem to match up with the most allegedly marginalized peoples experiences. The religion part was tricky since I'm agnostic but everyone tends to immediately assume I'm a Devil worshiper which has lead to all kinds of unpleasantness. Or the sexuality part. I'm straight but people seem to assume I'm gay. Even my own parents growing up thought I was since I didn't act interested or have a stash of porn. I also liked the college loan question. I got to answer that I don't have any college loan debt.... because I wasn't able to go to college. Guess that's privilege for you.

This probably would have been a lot better of a test if it didn't make the same assumptions about straight, white men that seem so in vogue these days as being automatic indications of privilege.

 

[LetalisK]

The stuff you mention about bacteria in your digestive tract gives food for thought. But isn't whatever passes to your digestive tract supposed to still have some nutritious value? Those bacteria aren't there for no reason, and they do need to be fed.

The best way I can explain it is that pointing out that it's basically the same thing as lactose intolerance, but for fructose. All the discomfort and digestive problems a lactose intolerant person experiences is because the lactose doesn't get absorbed and the bacteria uses it instead(in addition to what they normally use), which leads to lots of waste and such from the bacteria, causing things like cramps, diarrhea, etc. Same thing happens with fructose if your body doesn't absorb it.

Honestly if you stick with a healthy vegetarian diet than you eat your belly full, and you'll keep a healthy weight. But I'm not a diet expert so I'm not capable of explaining the fine details of the how and why of the matter. I could ask around if you want, but if you're so confused about eating habits that you truly think that quantity is more important than quality, than I suggest you'll do some researching on your own.

I'm already intimately involved with nutrition and exercise due to my job(s) being very physically demanding and requiring a high level of physical fitness and health. Mind you, I never claimed curbing quantity over quality was an ideal way of losing weight, just that quantity was a bigger problem for Americans than quality(which is still a problem, but quantity is a larger and easier issue to tackle, imo). An ideal diet would have control of both quantity and quality.

 

[James Crook]

Welp, I got a bleedin' 78/100, and I'm not even entirely white. Didn't even check the "elite" college checkbox. I didn't know if I shouldn't have checked the mental disabilities box, because I have a bit of OCD.
Also, I got 50/100 on the "How White Are You" Quiz, which sounds about right.

I'll raise more criticism to this test, as it doesn't seem to account for expatriation (you as a kid joining your parents who work overseas) or even living in a country where higher education is free -- such is the case of France, where I live, and where even the most elite schools like the École Polytechnique are free, even if the entrance exams are pretty damn tough.

 

[DrOswald]

47, not privileged at all. Which is a real surprise since I am a white heterosexual christian male. Guess being fat and poor really makes up for a lot.

 

[Pseudonym]

75/100

You?re among the most privileged people in the world. We don?t live in an ideal world, but you happened to be born into an ideal lot. This is not a bad thing, nor is it something to be ashamed of. It just means a lot of other people in the world don?t live life with the advantages you have, and that?s something you should always be aware of. Hey, the fact that you took the time and effort to check your privilege means that you?re already trying.

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me much. I expected a much higher score. Being a white, non-religious, intelligent european with fairly rich parents life has been pretty good so far with only minor hick-ups here and there. Like some other people mentioned the questionairre has some odd questions. It also seems to give low scores rather easily. I mean if people in this thread have gotten scores under 20 while living in the first world that seems kind of odd. I know we have enough problems here that need fixing but it still hardly compares to being a female rape victim in pakistan or being a person in a north-korean concentration camp. I already feel some 30 points of privilege should be awarded for not being those people even if you do have your own problem.

"The religion part was tricky since I'm agnostic but everyone tends to immediately assume I'm a Devil worshiper which has lead to all kinds of unpleasantness."

I find the assumption that you are evil just because you believe or disbelieve or doubt something not very tricky. That just sounds like outright bigotry to me. I'm glad you didn't experience it as much of a problem but it is bigotry nonetheless.

 

[Crystalite]

Well, I have had random-ass, badly thought out "quizzes" not apply to me because I'm not american, so...

But seriously. Many of the money questions aren't an issue where I live, because we have healthcare. Also we don't have tuition for college (well, as good as none, anyway). Same goes for the language questions. Obviously I have never been called a dyke, because hey, english word.
And then some questions... "Are your parents heterosexual"? Like how the frig would I know that?
They're of opposite genders, but at what point do you sit your child down and tell them "oh yes, I'm married to your mother, but I totally like dudes as well." Does that ever happen?

I dunno, so much of this is just silly.
And thats not even considering that putting a numerical value to an abstract concept like this is ridiculous.

 

[Apollo45]

49/100. Not privileged, apparently, despite being a straight white male in a middle class, accepting family. I'm pretty sure this quiz is shit.

 

[Akisa]

I'm 78/100 although I guess I could say 77/100 because I answered I don't know what salle may, I knew what it was, but I never felt the need for it.

 

[Pogilrup]

This quiz is too binary.

I've never been bullied for being gay, but I have been bullied due to rumors of me being gay.

Not to mention some of the questions should be N/A such as the ones involving relationships due to me never having a relationship closer than classmate.

Heck, the use of a simple checklist will not suffice. In fact, I once jokingly proposed the idea of measuring social privilege as a machine learning problem in my classes.

My hypothesis is that social privilege is best measured by a general likelihood of discrimination that is a probability value between 0 and 1.

 

[EvilRoy]

The stuff you mention about bacteria in your digestive tract gives food for thought. But isn't whatever passes to your digestive tract supposed to still have some nutritious value? Those bacteria aren't there for no reason, and they do need to be fed.

The best way I can explain it is that pointing out that it's basically the same thing as lactose intolerance, but for fructose. All the discomfort and digestive problems a lactose intolerant person experiences is because the lactose doesn't get absorbed and the bacteria uses it instead(in addition to what they normally use), which leads to lots of waste and such from the bacteria, causing things like cramps, diarrhea, etc. Same thing happens with fructose if your body doesn't absorb it.

Honestly if you stick with a healthy vegetarian diet than you eat your belly full, and you'll keep a healthy weight. But I'm not a diet expert so I'm not capable of explaining the fine details of the how and why of the matter. I could ask around if you want, but if you're so confused about eating habits that you truly think that quantity is more important than quality, than I suggest you'll do some researching on your own.

I'm already intimately involved with nutrition and exercise due to my job(s) being very physically demanding and requiring a high level of physical fitness and health. Mind you, I never claimed curbing quantity over quality was an ideal way of losing weight, just that quantity was a bigger problem for Americans than quality(which is still a problem, but quantity is a larger and easier issue to tackle, imo). An ideal diet would have control of both quantity and quality.

Just to put in as a north american who's done the whole diet thing - the quantity/quality deal isn't as easily separable as one would think, at least as far as a lot of food here goes.

What I noticed was that the lowest quality food (read: cheapest) was by far the most calorie dense and simultaneously the least filling. So if you're poor or cheap you get into a nasty situation where the only food you can buy is really high in calories, doesn't fill you up, and doesn't give you an allotment of your vitamins and minerals and whatnot. So as a result, you want to eat more because you aren't full (small portions, high in calories) and you have cravings for certain foods even after you're finally full (vitamin/mineral deficiency), despite the fact that the first serving did you for the required calories for that meal.

The biggest stride in my weight loss came from convincing myself that it is OK to spend more than $2 per meal. Making myself a salad roughly the size of the standard amount of microwaved pasta I would previously consume for supper made me feel as though I had eaten a four course meal by the end, at around half of the calories.

Oh, OT:

Trailer park youth makes me question my high level of privilege, but I suppose the combination of health care, white and male counts for a lot.

 

[Something Amyss]

Hmmm, guess it's because women aren't less privileged then men where I am.

Two seconds on the internet and I know that's untrue.

But besides that, you jumped immediately to FEMINISTS! when there were no grounds to. Hell, given where you're from I'm going out on a limb and saying being white doesn't particularly reap you privilege, but you didn't blame black people for staging this list.

 

[ShakerSilver]

I somehow got 76. Despite the fact that I'm of a racial minority in the area I live in, despite being very far behind on student loans, and despite the fact that I work a dead-end job at a fast food place and have little money to my name. Apparently being secure about my religious beliefs and sexuality is enough to put me really high up in terms of privilege.

Something tells me this test is bull.

 

[Vault101]

Females are encouraged to be employed in "male dominated workforces".. this isn't the other way around

usually because the numbers are tiny...why is this? many people sepculate...lack of interest? lack of encouragment at earlyer levels? being generally off putting?...for example its no secret the tech industry is full of sexism. They are also certainly not encouraged to go into trades which is definetly a sausage fest


[quote/]Females have rape counsellors medical facilities dedicated to the treatment of rape, men do not..
Majority of homeless are male, the vast majority...[/quote]

that does not cancel out sexism...sexism does not cancel out that

 

[Shuu]

I got a 62, which, since it's not a flat zero, according to the rules of the internet, means I am not allowed to complain about anything, ever I guess.
Ha! Try and stop me, MAKING A LIVING IS HARD MAN!!

 

[Pogilrup]

Ok being semi-serious here.

Do any of you think that, while this quiz is flawed in its calculations, there exists a function that can take a person's sex, gender, race, nationality, religion,and other demographics, as input and outputs a probability value representing the likelihood of a person being systematically discriminated?

 

[scorptatious]

61/100

I really can't say I'm surprised. I've been pretty sheltered as a kid to be honest.

 

[Xdeser2]

71 out of 100

You're quite privileged. You've had a few struggles, but overall your life has been far easier than most. This is not a bad thing, nor is it something to be ashamed of. But you should be aware of your advantages and work to help others who don't have them. Thank you for checking your privilege.

Yup, pretty much how I already feel lol

 

[Paradoxrifts]

I checked my privilege once. It didn't have an expiry date on it, so I left in my fridge in the dairy section right by the milk.