Black Male Privilege Is Real …

The Black Male Privileges Checklist by Mr. Jewel Woods
Leadership & Politics

1. I don’t have to choose my race over my sex in political matters.
2. When I read African American History textbooks, I will learn mainly about black men.
3. When I learn about the Civil Rights Movement & the Black Power Movements, most of the leaders that I will learn about will be black men.
4. I can rely on the fact that in the near 100-year history of national civil rights organizations such as the NAACP and the Urban League, virtually all of the executive directors have been male.
5. I will be taken more seriously as a political leader than black women.
6. Despite the substantial role that black women played in the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power Movement, currently there is no black female that is considered a “race leader”.
7. I can live my life without ever having read black feminist authors, or knowing about black women’s history, or black women’s issues.
8. I can be a part of a black liberation organization like the Black Panther Party where an “out” rapist Eldridge Cleaver can assume leadership position.
9. I will make more money than black women at equal levels of education and occupation.
10. Most of the national “opinion framers” in Black America including talk show hosts and politicians are men.

Beauty
11. I have the ability to define black women’s beauty by European standards in terms of skin tone, hair, and body size. In comparison, black women rarely define me by European standards of beauty in terms of skin tone, hair, or body size.
12. I do not have to worry about the daily hassles of having my hair conforming to any standard image of beauty the way black women do.
13. I do not have to worry about the daily hassles of being terrorized by the fear of gaining weight. In fact, in many instances bigger is better for my sex.
14. My looks will not be the central standard by which my worth is valued by members of the opposite sex.

Sex & Sexuality
15. I can purchase pornography that typically shows men defile women by the common practice of the “money shot.”
16. I can believe that causing pain during sex is connected with a woman’s pleasure without ever asking her.
17. I have the privilege of not wanting to be a virgin, but preferring that my wife or significant other be a virgin.
18. When it comes to sex if I say “No”, chances are that it will not be mistaken for “Yes”.
19. If I am raped, no one will assume that “I should have known better” or suggest that my being raped had something to do with how I was dressed.
20. I can use sexist language like bonin’, laying the pipe, hittin-it, and banging that convey images of sexual acts based on dominance and performance.
21. I can live in a world where polygamy is still an option for men in the United States as well as around the world.
22. In general, I prefer being involved with younger women socially and sexually
23. In general, the more sexual partners that I have the more stature I receive among my peers.
24. I have easy access to pornography that involves virtually any category of sex where men degrade women, often young women.
25. I have the privilege of being a part of a sex where “purity balls” apply to girls but not to boys.
26. When I consume pornography, I can gain pleasure from images and sounds of men causing women pain.

View the entire article and checklist at: http://jewelwoods.com/node/9

Rest In Power Trayvon Martin

Remembering Trayvon Martin

By: Anti-Intellect 2/26/2013

             In remembering Trayvon Martin, I can’t help but look at his tragic and untimely death in a larger social context. It can almost be said with certainty that Trayvon Martin would still be alive today if the gender of his killer were different. Simply put, there are no widespread cases of women gunning down other people. The murder of Trayvon Martin is a feminist issue. It is my hope that his death will become a catalyst for further contemplation of both race and gender relations. There is something terribly wrong with the way that we socialize me in this world. That gun violence has almost become synonymous with maleness is something that deeply disturbs me as a feminist man. George Zimmerman did not just attack and kill Trayvon on that fateful night simply because he was Black. Both Trayvon and Zimmerman’s gender played a significant role in how things played out. Patriarchy is a social system that privileges men over women, but it also privileges stronger men over weaker men. That night, with that gun, George Zimmerman was the more powerful man, and he knew it. In honoring the life of Trayvon Martin, I will continue to use my voice as a Black male feminist to critically examine our notions of gender. It is the least that I could do for him. Rest in power Trayvon Martin.

 

Demetrius Martin cries as he remembers his brother, Trayvon Martin, during the ‘March for Peace’ at Ives Estate Park in honor of the late Trayvon Martin on February 9, 2013 in Miami, Florida. Martin was killed by George Zimmerman on February 26, 2012 while Zimmerman was on neighborhood watch patrol in the gated community of The Retreat at Twin Lakes in Sanford, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)