Ok. Though in thinking about how to respond to your comment, I realized that there's a lack of clarity in what you're saying. As in, I don't know how to accurately interpret your comment. Notably, the words "decide" and "have" are fairly ambiguous in what they mean in this context.
Do I interpret your comment as meaning that you believe trans women possess a capability of choosing whether or not society bestows the benefits of privilege on them? If so, no, I don't agree with that at all. The benefits of privilege, as explained in the article, come from how *other people* treat members of a privileged class. The privileged person themselves is not involved in that; they simply receive whatever benefits they're given.
Do I interpret your comment as meaning that trans women are somehow in a position of controlling how the benefits of male privilege are distributed? That is, who gets them and who doesn't? I don't *think* this is what you're saying, but it's a plausible interpretation. Again, I would disagree that trans women have any kind of power over the distribution of male privilege.
Or (as I think is most likely), do I interpret your comment as meaning that you believe trans women can't or shouldn't be the ones to assess whether they receive the benefits of male privilege? If so, I also disagree with that. Firstly, there's nothing stopping anyone--of any gender identity or gender expression--from exercising a little bit of perspective about their lives and assessing whether their experiences in certain situations have been more beneficial than other people's for reasons best explained by privilege. There's nothing special about viewing one's life in that way, and trans women should be as capable of that as anybody else.
Secondly, I'd argue that trans women are the only ones who can actually make this assessment. The dichotomy the article points out is that a) when people assert that "trans women have male privilege" they are inevitably assuming that the *experience* of that privilege is identical to the experience cis men have, while b) the actual experience trans women have is vastly different on account of the dysphoria cost we pay while presenting male.
These are very different experiences, and trans women are the only ones in a position to evaluate this difference because we're the ones who suffer from gender dysphoria *and* sometimes receive the benefits of male privilege. As such, we're the only ones who are in any position to assess how the benefits of male privilege compare with the cost of gender dysphoria. We're the only ones who are able to recognize just exactly how much shittier of a deal male privilege dynamics are for us than for cis men.
Either way, thank you for your comment. It's thought provoking, and I appreciate that. If I have somehow not read the tea leaves correctly on what you were trying to assert, please feel free to rephrase in a less ambiguous way.
I feel like it’s not for trans women to decide whether or not they have male privilege. Just like men can’t decide if there is a patriarchy
Ok. Though in thinking about how to respond to your comment, I realized that there's a lack of clarity in what you're saying. As in, I don't know how to accurately interpret your comment. Notably, the words "decide" and "have" are fairly ambiguous in what they mean in this context.
Do I interpret your comment as meaning that you believe trans women possess a capability of choosing whether or not society bestows the benefits of privilege on them? If so, no, I don't agree with that at all. The benefits of privilege, as explained in the article, come from how *other people* treat members of a privileged class. The privileged person themselves is not involved in that; they simply receive whatever benefits they're given.
Do I interpret your comment as meaning that trans women are somehow in a position of controlling how the benefits of male privilege are distributed? That is, who gets them and who doesn't? I don't *think* this is what you're saying, but it's a plausible interpretation. Again, I would disagree that trans women have any kind of power over the distribution of male privilege.
Or (as I think is most likely), do I interpret your comment as meaning that you believe trans women can't or shouldn't be the ones to assess whether they receive the benefits of male privilege? If so, I also disagree with that. Firstly, there's nothing stopping anyone--of any gender identity or gender expression--from exercising a little bit of perspective about their lives and assessing whether their experiences in certain situations have been more beneficial than other people's for reasons best explained by privilege. There's nothing special about viewing one's life in that way, and trans women should be as capable of that as anybody else.
Secondly, I'd argue that trans women are the only ones who can actually make this assessment. The dichotomy the article points out is that a) when people assert that "trans women have male privilege" they are inevitably assuming that the *experience* of that privilege is identical to the experience cis men have, while b) the actual experience trans women have is vastly different on account of the dysphoria cost we pay while presenting male.
These are very different experiences, and trans women are the only ones in a position to evaluate this difference because we're the ones who suffer from gender dysphoria *and* sometimes receive the benefits of male privilege. As such, we're the only ones who are in any position to assess how the benefits of male privilege compare with the cost of gender dysphoria. We're the only ones who are able to recognize just exactly how much shittier of a deal male privilege dynamics are for us than for cis men.
Either way, thank you for your comment. It's thought provoking, and I appreciate that. If I have somehow not read the tea leaves correctly on what you were trying to assert, please feel free to rephrase in a less ambiguous way.