Probably a very minor one really but in the theme of the right vs left handed comment before - early birds vs night owls.
I’m very much a night owl. Mornings are rough for me and I’m definitely not at my best or most productive. Yet society only realy caters for early birds. My job starts at 9:00 and ends at 17:30 - people who start earlier and finish earlier (like 7:30 - 16:00) are seen so much more positively than starting late and finishing late (like 10:30 - 19:00). And its common for important meetings to be front loaded in the day in the mornings, i dread and hate the 09:00 meeting with passion.
I constantly get comments when we are doing an on site go live event during breakfast that I look really tired or I’m not a morning person/haven’t had my coffee etc… yet calling out somebody who is tired, grumpy or flagging during dinner isn’t socially acceptable.
And the fact that night time is seen as sacred quiet time (more an issue when I was growing up) but early morning isn’t. People go to bed at 9 and I remain quiet and respectful of people trying to go to bed. But 8 am? Time to crash about the house, mow the garden, talk loudly etc. with no real respect for those still asleep.
Society sees night owls as lazy and societal norms are’t built for us.
There was a post in here a month ago, something along the lines of: “Morning People Monopolised Work”. And the reply that stuck with me the most was: “Night People Monopolised Fun”. So no real winners, I would say.
Introverts too. They always want team building to get us out of our shell. Why do they have the right to my energy just because they cannot sit for more than 30 seconds in cognitive silence without having a seizure. Who is really the one with the problem there?
The privilege of “normalcy”.
When you are in a position where you are the norm in all your visible social circles. you have a unique privilege of security and acceptance. Everything is built around you. Caters to you. Is aimed for your approval.
In North America this means being white and male, with a comfortably upper middle class income. That is the norm. (Note: “normal” doesn’t mean “most common”.) If you’re in this norm, the fact that television beat cops live in apartments that are positively CAVERNOUS doesn’t register on you. Of course they do. That’s “normal”. Ads are directed toward your tastes. Even ads for women’s products. (Do you think pads are stained blue in ads for women’s delicate sensibilities? You know, the women who see the actual colour with monotonous regularity?) It is so normal that any attempt to even reflect the actual demographics of the world you inhabit feels like something being “forced” upon you.
In China this means being Han. (It’s a toss-up if Han-male or Han-female is the norm. This goes back and forth.) If you’re Hui or Gan or Yi or Dani or whatever, you’re the odd one out. You’re the one valued for the “diversity” you bring within very narrowly circumscribed bubbles. Otherwise literally everything around you is Han. Han stars. Han models. Han culture dominates everything outside of your very narrow “autonomous regions”. And if you poke your head outside those “autonomous regions” you’re the centre of attention. Not even hostile attention. Just … you’re the odd one out. All eyes are on you as a result.
In terms of rarely acknowledged, even in spaces and among groups where discussion of privilege does take place? Right-handed privilege. So many little things in society are set up for right handers in ways that they would not even think about. Scissors and serrated knives will cut awkwardly. Lecture desks can be physically uncomfortable to use (I’ve even seen suggestions that this can lead to chronic injuries later in life, though cannot substantiate that). Even our writing system makes using a pen or pencil much harder for lefties, resulting in the physically-awkward adaptation known as “hook grip” (especially if they do not have teachers who can relate to their experience and guide them through it). As recently as Gen X at least, it was not uncommon for lefties to be beaten to be forced to write right-handed.
It’s obviously insignificant compared to cishet white male privilege, but those definitely do get acknowledged so I figured that’s not what the question is asking. I also think it can be very worth exploring these lesser-known privileges, even if they are lesser in significance as well, because they can provide a lens through which to teach people about privilege that is more removed from politicisation, and can help them accept the idea of privilege as a problem. (That’s what this article did, to great effect IMO.)
Yeah my wife is a leftie and mouse and keyboard setups are a pain in the ass for her. Mid range mice with modern features like back buttons are a pain in the ass to find in ambidextrous or left handed variants. She also has to remap her keyboard for video games.
There’s also shit like the booth-elbow problem, but thankfully I had a left handed parent so I know to make a point to sit to her right.
Like many lefties inevitably do, I grew up some combination of cross dominant and ambidextrous. Mouse and keyboard was one thing I did right-handed. And I am so thankful for that, because as you say, it is one of the harder things to accommodate.
Very true. Just thought I’d mention: the Hebrew writing system is right-to-left, and so is Arabic. Thus the lefties actually have the privilege in that particular instance. I don’t remember anyone teaching me how to hold a pen though.
Traditional Chinese writing is top to bottom, right to left, but doesn’t favour either hand particularly because the brushing technique involves your hand being way above the paper. :D
thanks for your comment NeatNit! Unfortunately this community is women-only, and has a rule that only women are permitted to comment or post, so please do not comment further. Hope you understand, thank you! 💛
Scissors with symmetrical handles are better and easier to use, than those with asymmetrical, desiged for right handed people. I am right handed.
Scissors seems targeted. They don’t need to be unusable for left handed people. But scissor companies have chosen a design that is more expensive to manufacture, and less comfortable for everyone just to torture left handed people.
Fwiw there’s more than just the shape of the handle. I don’t fully know why, but even basic symmetrical scissors are worse in the left hand than the right. I believe it has something to do with the slight sideways pressure you inevitably apply when using them, and the direction that pressure is being applied relative to how the two blades are configured.
Absolutely the positioning of the blades is right-favouring. Take any normal pair of “symmetrical” scissors as an exercise and try to cut through a stack of 20 sheets of paper. Note that the scissors twist in your hand. And they happen to twist in the direction that a right-hander finds easiest to control.
I’d say privilege is rarely acknowledged in general. Until BLM I don’t think many were aware how common racism is. I meet few men that see what women go through, and what an at risk group we are. People think homophonia rarely happens and don’t realise how adverts, policies etc are institutionally homophobic. It all kinda bewilders me, and i find a disappointing amount of straight white men just don’t see it even when taught to.
When people only face one type of oppression (i.e. gender, race, sexuality, class) they will side with their privilege (i.e. male, white, straight, owner)
When faced with more levels of oppression people tend to start being more awake to systemic injustices and aware that privilege exists.
People also don’t appreciate intersectionality. Like a gay, black woman doesn’t just have to navigate the same issues as a gay person, a black person and a woman but also has to navigate issues specific to being a gay woman, a black woman and being black & gay. Its a cumulative thing that those from more privileged or common positions don’t get those other interplays and combinations and the additional complexity that adds to that person’s life.
Privilege is invisible to people who live in it - it’s just their life… you are experiencing privilege right now - you have a computing device with (relatively) unfettered access to the internet, and the free time to use it… here.
It’s easy to judge other people for their own privileges which they are blind to. After all, their life is not your life, you can look into it from the outside, examine it as if looking at a photograph - frozen, flat, framed, out of context.
The privilege least often acknowledged is your own.
