Sunday, May 08, 2011

Jewel Woods - a black male feminist with a checklist

You might have seen the privilege checklists that do the rounds on the internet. They're long and usually incoherent lists of how men or whites are privileged compared to others. But some progressives take them very seriously.

What is the latest checklist? It's a 93 point list on black male privilege, written by a black male feminist called Jewel Woods (hat tip Elusive Wapiti).

It's refreshing, as a white male, not to be the target of the latest list. And the list does us all a service by damaging the credibility of such privilege checklists, as well as the political mindset behind them. Just look at some of the evidence Jewel Woods gives for being privileged as a black man relative to black women:

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.
What exactly are black men supposed to do about this? It comes across as a whinge about the nature of reality.

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

Again, the average black man has little control over any of this. It's part of a social or natural reality. And yet it's being thrown at them as a privilege checklist.

36. Many of my favorite movies include images of strength that do not include members of the opposite sex and often are based on violence.

37. Many of my favorite genres of films, such as martial arts, are based on violence.

OK, so many men like action films with male protagonists. And?

41. I can believe that the success of the black family is dependent on returning men to their historical place within the family, rather than in promoting policies that strengthen black women's independence, or that provide social benefits to black children.

42. I have the privilege of believing that a woman cannot raise a son to be a man.

What can I say? He doesn't want men to return to the family as husbands and fathers. He wants black women to be even more autonomous through larger amounts of state funding. And if black men themselves believe otherwise then that's supposed to be more evidence that they are guilty of "privilege".

It just goes to show how these checklists are designed to badger/guilt trip people into following a left-wing politics. Think about it, he believes that black men will prove themselves committed to equality only if they endorse fatherless families, i.e. only if they believe that they are unnecessary in the lives of their own children.

50. In school, girls are cheerleaders for male athletes, but there is no such role for males to cheerlead for women athletes.

59. I am able to play sports outside without my shirt on and it not be considered a problem.

60. I am essentially able to do anything inside or outside without my shirt on, whereas women are always required to cover up.

So the sexes aren't interchangeable. The male chest doesn't have the same sexual connotations as the female one. Again, this is a complaint about the nature of reality.

66. In college, I will have the opportunity to date outside of the race at a much higher rate than black women will.

68. I know that the further I go in education the more success I will have with women.

70. By the time I enter college, and even through college, I have the privilege of not having to worry whether I will be able to marry a black woman.

71. In college, I will experience a level of status and prestige that is not offered to black women even though black women may outnumber me and out perform me academically.

So black women enter college in much larger numbers than black men, giving black men in college a dating advantage, and this is considered to be evidence of black male privilege? Why isn't it evidence that black men are less privileged than women when it comes to college admissions?

74. I can choose to be emotionally withdrawn and not communicate in a relationship and it be considered unfortunate but normal.

76. I have the privilege of not knowing what words and concepts like patriarchy, phallocentric, complicity, colluding, and obfuscation mean.
Right, so it's now considered a political offense to be emotionally withdrawn or to be unfamiliar with technical terms within feminist discourse. These checklists become longer and more demanding with each passing year.
77. I have the privilege of marrying outside of the race at a much higher rate than black women marry.

Truly incoherent. According to point 41 black men are privileged because they believe they are necessary to the black family. But in point 77 they are considered privileged for marrying out. So they are damned either way.

I won't go on further. I'll just draw the obvious conclusion. Why would anyone want to be male feminist? Would you really want to inhabit the mental space of Jewel Woods, who believes he is privileged because he doesn't have to care as much about hair care as his female peers?

Was progressive politics ever more stultifying, or as intrusive, as this?

8 comments:

  1. 70. By the time I enter college, and even through college, I have the privilege of not having to worry whether I will be able to marry a black woman.

    Sooooo...black women have to worry about having to marry black men...time to eliminate shotgun weddings on campus? Is this dude hooked on ebonics, or is it a just a black thing my cracker mind can't understand? The political is personal all right. Also incomprehensible.

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  2. The situation of the African-American family is devastating. The family unit is nearly destroyed and only the state supports them by a thread. They have divorces, illegitimacy, abortions, single mothers, promiscuity, homosexuality, feminism and other ills. When BRA (Black Run America) falls apart in a few years (a decade? two decades?) due to the debt crisis in the USA the nearly complete African-American family breakdown in combination with the low IQ's will turn into an ever-dire nightmare.

    See this to get a glimpse of the future --- stuffblackpeopledontlike.blogspot.com/2010/08/this-is-how-bra-ends-reflection-on.html

    Stay away from cities, urban areas and anyplace with fatal minority population or liberal populations in USA and Europe.

    If you are a black man btw there are still some decent African women in Africa so go there.

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  3. "Why would anyone want to be male feminist?"

    The short answer is to get into the pants of lefty women. This is all the more easier where I live what with the Slutwalk and all.

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  4. "girls are cheerleaders for male athletes, but there is no such role for males to cheerlead for women athletes"


    "I am able to play sports outside without my shirt on and it not be considered a problem. "

    A coach got fired because boy athletes were playing "topless" and that made the girl athletes uncomfortable.

    http://falserapesociety.blogspot.com/2011/05/off-topic-boys-track-coach-fired-after.html

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  5. OT Mark take a look at this op-ed from a lefty in the Oz. Quite interesting liberal-leftist exploration of modern leftism.

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/nihilist-left-brings-progressives-into-disrepute/story-e6frg6ux-1226052840362

    "Why would anyone want to be male feminist?"

    Because men who don't know what women are like try to get women attracted to them by genuinely taking on their ideas.

    The other big Femimale creator is the influence of an academic authority figure. Male student brains see someone making lots of money in a position of authority and take on their ideas to do likewise.

    Rarely if ever do they find out that the academic in question has been divorced four times and eats baked beans for tea.

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  6. I get the impression that many men today don't really understand why it's okay for men to work without shirts, but not women.

    Evil Sexism? No, women wanted it that way. Women demanded laws which recognize their bodies as special things.To touch anyone without permission is simple assault. Women demanded laws which make it sexual assault to touch certain body parts on women, with jail and sex offender registry for life, etc.

    Not men. Women.

    Women themselves then agreed that since to touch those female parts was a special offense, women should keep those body parts covered up.

    Now,we are told to expect women to keep those body parts covered up is part of the evil patriarchy.

    The first time a man runs, sobbing his heart out, into a police station demanding a woman be jailed and put on the offendor's registry for touching his breasts,then it will be time for men to put on their shirts.

    Anonymous age 69

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  7. The tone with which you have addressed Jewel Woods' checklist is a prime example of why the original checklist was created. You discount everything being said without taking the time to educate yourself on the references made in Mr. Woods checklist because white male privilege has blinded you to the fact that there are people in the world whose experiences are valid and different from your own. It is obvious from this blog post that you have taken no time at all to research further the issues addressed in Mr.Woods' checklist, but rather have chosen to continue to abuse your white male privilege by rejecting something you do not understand. A huge symptom of all forms of privilege is being blinded by it, and sadly your critique of Mr. Woods' list is typical.

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    Replies
    1. Anon, I'm not sure you know how to think about things. First, the "tone" is irrelevant. It's the truth that matters. Second, I responded to Jewel Woods' checklist with a series of arguments that you could either show reason to agree or disagree with - I didn't simply "discount" it. Third, of course there are people whose experiences are different to my own. But that's not the point. What matters is whether the ideas they push ought to be accepted or not - in Jewel Woods' case the answer is no. Finally, your idea that you can dominate debate on your terms by throwing a concept of "white privilege" at me is both offensive and ludicrous.

      Anon, the way you think about things is wrong from the bottom up. You need a different approach to the way you attempt to intervene in issues like this.

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