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Peggy Mcinntosh Language Analysis

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“My skin color was an asset for any move I was educated to want to make”(Mcintosh 1). A quote from Peggy McIntosh’s essay shows how the way we are treated in our societies has a direct impact on the way we perform in that society. The essay caused me to think deeply about myself and how I truly am privileged to be white; although we may not notice it there are millions of privileges linked to our skin colour. Upon finishing the reading I was questioning not only white privilege but also things like racism and what I myself could do to help people of other ethnicity’s not feel underprivileged. To begin, Peggy McIntosh mentions in her essay the fact that men have privilege over women causing women disadvantages in the same way whites have power …show more content…

I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me”(McIntosh 2) I myself also agree with this statement due to the color of my skin. When my mom was growing up she was adopted into a family to which one side was of African ancestry I call them my cousins and to think they do not feel protected or have some of the same “Human” rights as me is saddening. Peggy Macintosh made an observation about the fact that we all need to realize that we have privilege. Since these privileges were just passed on and or learned as assumptions, we don’t realize that our skin colour does play a role in our daily lives. This is fairly similar to one of the theories of what causes prejudice and discrimination; the learned theory. It states that our families, friends even media all have influence that is continuously passed down through generations with negative views of race that we don’t even realize. So not only is our hidden bias passed down and taught to us but also our own privileges are just assumed since we learned from our ancestors. For example, I never had to fear as though I would be accused for stealing or followed around a store because of the color of my skin because my mother never did. The conflict theory can also be seen in the struggle for privilege and power. McIntosh wrote at the beginning that men don’t want to admit to their higher status and the conflict between the two genders; just the same as whites don’t want to admit they have more privilege. The members of the disadvantaged will always be struggling to obtain more which will keep the whites in power. Could this be why no one is ready to admit they have

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