Ivan De Los Santos

Prof. Hollis Glaser

GWS 100-1300

Discussion 4

In what ways do you experience privilege?

My understanding of this article was that even the littlest things in this world could be seen as a  privilege, such as having water and light and having things that most countries people don’t have. Before reading this article, I defined privilege as everything given to you, and I’ve always put privilege and spoiled in the same category. Still, when I heard Mcintosh’s definition, it transformed by definition by her saying privilege is what people work hard for and the benefits you get from it.

 In my life, I have been very privileged with the way I grew up. I grew up in America. Yes, in the beginning, we didn’t have much money. Still, my mother made it our mission for me never to feel like that, so in a way, I was privileged enough to be able to have somebody in my life that worked so hard for me not to be able to see how bad life was but also in America being able to have free education and accessible mode of trial because when I am in my home country, I see the difficulties people go through every day, for example, a lot of people in the Dominican Republic do not have light or Wi-Fi. I always take advantage of Wi-Fi, but this article has opened my eyes to say that I should be grateful to have Wi-Fi because many people don’t have that pleasure.

In what ways do you experience oppression?

If I’m completely honest, I’ve never experienced oppression, and there is one reason for this. When I was growing up, My routine was to go to school, and back home, I never really was outside, so the experiences that other people wanted were the same.

 How does watching this video and doing the readings help you define the concepts of privilege and oppression, and what are your current definitions?

In Mcintosh’s words, privilege is referred to advantages somebody has regarding religion, ethnicity, and location. “People without this skin tone are consequently viewed differently because it is not the dominant “skin tone.”  for example, privileges are based on the color of your skin, so if you have lighter skin, you have more privilege than somebody who has darker skin.

These videos and readings gave me a different viewpoint than I thought before these videos and readings. They have shifted my definition of privilege, and my impression of my current definition of privilege is still being determined. It says that sometimes it could be based on how you look. Also, when it comes to oppression, I didn’t have any experience with that topic, So reading the article made me see it from her experiences.