Using Privilege

By Mollie Semple

I am a person of extreme privilege. I was born into a comfortable life and it has stayed comfortable the entire time. On a basic social level my privileges include being white, middle class and educated. One might say that being a woman exposes me to a degree of systematic oppression, prejudice and discrimination but truthfully I have never had to properly deal with that. Not yet, anyway. Because the colour of my skin, my background, my well spoken accent, my education mean that if any discrimination comes my way I have the tools and the platform with which to point it out and diminish its effect on my life. Also, it just doesn’t come my way very often.

Okay, sure, like every woman I have been sexually harassed at some point or another and that is not something I want to diminish because it’s weird that I even normalise every day harassment but I am lucky that that is pretty much all I have had to deal with. I have female friends who have been abused and attacked in ways that have caused them life-long trauma. The way we view all women and the violence against them has to fundamentally change, but that is not what I am discussing today.

When I look at the list of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals all my privilege becomes glaringly obvious. Even down to the climate change I am in a position to make more lifestyle changes more easily than others. At the same time, I am probably part of the demographic that causes the most environmental damage. My parents re-built our house and installed a heating system called a Ground Source Heat Pump in order to be much more eco-friendly. That in itself is a privilege not everyone can afford.

Some of the SDG’s are so far away from my comfortable life that I can barely imagine them. I do not know what it is like to not have access to clean water at all times. I do not know what it is like to face starvation. I live in a country where quality education is not only free but a requisite for our childhood. I do not know what it is like to live in extreme poverty and I most likely never will.

I am not pointing all of this out to brag but to display the horrifying disparity between my life and so many others. And I am going to point out one other privilege: that I have been able to learn and evolve and use my privileges for good.

It is not really useful to feel guilty about one’s privilege but to feel guilty about doing nothing with it. I have money and clothes and toys and household items that I can donate to those in need, but I also have a voice and a platform that I can use to enable other’s voices to be heard so that their needs are put into the forefront.

As a person of extreme privilege it is up to me to listen to the voices that need to be heard and do something about it. Whether that be understanding my white privilege and making active choices in my life to be anti-racist, rather than silently non-racist. Whether that be pulling others up and using my privilege to level the playing field rather than enjoying it all for myself. Whether that be speaking up when I need to, and shutting up when someone else’s voice is more important and better informed than my own. Whether that be creating space for those who don’t have any.

Let me make this clear: having privilege has nothing to do with the overall human condition of suffering. I still experience grief, heartbreak, and loss. I have experienced mental illness and physical illness that have changed my life. I will go through more pain throughout my life just like any other human. We all have that capability. But, there are other aspects of my life that others should have and don’t because of systematic oppression, inequality and injustice and that is what has to change. Even down to the point of being privileged enough to seek help when I have been unwell and needed support, so few people have that. These are the things that need to change.

Some people are going to have more money than others, or more ‘luck’ than others, but everyone should be given the equal opportunity to succeed and live well and that simply does not exist right now. It is up to people like me to learn and listen and make better choices to help our world move in a better direction and to sure a better, more sustainable future for all.