I did the privilege activity with my mom and sister this afternoon during dinner. Seeing as we didn't have a large amount of space to take steps forward and backward, I had them simply calculate their "steps" on their fingers, and I tallied it on the page. Although my sister didn't always take the activity very seriously, it was still extremely interesting to see how they reacted to this and hear some of their personal experiences I didn't even know about.
For the third question (If you were ever called names because of your race, class, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, take one step back.), both my sister and mother took a "step back." My mom told us about how, when she was a kid, children in her neighborhood would make fun of their Italian American peers, simply because of their ethnicity. She told us how her best friends Brenda and Julie were Irish, and Jeff was originally German, things about our current family friends I didn't know. It had never occurred to me to think of these people as their ethnicities, as some bullies at my mom's elementary school had thought of her. My sister also told a story in which she was called names last year in the PE locker rooms, because a boy presumed she was a lesbian. At the following question (If there are or were people of color who worked in your household as servants, gardeners, etc., take one step forward.), we all shared an unpleasant silence, because, in Hong Kong we had a Filipino "helper" that none of us felt comfortable with. But she came with my dad's job... as if she was a house or a television; it's always sickened me.
For the question "If you were brought to art galleries or plays by your parents, take one step forward," my mom mentioned how her parents weren't very cultured and plays didn't really seem like the type of thing they'd do. However, upon further reflection, she realized they had taken her to plays as a child. Similarly, my mother comment on the fact that even though she typically finds art galleries boring, she continued to take me to them when I was younger, because she was willing to make the sacrifice for me as I enjoyed it. And even if art galleries didn't excite my sister in the same way, my mom made the sacrifice for both my sister and me, because she knew it was good for us to be exposed to. As they both took a virtual step forward, I thought about those who don't have the money to go to art galleries and plays. Then I thought about those who don't have a parent who cares enough to give them these experiences, and I further realized how overprivileged I am.
For questions that mention "race, class, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation," my mom brought up the point that people that have had issues with ageism and prejudice against those who are heavier are excluded from those who must take a step back. She said that perhaps her answers would be a bit different if weight was included in these questions. A question like this was "If you have seen members of your race, ethnic group, gender, or sexual orientation portrayed on television in degrading roles, take one step back." Both put a finger down for their count: my sister mentioned women being shown and degrading roles, and my mom said the same goes for Italian Americans. At this, my sister began to recite a
Family Guy episode in which Italian Americans are mocked for the way they talk. She recounted how funny it had been, but decided that maybe it wasn't as funny as she had originally thought now that she realized how it may have upset her own mother to watch.
The question about being denied a job sparked stories by my mom and sister as well. My sister talked about how she was not allowed to join either baseball or wrestling as they were all boys sports. My mom told a story of one of her first interviews while student teaching in an attempt to get a job at a New York City school for the year after she graduated. The woman interviewing her told my mom that they had interviewed a man around the same age for the same job with the same qualifications, but they were more likely to give him the job because he of his gender. My mom did hear back from this school at all, as there are very few male teachers.
"If you were ever accused of cheating or lying because of your race, ethnic gropu, gender, or sexual orientation, take one step back" made my sister quickly ask, "What if its' the opposite?" She said that in the past teachers have said "Well, I trust you, girls, but..."when there have situations where students in her class have behaved less than ideal in the past. I think this is a perfect example of being overprivileged.
At the end, when we calculated the points (my mom had 7 and my sister had 5), my mother posed the question to us, "Do you think if you both grew up only in LA [where we had lived prior to moving to London the first time], you would have the same answers?"I then went through all the questions again and discovered that only two of my answers would likely have been different. The first referred to studying the culture of your ancestors in elementary school. At ASL, I learned about my culture in fourth grade when we did a project in which we calculated the fractions that make up our heritage. For example, I learned that I am 7/16ths Italian from my mom's side. Then in fifth grade, we studied Ellis Island. Had I stayed in the United States, I likely would not have learned specifically about my own ethnicity. However, I would definitely have learned largely about Caucasians.
The second question that would have had a different answer was about not being able to afford rent. After my dad was laid off in California, there is no way we would have been able to continue paying off our house unless my dad had found the job he did in London nearly a year and a half later. But he would have eventually found some work in America as he is a middle class white male, after all. What I gathered from exploring my mother's question was that even if I'd stayed in Los Angeles, I would still be just as privileged as I am now, because I am still a white kid in a middle class family with parents who take me to art galleries.
