Checking Check Your Privilege, Revisited

Privilege is treated as a modern political concept learned through classroom discussions and critiques focused on gender and whiteness rather than personal wrongdoing. A fallacy is identified in using someone’s membership in a privileged class as grounds for rejecting their claims. A phrase emerged to remind speakers that they are speaking from a position of privilege, such as being male or straight. The phrase is often directed at traditional privileged groups but can also be used across oppressed groups to emphasize that different groups experience oppression differently. Some people object to the phrase because it can sound hostile and dismissive, even when the underlying reminder is meant to be corrective.

"I was generally sympathetic to most criticisms of privilege, but I recognized that it is a fallacy to use a person's membership in a privileged class as grounds for rejecting their claims. Back then, there was no handy phrase to check a member of a privileged class. Fortunately (or unfortunately) such a phrase emerged: check your privilege! Thanks to the victory of the right, this phrase is used less often these days."

"The original intent of the phrase was to remind someone making a claim on a political (or moral) issue that they are speaking from a position of privilege, such as being a male or straight. While it is most used against members of the traditional privileged classes (males, whites, the wealthy, etc.) it can also be employed against people of classes that are either privileged relative to the classes they are commenting on or in a different non-privileged class."

"For example, a Latina might be told to check her privilege for making a remark about black women. In this case, the idea is to remind the transgressors that different oppressed groups experience their oppression differently. As might be imagined, some take issue with being told to check their privilege."

"In some cases, this can be mere annoyance with the phrase. This annoyance can have some foundation, given that the phrase can have a hostile connotation, and it can seem like a dismissive reply."

Read at aphilosopher.drmcl.com