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Male privilege refers to the social theory that men have unearned advantages or rights granted to them solely on the basis of their sex, but usually denied to women. In societies with male privilege, men are afforded social, economic, and political benefits because they are male. A man's access to male privilege varies depending on his other characteristics such as race, sexual orientation and social class.

Terminology

In legal cases alleging discrimination, "sex" is usually preferred as the determining factor rather than "gender", because it refers to biology rather than socially constructed norms which are more open to interpretation and dispute. Greenberg explains that although gender and sex are separate concepts, they are interlinked in that gender discrimination often results from stereotypes based on what is expected of members of each sex. In J.E.B. v. Alabama ex rel. T.B., Justice Scalia distinguished sex and gender

The word ‘gender’ has acquired the new and useful connotation of cultural or attitudinal characteristics (as opposed to physical characteristics) distinctive to the sexes. That is to say, gender is to sex as feminine is to female and masculine is to male.

Thus, biologically "male" privilege is only one of many power structures that may exist within a given society, and levels/manifestations of male privilege differ both between disparate societies as well as in different contexts within the same society. The term "male privilege" does not apply to a solitary occurrence of the use of power, but rather describes one of many systemic power structures that are interdependent and interlinked throughout societies and cultures.

Historical and cultural context

For much of history in Western societies, males have held social, legal, and cultural positions of dominance. This has included sole decision-making power for the family unit, employability, many types of legal recognition including the ability to own land, access to educational resources, membership in professional societies and, in countries which practice representative democracy, voting.

These patriarchal societies have often partitioned the differing types of labor essential to family continuity along gender lines. This division of labor has often been asserted to be a natural outcome of biological difference, or more recently, genetics or evolutionary pressure. Critics of this view maintain that differing gender roles are social constructions of the majority or dominant culture, and the result of men and women being nurtured and encouraged to take on socially-defined gender-appropriate roles and responsibilities. Broadly, these views can be seen as reflecting the long-standing historical and scientific debate over nature versus nurture.

These historical attitudes have often been portrayed as factual rather than assumptions based in tradition, and this has served to perpetuate certain biases against women. In Muller v. Oregon 208 U.S. 412 (1908), Brewer J. said:

"That woman's physical structure and the performance of maternal functions place her at a disadvantage in the struggle for subsistence is obvious. This is especially true when the burdens of motherhood are upon her. Even when they are not, by abundant testimony of the medical fraternity continuance for a long time on her feet at work, repeating this from day to day, tends to injurious effects upon the body, and as healthy mothers are essential to vigorous offspring, the physical well-being of woman becomes an object of public interest and care in order to preserve the strength and vigor of the race."

Sex- or gender-based differentiation manifests itself differently in different cultural contexts. For example, it is evidenced by the glass ceiling and the wage gap in Western cultures, genital mutilation, dowry-related violence in Asian cultures, and the sexually exploitative trafficking of women and young girls.

Compensating for male privilege

Compensation for male privilege takes place in a difficult and ever-changing territory. Most Western countries have enacted laws intended to mitigate the disparity between men and women.

The courts in many countries are male-dominated and as a result only the more obvious abuses of male privilege are subjected to effective scrutiny and remedial action.

The disparity between male and female rights in some countries makes murder or ritualised rape an acceptable male response to specified female behaviour and, often, similar male behaviour .

Male privilege in the U.S.

In Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Congress barred discrimination “...against any individual with respect to . . . terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of sex.” Blau and Ferber (1992 at p129) report that the female-to-male ratio of earnings of full-time employees was moderately stable at 60% for the first seventy years of the twentieth century. In 1992, earnings of women who worked full-time had risen to 72% of the average earned by men. The Federal Glass Ceiling Commission (1995) established by President Bush and Senator Dole found that women remained economically disadvantaged. Per the study, 97% of senior managers in Fortune 1000 corporations were males in 1992. Women held only 3 to 5% of senior level management positions. In 2005, women held 46.5% of U.S. jobs, and earned 72% of the salary of their male co-workers (The Economist July 21, 2005). Neumark et al. (1995) and other studies have found major continuing discrimination in recruitment practices, and in the professions, Wood, et al. (1993) found major disparities in pay for equal work. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (1995) similarly found that, within educational categories, the economic status of women fell short. The average woman with a masters degree earned the same amount as the average man with an associate degree.

The courts and Congress have permitted the use of statistical evidence where discrimination or "manifest imbalance" is alleged, to establish a prima facie case of unlawful discrimination. Such evidence then shifts the burden of proof to the employer to explain the disparity or otherwise demonstrate that the disparity is not the result of discrimination. Critics of this results based analysis claim that it equates equal opportunity with equal results. Similarly, Johnson v. Transportation Agency 480 U.S. 616 (1987), upheld a voluntary affirmative action plan to correct a "manifest imbalance" demonstrated by statistical evidence in the representation of minorities and women in traditionally segregated job categories. Such an affirmative plan is valid so long as it is temporary and does not unnecessarily restrict rights of male or non-minority employees or create an absolute barrier to their advancement. However, few plans have been adopted and the enforcement of anti-discrimination legislation to correct for male privilege generally is patchy.

Lugones (2003) emphasises that racial discrimination aggravates sexual discrimination because it imposes a false identity (more pernicious than a mere stereotype) on women. U.S. culture adopts "whiteness" as the "unmarked", non-racial norm, and establishes different classes of non-white with varying degrees of additional prejudice. The case of Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc., 523 US 75 (1998) should be noted because it applied Title VII to same-sex sexual harassment with the unanimous finding that Title VII bars all forms of discrimination "because of" sex. Such discrimination, whether motivated by sexual desire or not, is actionable so long at it places its victim in an objectively disadvantageous working condition, regardless of the victim's gender. Now, Smith v. City of Salem 378 F.3d 566 (6th Cir. 2004) has extended protection to the transgendered, and also broadened the interpretation of the statutory criterion "sex" to include "gender."

Against the notion of male privilege

Men's rights activist Herb Goldberg, claimed in 1976 that "the myth that the male is culturally favoured ...is clung to, despite the fact that every critical statistic in the area of longevity, disease, suicide, crime, accidents, childhood emotional disorders, alcoholism, and drug addiction shows a disproportionately higher male rate." He sees males as "oppressed by the cultural pressures that have denied him his feelings, by the mythology of the woman and the distorted and self destructive way he sees and relates to her, by the urgency for him to 'act like a man' which blocks his ability to respond ... both emotionally and physiologically, and by a generalized self hate that causes him to feel comfortable ... when he lives for joy and for personal growth."

Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly and conservative author Ann Coulter have argued in the course of their campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment that “of all the classes of people who have ever lived, the American woman is the most privileged. We have the most rights and rewards, and the fewest duties.” As examples, they point to the traditionally nonreciprocal obligation on husbands to financially provide for their wives, and women's immunity from conscription into military service.

In The Myth of Male Power, “a debunking of the myth of men as a privileged class” Warren Farrell points to the over-representation of men among groups such as the homeless, suicides, alcoholics, the victims of violent crime and prisoners. Far from being privileged, he argues that policies such as conscription, the women and children first convention and the over-representation of men among the most dangerous and unpleasant occupations illustrate men’s status as "the disposable sex", and states that “if a man feels obligated to take a job he likes less so he can be paid more money that someone else spends while he dies seven years earlier, well, that's not power.”

See also

• Chauvinism
• Discrimination law
• Feminism
• Gender
• Global Gender Gap Report
• Income disparity
• Male-female income disparity in the USA
• Men's rights
• Patriarchy
• Rape culture
• Sexism
• Sex-selective abortion
• Women's liberation
• Women's movement
• Women's rights

References

1. Phillips, Debby A.; Phillips, John R. (2009). "Privilege, Male". In O'Brien, Jodi (ed.). Encyclopedia of Gender and Society. Vol. Volume Two. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications. pp. 683–684. ISBN 978-1-4129-0916-7. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |chapterurl= (help)
2. Coston, Bethany M.; Kimmel, Michael (2012). "Seeing Privilege Where It Isn't: Marginalized Masculinities and the Intersectionality of Privilege". Journal of Social Issues. 68 (1): 97–111. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2011.01738.x.
3. McIntosh, Peggy (2003). "White Privilege and Male Privilege". In Kimmel, Michael; Ferber, Abby L. (eds.). Privilege: A Reader. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. pp. 3–25. ISBN 978-0-8133-4056-2. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |chapterurl= (help)
4. *Render, Meredith. (2006) "Misogyny, Androgyny, and Sexual Harassment: Sex Discrimination in a Gender-Deconstructed World". Harvard Journal of Law & Gender. Vol. 29(1) (Winter). pp99–150. p102
5. *Greenberg, Julie A. (1999). "Defining Male and Female: Intersexuality and the Collision Between Law and Biology". Arizona Law Review. Vol. 41. 265.
6. J.E.B. v. Ala. ex rel. T.B., 114 S. Ct. 1419, 1436 n.1 (1994)
7. Foucault, Michel (1976, Reissued 1990.). The History of Sexuality, Volume I. Vintage. ISBN 0-679-72469-9. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
8. Narayan, Uma (1997). Dislocating Cultures: Identities, Traditions, and Third-World Feminism. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-91419-1.
9. Blau, Francine (1994). "Rising Wage Inequality and the U.S. Gender Gap". American Economic Review. 84: 23–28. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
10. http://www.noharmm.org/home.htm
11. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/jul2001/ind-j04.shtml
12. Baer, Judith A (1991, Reissued 1996). Women in American Law: The Struggle Toward Equality from the New Deal to the Present. Holmes & Meier Publishing. ISBN 0-8419-1365-X. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
13. "US Census Bureau, Personal income forum, Age 25+, 2005". Retrieved 2007-01-20.
14. (1992) Blau & Ferber, p. 129
15. Federal Glass Ceiling Commission. (1995). Good for Business: Making Full Use of the Nation's Human Capital. (Final Report of the Commission). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
16. "The conundrum of the glass ceiling". The Economist. 2005-07-21.
17. Neumark, David and Roy Blank and Kyle Van Nort. (1995). "Sex Discrimination in Restaurant Hiring: An Audit Study," Working Paper No. 5024. National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc..
18. Wood, et al. (1993)
19. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (1995). 1990 Census Data.
20. (2003) MacKinnon
21. (2003) Lugones
22. Chow, Melinda (2005). "Vol. 28.". "Smith v. City of Salem: Transgendered Jurisprudence and an Expanding Meaning of Sex Discrimination under Title VII". Vol. 28. Winter. 207.: Harvard Journal of Law & Gender. {{cite book}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location (link)
23. Goldberg, Herb (1976). The Hazards of Being Male- surviving the Myth of Masculine Privilege. Wellness Institute, Inc. ISBN 1-58741-013-3.
24. ^ Schlafly, Phyllis and Ann Coulter (2003). Feminist Fantasies. Dallas: Spence Publishing Co. ISBN 1-890626-46-5. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
25. Svoboda, J. Steven (12 June 2008). "An Interview with Warren Farrell". Retrieved 2008-10-20.
26. ^ Macchietto, John. "Interview with Warren Farrell". Retrieved 2008-10-20.

Further reading

• Blau, Francine & Ferber, Marianne. (1992). The Economics of Women, Men and Work. 5th edition 2005. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-185154-3
• Foucault, Michel. (1969) The Archaeology of Knowledge & The Discourse on Language. Reissued 1982. Pantheon. ISBN 0-394-71106-8
• Jacobs, Michael P. (1997). "Do Gay Men Have a Stake in Male Privilege?" in Homo Economics: Capitalism, Community, and Lesbian and Gay Life. Gluckman, Amy & Reed, Betsy (eds.). Taylor & Francis Books Ltd. ISBN 0-415-91379-9
• Lugones. Maria. (2003) 'Pilgrimages/Peregrinajes: Theorizing Coalition Against Multiple Oppression (Feminist Constructions). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 0-7425-1458-7
• MacKinnon, Catharine A. (2003) Sex Equality: Sexual Harassment. Foundation Press. ISBN 1-58778-564-1
• Wood, Robert; Corcoran, Mary & Courant, Paul (1993). "Pay Differentials Among the Highly Paid: The Male-Female Earnings Gap in Lawyer's Salaries". Journal of Labor Economics (July).
• Butler, Judith P.. (1993) Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-90366-1
• Daly, Mary, (1990) Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism. Beacon Press. ISBN 0-8070-1413-3
• Simone de Beauvoir. (1953). The Second Sex Reissued 1989. Vintage. ISBN 0-679-72451-6
• Betty Friedan: The Feminine Mystique
• Germaine Greer: The Female Eunuch

• Men
• Gender
• Misogyny
• Sexism
• Discrimination
• Privilege (social inequality)