White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack By Peggy McIntosh Through wor k to bring m aterials from Women s S tud ies i nto the rest of t he c urriculum, I have often noticed men s u nwilling ness t o grant t hat t hey are over-pr ivileged, even though they m ay grant t ha t women are disadvantaged. They may say they will w or k to impr ove women s s tatus, in the society, t he university, or t he curriculum, but they can t o r w on t s upport the idea of l essening m en s. Denials whi ch amount t o taboos s urround the subject of a dv antages whi ch men gain from women s disadv antages. The se denials protect m ale privilege from being fully acknowledged, lessened or ended. Think ing thr ough unacknowledged male privilege as a p henomenon, I realiz ed tha t, s ince hi erarchies in our s ociety are interlocking , t he re was most likely a phenomenon of White pr ivilege t hat w as s imilarly denied and pr otected.

privilege. I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was “meant” to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks.

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  White, Privileges, Invisible, Unpacking, Knapsack, White privilege, Unpacking the invisible knapsack

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