By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published on September 30, 2018
If we are honest with ourselves, we would readily admit that all men in America benefit from engrained male privilege in all aspects of our lives, and they do so on an ongoing basis. Men passed all of this country's original laws. For hundreds of years, these laws governed American society.
Women had no rights under our laws until a hundred years ago. Even then, their legal rights on paper were rarely enforced in our male-dominated court system. Furthermore, legal protection for marital rape just ended in America in 1979.
The vestiges of this legally protected "head start" for men are present to this day. Men run America's national government; they run Wall Street; they run the nation's justice system; they run the nation's regulatory bodies; they run the defense industry; they run America's diplomatic missions around the world; they run private and public corporate boards across America; they run religious institutions like the Catholic and Mormon churches; they run Hollywood; they run country clubs and private civic organizations; they run professional sports franchises; they run the gaming industry; they run the nation's lobbying industry; and they run the media industry. In short, men run everything that matters in American society.
If money and power are at stake in any aspect of American life, men run it.
Privileges and perks in American society have always accompanied money, power and control. The more money, power and control men have, the more privileges and perks they enjoy.
Additionally, there has never been a woman president of the United States, despite the fact that many female candidates have run for the office since women received the right to vote in 1920.
Finally, this is what confuses me: Why do men who profess to love their wives, sisters, daughters, nieces and other female relatives so often fail to fight for their long-delayed right to enjoy a level playing field in all aspects of American life?
When I fight for the rights of women, I am labeled a "troublemaker." Too often, other men simply invent excuses to avoid fighting for equal opportunity and equal protection for women, including those in their families. Why? I believe these men are afraid to stand up for women in their families because they know how engrained male privilege is in our society, and they do not want to be labeled a "troublemaker." They will go along with male privilege in order to get along with their male friends, family members, co-workers, and colleagues.
This is the cold, hard, documented truth about male privilege in America.
PHOTO: President Donald Trump, who calls women "dogs" and "pigs," holds a cabinet meeting that is dominated by men. This picture depicts the underwhelming status of women in America today.
