Undoing Privilege: Unearned Advantage in a Divided World

‘No‐one knows how to care for LGBT community like LGBT do’1: LGBTQIA+ experiences of COVID‐19 in the United Kingdom and Brazil

“…Social vulnerability approaches often problematically assign the label of ‘vulnerable’ to communities based on demographics (class, gender, and race, for instance), which then serve as measures of vulnerability, without incorporating community knowledge of how vulnerability looks or feels to those who experience it, or a critical assessment of the oppressive structures and processes that create marginality (Jacobs, 2019). If marginality is not inherent to individuals but produced through societal and political processes that increase disadvantage and exclusion, then the structures and conditions of privilege and the role of those advantaged by power in dominant oppressive structures must also be critiqued (Pease, 2010). For activism, change, and inclusion for minorities in crisis planning and public policies, oppressive structures need to be named as such (Jacobs, 2019), enabling movement past labelling gender and sexuality (and ability, class, race …) as vulnerability indicators, and towards addressing structural factors of cisheteronormativity and heterosexism (and ableism, classism, racism …).…”

Inequalities between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians seen through the lens of oral health: time to change focus

“…Critical self-reflection by non-Aboriginal policymakers and health providers on whether their beliefs and assumptions about Aboriginal people are discriminatory or demeaning is imperative. The objective of such reflection is to avoid projecting any unconscious bias onto Aboriginal people that could negatively impact on their health and wellbeing [62,68].…”

“…Currently, Aboriginal Australians are often still positioned at the centre of the problem, shifting the gaze away from interrogating structural factors. While there have been improvements in Aboriginal health, it is important to recognize that privilege often remains 'invisible, natural, normal and unmarked' ( [2]: p. 183) despite it being, as Pease [68] suggests, the flip side of discrimination that needs to be considered.…”

Religion, secularity, culture? Investigating Christian privilege in Western Europe

“…However, the lens of privilege has been criticized for focusing too much on individual self-transformation and guilt, rather than structural analyses of oppression and exclusion (Lensmire et al, 2013;Leonardo, 2004;McWhorter, 2005). The focus on raising awareness and 'checking one's privileges', critics have rightly argued, has often led to an understanding of privilege as a psychological attitude that can be remedied by personal decisions, rather than a structural problem with psychological as well as symbolic and material repercussions (Pease, 2010). This impedes a structural interrogation of capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy (Aouragh, 2019;Budgeon, 2015).…”