Two classics of U.S. feminism frame our discussions of race and privilege. More than a generation ago, Peggy McIntosh published ‘White Privilege and Male Privilege,’ an article that shapes many ‘diversity’ conversations to this day. And close to a decade ago, the article ‘Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person’ appeared on Huffington Post. Its author was far less famous, having founded a now defunct feminist website.
But Gina Crosley-Corcoran — the less famous author — helpfully points out some of the problems with McIntosh’s article. McIntosh came up with lots of great examples of privilege. However, many of her examples speak less to race than to socioeconomic status.