Main Post for 09/23/2010

Straight Privilege
I come from a city well-known for a large number of homosexuals, especially lesbians, in China named Chengdu. However, for all these days reading various feminists’ works, I have never thought about lesbians. In fact, I am more familiar with lesbians who I used to live with and be friends with than I am with white women, black women who I merely know in real life before coming to Colgate. But for all these days feminism awareness training, not a single idea about lesbians has ever come up to my mind while sympathetic feelings towards these withe and black women always bump up in my brain. Does that happen because actually I do not count them as women? I say so not because I think they are abnormal and I do really respect every people despite sex orientation. I say so because I have never really bother to know about them before. Do they also crazy about fashion? Are they shopaholic? How does it feel to live in the same room with women while you may have feeling towards them? I did not bother to ask them because I was raised up in a straight-teaching society. Yes, although we have a lot of homosexuals around, major media, education system never raise topics about homosexuality. And many people do not take homosexuality seriously, on the internet and among teenagers especially, it seems cool to be homosexualities so some straight teenagers try to date with homosexualities just want to know how does it feel while being cool. However, adults, like my parents, never raised a single word related about homosexuality. We do not have LGBT Association in school, public medical organizations do not instruct homos on having safe sex, China even opposed the United Nations Bill about anti-sex orientation discrimination. I was raised up by teaching that everyone has a mom and dad and things like this while never aware of the existence of homosexualities and their feelings, just like Peggy Malntosh was taught to be conditioned into oblivion about the existence fo white privilege while take is for granted. It was until I read Audre Lorde’s The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House that I failed to count lesbians as an important part in feminism.

I think I need to know about them more. Now, as Peggy MaIntosh did, I decided to try to identify some of the daily effects of straight privilege in my life so I will be aware of them later in my life.

I can talk about boys with fellow female friends.
I can take my partner home without scare my parents by taking a female partner home.
I would not encounter anyone who is anti-heterosexuality.
I can marry legally every where by my wish.
I can dress unfeminine without being called a credit to my sex orientation.
I would not feel troubled about my own sex orientation.

I failed to notice these privileges before and nor do I care about lesbians because I am in the majority, so I can choose whether to care or not. But I think I really need to raise my own consciousness about lesbians for in some part I may also in the minority.