The Male Privilege Checklist

The general argument made by (author unknown, original Peggy McIntosh) in their work The Male Privilege Checklist, is that men have privileges that only apply to them. More specifically, unknown suggests that men have privileges that help them through life and they aren’t even aware of it! They write, “In the end, however, it is men and not women who make the most money; men and not women who dominate the government and corporate boards; men and not women who dominate virtually all of the most powerful positions of society.” (pg. 536) In this passage the author is suggesting that men always have a way to come out on top over women because of the privileges thrust upon them. In conclusion, it’s the author’s opinion that men hold a higher position than women due to these unnoticed privileges.

            In my view, the author is totally right because you see examples of the “checklist” all the time. For example, rule # 24 states that, “Even if I sleep with a lot of women, there is no chance that I will be seriously labeled a ‘slut’, nor is there any male counterpart to ‘slutbashing’.” (pg. 537) This is so true because there is a saying going around that being a man that sleeps with a lot of women, you are a master key but if a woman sleeps with a lot of men, she’s just a shitty lock. (The lock and key effect.) You even see this in movies when men are idolized for being with a lot of women. Although the author actually objects in the piece that, “…I never claimed that life for men is all ice cream sundaes,” (pg. 536) that life for men is easy because of these rules, I maintain that men do have it easier than women. Therefore, I conclude that men do have privileges that they don’t even think they have.