On UNC’s campus, it’s not difficult to discern that the minority ideological viewpoint is conservative. In this context, minority can be defined as the number or amount that is less than half of the total. With that in mind, men are also a minority on this campus.
Hypothetically speaking, to be a conservative man at UNC is to be a double-minority. To be a left-handed, red-haired, blue-eyed, conservative white man who unironically idolizes Nicolas Cage is to be a septuple-minority.
Privilege can be defined as the benefits received by certain people who fit in a specific social group, usually with regard to age, disability, race, gender, sexuality, religion or socioeconomic status. In that case, even a “septuple-minority” at UNC can still be immensely more privileged than say, a black woman on campus.
The history of the term ‘privilege’ can be traced to the 1930s, when W.E.B. Dubois wrote about the “psychological wage” that enabled poor white people to feel superior to poor black people. In 1988, Peggy McIntosh expanded on the concept in a paper called “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies.”
It’s important to note that while minority status and privilege are intrinsically linked, they are not synonymous.
Exhibit A: an anti-affirmative action bake sale with prices set on the buyer’s race and gender.
The University of Texas-Austin branch of the Young Conservatives of Texas hosted such a bake sale on Wednesday. A cookie cost $1.50 for Asian men, a dollar for white men, 50 cents for African-American and Hispanic men and cost nothing for Native Americans. The prices for women were 25 cents cheaper than their male counterparts.
The event’s organizers meant to spotlight the issue of affirmative action which “demeans minorities on our campus by placing labels of race and gender on their accomplishments.”
Similar bake sales have stirred up controversy in years past. What makes the recent UT-Austin incident particularly relevant is the June 2016 Supreme Court ruling that upheld the university’s affirmative action system against Abigail Fisher, who argued that as a white woman, she was denied admission over less qualified minority students.
