Underprivileged

~ Clarissa

I had no idea I was such a victim but then I took the privilege test and discovered:

underp

Let’s start a competition, folks! Let’s see who is the least privileged of all of us. In the meanwhile, excuse me for a moment, I need to go feel sorry for myself.

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Published by Clarissa

47 thoughts on “Underprivileged”

  1. I feel ashamed already. 😦

    You live with 58 out of 100 points of privilege.

    You’re quite privileged. You’ve had a few struggles, but overall your life has been far easier than most. This is not a bad thing, nor is it something to be ashamed of. But you should be aware of your advantages and work to help others who don’t have them. Thank you for checking your privilege.

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    1. The way questions are formulated is quite self-defeating. For example, the question ‘Have you ever been the only person of your race in the room?” I have the experience of being the only person of my race in a whole stadium full of people. But that doesn’t make me a victim of racism or a member of a racial minority, as the quiz assumes.

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      1. \\ ‘Have you ever been the only person of your race in the room?”

        I answered “no”, but I have been the only (half) Jew in the room. Does it count, or were you in a stadium full of only black and Asian people?

        Also answered “no” to fearing attack because of race, but I did fear because of nationality on that beach.

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        1. This was in Cuba and I was the only white person among a whole stadium of black Cubans. I was also the only white person on the bus in Havana, at a museum of colonial furniture, etc.

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      2. Yes, this very nearly happened to me when I was called to traffic court. My race is underrepresented in court summonses, we’re so oppressed!

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  2. ” ‘Can’t have witches being done down, Gytha.’
    ‘I don’t feel done down. I felt fine until you told me I was done down,’ said Nanny, putting her finger on a major sociological point.
    ‘You’ve been exploited,’ said Granny firmly.
    ‘No I ain’t.’
    ‘Yes you have. You’re a downtrodden mass.’
    ‘No I ain’t.’
    ‘You’ve been swindled out of your life savings,’ said Granny.
    ‘Two dollars?’
    ‘Well, it’s all you’d actually saved,’ said Granny, accurately.
    ‘Only ‘cos I spent everything else,’ said Nanny. Other people salted away money for their old age, but Nanny preferred to accumulate memories.
    ‘Well, there you are, then.’
    ‘I was putting that by for some new piping for my still up at Copperhead,’ said Nanny.* ‘You know how that scumble eats away the metal – ‘
    ‘You were putting a little something by for some security and peace of mind in your old age,’ Granny translated.
    ‘You don’t get peace of mind with my scumble,’ said Nanny happily. ‘Pieces, yes, but not peace. It’s made from the finest apples, you know,’ she added. ‘Well, mainly apples.’

    “Maskerade” by Terry Pratchett

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    1. I am a 58 too. Guess having relatively high score is an inevitable consequence of being a heterosexual male, i.e. the circumstances completely outside of my control. I also have some problem with calling some things achieved by hard work “a privilege”… Like being able to afford prescription drugs or a therapist…

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      1. The problem with the test is that nobody who is completely unprivileged will be able to take it. Because if you can read, have a computer and have eyesight – bingo! You are a privileged brat already!

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  3. I scored pretty low (42), mostly because of my esoteric religion and general gayness. Is there room in the pity party for me?

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  4. 39 bitches! Top that!

    Though as usual with this kind of test, there were a lot of marginal kinds of questions and I ended up splitting the difference a few times not checking or checking some boxes to make up for not checking or checking some other ones. If the questions are weighted differently then that could affect things more.

    Still… FEEL SORRY FOR ME!!!! OR ELSE!!!!

    I’ll just harumph self-righteously until someone beats me. (And I have to say I certainly feel a lot more privileged than that score would suggest but I intend to milk this for maximum effect as long as I can).

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  5. Wow, I got 45. I actually think I am far more privileged than that. But I guess I have not always been. Some of the things I never had were not because I could not have had them for economic reasons, though. Rather, my parents and later I made deliberate choices for political / ethical / social reasons. So I think my score is artificially low.

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  7. Meanwhile, I scored 66 on “How Stereotypically American Are You?”

    “You’re as American as a scruffy, blue-jean-wearing Bruce Springsteen standing in front of Old Glory. You are America, and you’ll fight anyone who says otherwise.”

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjkiebus/how-stereotypically-american-are-you

    I even realized afterward I could have checked a couple more than I did… Now, how to reconcile my stereotypical Americanness with my low privilege?

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    1. No fair because I don’t understand half of the questions! I thought “Murica” was a cough syrup. And there is a way to properly fold the American flag?

      So I got 15 and the incomprehensible answer of “You’re as American as Guy Fieri holding three cheeseburgers. You enjoy your freedom, but you’re not gonna sing the “Star-Spangled Banner” while blackout drunk at a work happy hour.”

      I once made a whole bar full of American firefighters sing ‘Oh Canada’, by the way. This was after they started singing the “Star-Spangled Banner” and I booed them. Needless to say, I was not extremely sober.

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      1. The flag question isn’t exactly fair. I only know how to fold a flag because I had to do it in elementary school. I’m not sure how to explain the process, but it starts like folding a towel, ends up as a triangle, and takes two people because it must not touch the ground. On a side note, I scored 48 on the privilege quiz and 36 on the American quiz. Apparently, I am underprivileged and am living the American dream every day.

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      2. I got 10 in “How Stereotypically American Are You?”. Despite serving in the military. It isn’t fair! Of course, I served in IDF, but the quiz doesn’t know that.

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  11. No joke, I wound up with 50 out of a 100. I am “quite privileged.” Just one less point and I might have been underprivileged? I missed the cut-off in the Privilege Olympics.

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  15. I got 36, which is considered “Not Privileged.” Considering I got SLAMMED on my blog for being so privileged in August last year, I feel a tiny bit vindicated. (Actually, it was someone who read my post about how I considered myself to be midlist privileged, and then took to their own blog and basically tore me a new asshole.)

    I definitely believe that white privilege is a real thing, and I know that I have had some advantages that others have not. However, unless you’ve walked in someone’s shoes, it’s pretty awful to tear them to pieces in public. That person doesn’t know me at all, and has no idea what kind of struggles I’ve had, but she felt perfectly fine about calling me out on my privilege and basically calling me an idiot. I’m still pretty bitter about it, actually.

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  17. 26 out of 100.
    This reminds me of when I was a kid at my fancy private school (which I paid tuition for by cleaning the cafeteria during my lunch break and doing janitorial work after school) and we did the physical equivalent of this; it involves taking a step forward or a step back for certain questions. When it ended, at the “underprivileged” back, it was me, a Tongan girl who was there on scholarship for immigrants, and a boy with CP who used crutches. I don’t think the teacher had any idea just how humiliated and singled out we felt by that exercise while the wealthy kids spewed out their Good Christian Guilt over this big revelation.

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    1. // it involves taking a step forward or a step back for certain questions

      I probably would lie not to be left in the back, if couldn’t not participate. And feel justified in lying because this exercise was clearly abusive.

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  18. 51 out of 100, I’m quite privileged. It seems like it’s mostly because I don’t choose to spend time with the kind of people who would tell me I’ll burn in hell or that I’m too fat/skinny. I also don’t have any student loans, since instead of going to college I’m working a minimum wage job. If that’s not privilege, I don’t know what is.

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  19. // It is not your responsibility to educate those with more advantages than you, but if you decide you want to, go ahead …

    Now I understand why I like reading your blog. 🙂

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    1. This gives me a new promotional slogan: “Clarissa’s Blog, the voice of the disadvantage, reminding you how undeservedly fortunate you are.”

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  21. I cannot crack 40. I’m anywhere from a 27 to a 37 depending on how stringently I read the questions. Play me a microscopic violin I’m underprivileged/overprivileged/Goldilocks-privileged.

    I couldn’t bring myself to put up an “I am the 99%” or a “I am the 53%” sign because the navel gazing involved is truly insipid.

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  22. The questionnaire should be food for thought. It shouldn’t be a competition. It is rather obvious – people have different life situations, some of which are advantageous, some of which are not so. Did anyone notice that it is aimed toward youth? The “one step forward, one step back” is abusive for kids. For adults volunteering for the activity, not so much so.

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    1. ” For adults volunteering for the activity, not so much so.”

      – No, not abusive, just a competition. 🙂 Just like I organized here on the blog. 🙂

      “The questionnaire should be food for thought.”

      – Yes, it really made me wonder what is wrong with people who take this sort of thing seriously. Have you seen the comments at the linked site? They are just sad.

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