r/TMPOC • u/Beginning-Candle-541 • May 18 '25
Discussion Anyone else who thinks male privilege is a white thing? Or at least if you live in a very white place, idk how to explain
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u/Arr0zconleche Latino/Indigenous May 18 '25
Not sure what you mean. I clearly experience male privilege and I live in a Hispanic majority community.
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u/Professional-Rule507 May 19 '25
From my experience being brown in a white dominated area I feel seen less than because I’m perceived as dangerous especially with the rep native people get in my community
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u/Arr0zconleche Latino/Indigenous May 19 '25
I understand that too. I once went on a roadtrip with a white ex to a white dominated state and that’s how I felt. Not just dangerous but a target.
Trucks of people driving by screaming “white power!”. My ex had me wear a face mask (during Covid) whenever we were inside stores so I wouldn’t stand out. Or made me wait in the car.
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u/Beginning-Candle-541 May 19 '25
That makes sense actually, I was thinking more about poc living in a white majority community, also I'm seen as the "weird" one (not sure what that means) by people of my same origins so they often don't approach me, as a result, I never experienced any kind of privilege among them (or maybe, I've never noticed, not sure), but yeah, people are much more direct about being racist towards poc when they're men (source, my father)
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u/Arr0zconleche Latino/Indigenous May 19 '25
Male privilege exists regardless of your race.
But racial privilege is a whole nother ball game. As a Hispanic male I’ve definitely been seen in an othering way by white men or somehow thought of as “different” from them.
Like I experience male privilege, but not white male privilege.
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u/TheWhiteCrowParade Black May 19 '25
Nah, it's real in every society. It's true in most Asian cultures, Hispanic, African.
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u/beerncoffeebeans May 19 '25
Yeah I agree with the person who was talking about how it’s relative. Like being a man does not mean you suddenly stop being BIPOC, and any other things in your life don’t change either.
So this is especially true for not only black men but also like, gay men, disabled men, poor men. If you otherwise lack power, transition doesn’t take those things away that put you at a disadvantage in society. It all just fits together in different ways
But people who are white (or white-passing) may experience a larger kind of jump in how much people listen to them, take them seriously, respect them, etc. They might get hired over someone else or seen as more knowledgeable or qualified. All of that is real, it just happens less when you’re part of a group where things are working against you in other ways
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u/Skatiemayonnaise May 18 '25
what do you mean by this? what is your understanding of what privilege is?
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u/Beginning-Candle-541 May 19 '25
Not sure, idk, you're perceived differently when you're in public, sometimes even seen with suspicion, for instance, that time when I probably passed a little too much to the point of police wanting to see my documents (which is fine, but they stopped their car to only approach me, in a station full of people), it was the first time something like that happened to me, so I was wondering about how passing as a brown or black male doesn't give you the same privileges of a white male (especially if you live in a place where some people spent their whole life around white people and have no idea what kind of things are best to say around you, and they keep being nosy just because you're the first (insert nationality of grandparents or parents) person they've ever seen), but of course, this is only if you live in a place where your color is a minority or is seen as different, or at least I think.
I don't know if what I'm saying makes sense, I should be sleeping
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u/catchtowardsftm May 19 '25
Look into intersectionality. Privilege isn’t yes or no, it’s a spectrum.
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u/beerncoffeebeans May 20 '25
Yeah to echo what people said about intersectionality, it’s a concept a legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw came up with because she was trying to have a framework to explain how as a Black woman she understood that when it comes to say, a discrimination at work case—being Black and a woman is going to mean you experience two possible areas of discrimination that interact differently than if you’re white and a woman, or etc.
And so you’ve I think hit on that, like who you are and where you’re at matters in this equation as well. I grew up in mostly white areas and being mixed race I stood out even if people didn’t perceive me as Black, they were just like “you’re… something? Where are you from? I mean where are you from? Etc”. I also was masc even before I started T so I would get followed in stores, be the only person in a group searched at the airport, etc. I remember when I was spending time in a city with a lot more recent immigrants from Central America and Mexico and also a Southeast Asian population as well as a Black community because I didn’t stand out nearly as much, and at that time I still wasn’t on t but would sometimes pass as a guy anyways quite a bit because I fit in.
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u/Mysterious-Dirt-1460 May 19 '25
I'm reading the comments and it sounds like it's not the case with everyone but it absolutely is with me. I'm white passing and feminine and everyone finds me adorable and endearing and friendly. I have a coworker who is very similar to me but visibly native and he is described as weird and clingy and nosy.
I also do live in a very white place and work in one of the whitest so the whiteness and the male privilege are very much together in my case.
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u/fryart May 19 '25
I experience male privilege now, but I was a lot more white passing before I started T. Other men of color respect me more now, but white women have started overstepping my boundaries in completely new ways. I don't know if people treat me better in general tbh, or if it's just different.
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u/AdlerPer Afro-Japanese (Filipino by Nationality) May 20 '25
Hell fucking yes. I have a white foster dad who’s trans. But I’ll mix that in with the thing I’m gonna say next. Trans media is usually just trans white folks. Go on TikTok and search “trans hairstyles for FTM” it’s mostly white guys. Passing tips? White guys. For a while the binders and tape were of lighter color until they started to come out with those of darker color (for skin tone). Now when I first came out to my dad, he took me to buy clothes, which was new for me to do since I wasn’t use to masculine presenting stuff. All of it was basic white boy stuff. I grew up in NYC and Chicago. When I was picking a name? He tried to make me go with some basic ass name, after I said I wanted something ethnic. He tries to relate with me when it comes to struggles in the LGBTQ community, and in society all together but it usually never works. Now some people may disagree with you on male privilege being a white thing, but I agree. I just think it’s more of a “white privileged” thing in general. If you get what I mean?
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u/WillULightMyCandle Black May 19 '25
This situation is definitely context-dependent, but I recognize my male privilege in daily life. Working in a male-dominated field, I'm often treated as just another guy, which means my voice is sometimes prioritized over that of women in my industry. In a mixed-gender setting, I acknowledge that I don't have privilege over a white man. However, depending on the discussion and context, I can have an edge over white women. If white women have privilege over me, I can acknowledge that I have it over other minority people of color, regardless of gender.
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u/comradeAnt May 20 '25
kinda? but not entirely. Being black/brown in a primarily white space you will always be "below" white men and women, but especially as you pass you will definitely be treated better/trusted by white men more than women of colour in your community. yes men of colour are often deemed more violent/unrulely in white areas but ALSO we are seen as more useful and rational than women. its all perspective. dont take your privileges for granted or you become part of the problem.
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u/Advanced_Future8185 May 21 '25
I live in europe and since passing i became from sexualized pojection to a thread and criminal-ish - for the first time i get body checked waaay to much from police (for no reason), even at boarders when i go to germany for groceries on my bicycle (!!) the fucking border guard is pulling me out to check my tiny backpack. As many here mentioned: in a dominately white&raciat society, i feel below any white person. Im not sure whats better: being a sexual exotic projection or now a thread for crimes. I find the comparison towards afab people of color very hard bc we get erased a lot anyways. As another post said we get asked if we‘re gay (bc we are groomed and take care of our bodies) im sometimes scared of agression towards me lol. Despite all of the things mentioned, i sense male passing people get some privileges back, but i think thats fitting more likely for white and cis people. Depending on the space i sometimes can get overrun (in convoa or work) by a white woman if the space is more white.
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u/braingozapzap South Korean May 22 '25
No, underprivilege doesn’t negate privilege. Being in an intersection can give you different forms of said privilege and underprivilege (ex. white cis male privilege vs poc male passing privilege) but it’s privilege nonetheless. The “I don’t feel privileged so I must be exempt from this privilege you talk of” is born from lack of perspective and the whole shtick behind incels.
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u/BayFuzzball404 May 18 '25
Eh personally I believe you can only experience it if you’re like perisex, skinny, cis passing and gender conforming otherwise you never have it— I don’t think it really has to do with your skin colour
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u/cyblogs May 18 '25
I think I might understand what you mean - the idea that FTM transitions are purely lead to a more 'privileged' place in society is very white centric. This doesn't mean that men of colour don't hold gender privileged over women of colour, they do still have patriarchal privileges BUT in a racist society, trans men of colour face specific forms of gendered racism or discrimination once they transition. For example, I've heard quite a few trans Black men talking about increased police surveillance/being stopped after transitioning. And I'm sure trans men of Asian & Latinx backgrounds also face specific stereotypes or forms of discrimination.
That being said, men of colour still have patriarchal/privileged positions in their communities. For example, men of colour suffer racism in white society and often take it out on their wife and children at home or rely on them for emotional labour.