18 Things Men Think Are "Female Privilege"

Because everyone knows that women are lying about sexism. *eyes roll back into skull* This, ladies and gents, is a response to this lovely list.

Content Warning

This list contains mentions of r/pe, domestic abuse, and sexual assault

1. "Female privilege is being able to walk down the street at night without people crossing the street because they're automatically afraid of you."

Reality: Female *privilege* is constantly being viewed as an easy target, forcing you to be afraid when walking alone at night. It's having men readily agree to walk you home because they know it probably isn't safe for you to go alone.

2. "Female privilege is being able to approach someone and ask them out without being labeled 'creepy.'"

Reality: Female *privilege* is being forced to respond to unsolicited advances and catcalls with a polite smile, tip-toeing around their ego so you don't get assaulted or murdered.

3. "Female privilege is being able to get drunk and have sex without being considered a rapist. Female privilege is being able to engage in the same action as another person but be considered the innocent party by default."

Reality: Female *privilege* is being used as a marketing tool to bring men into bars. It's having men search for the most intoxicated woman they can bring home with them. It's being assumed that you're a liar. It's having to comfort your male friends and family who have been raped because toxic masculinity won't let them voice the violence they faced to the men in their lives.

4. "Female privilege is being able to turn on the TV and see yourself represented in a positive way. Female privilege is shows like King of Queens and Everybody Loves Raymond where women are portrayed as attractive, competent people while men are shown as ugly, lazy slobs."

Reality: Female *privilege* is watching smart women on popular media being reduced to housewives and romantic interests that are there only to satiate the main male characters.

Also, fun fact: the majority of directors, screen writers and producers are men. So you can thank other men for those portrayals of men.

Bonus: Here's a fun graph.

5. "Female privilege is the idea that women and children should be the first rescued from any sort of emergency situation. Female privilege is saving yourself before you save others and not being viewed as a monster."

Reality: Female *privilege* is men in emergency situations deciding that women are too frail and weak to help themselves or others and so need the help of a man, thus condemning the men they could have helped save to face injury or death. Also, yes, this is a terrible result of gender roles in theory, but most people tend to just, y'know, help each other in an emergency.

Another note: No sh*t children should be rescued first, they're tiny, confused humans that DO need help. They need help going to the bathroom, of course they'll need help in an emergency.

6. "Female privilege is being able to decide not to have a child."

Reality: Female *privilege* is being criticized for not fulfilling a role of bearing a child because you simply do not want a child. It is also have the government conveniently let you know what you can and cannot do with your body.

7. "Female privilege is not having to support a child financially for 18 years when you didn’t want to have it in the first place."

Reality: Female *privilege* is being forced to carry unwanted children because of their partners wants or lack of abortion access. It's having to be the one responsible for the child, despite it not being solely their fault. It's struggling to make ends meet and raise a child, yet being shamed and looked down upon when they go to the other parent for financial help.

8. "Female privilege is never being told to 'take it like a man' or 'man up.'"

Reality: Female *privilege* is having your emotions and feminine qualities mocked and belittled by the very same men who confide to you in secret and look for a shoulder to cry on.

Good job on acknowledging toxic masculinity, but maybe don't blame women for something created and perpetuated by other men. It's not a privilege to be mocked in a different way, especially when insults towards men equate them to women/femininity, as if those are inherently negative.

9. "Female privilege is knowing that people would take it as a gravely serious issue if someone raped you. Female privilege is being able to laugh at a 'prison rape' joke."

Reality: Female *privilege* is knowing that you will face intense social backlash for reporting a rape and knowing that your rapist most likely won't spend a single day in prison even if you do. Additionally, women are probably less likely to laugh at a rape joke considering how many women are victims of rape.

10. "Female privilege is being able to divorce your spouse when your marriage is no longer working because you know you will most likely be granted custody of your children."

Reality: Female *privilege* is being given custody of your children because you asked and your husband didn't.

PS: Children aren't some magical glue that will fix your marriage. Don't force your kids to live in a hostile, unwelcoming environment simply because you think they'll keep your broken marriage together.

11. "Female privilege is being able to call the police in a domestic dispute knowing they will take your side. Female privilege is not having your gender work against where police are involved."

Reality: Female *privilege* is being too afraid of your spouse to call in a domestic violence case for fear of worse retaliation later. The only privilege awarded in this case is the wide array of services offered to women and children in abusive households that very much need to be given to men who suffer spousal abuse as well.

12. "Female privilege is being able to be caring or empathetic without people being surprised."

Reality: Female *privilege* is being expected to take on any and all emotionally supportive roles because men are conditioned to think that being empathetic makes you weaker as a person.

Gotta love toxic masculinity, am I right? I'd say it's funny how many times this list has to reassert that the problem is stemming from other men, but it's not funny, it's tiring.

13. "Female privilege is not having to take your career seriously because you can depend on marrying someone who makes more money than you do. Female privilege is being able to be a “stay at home mom” and not seem like a loser."

Reality: Female *privilege* is having to work twice as hard to still be paid less than men. It's being expected to give up your career to raise a child. It's being demoted or fired for taking time off to have a child.

Think about that for a second.

You are considered an inconvenience because you have to take time off to push a tiny human out of your body, despite the fact you have been working through your pregnancy.

14. "Female privilege is being able to cry your way out of a speeding ticket."

Reality: I'm pretty sure a police officer would probably get you out of a speeding ticket if you started bawling too. What is this statement even? NEXT.

15. "Female privilege is being favored by teachers in elementary, middle and high school. Female privilege is graduating high school more often, being accepted to more colleges, and generally being encouraged and supported along the way."

Reality: Female *privilege* is being held to a higher standard in academics and the arts, but lower standards in sports. It's being sexually harassed by full grown men you are supposed to look up to and learn from.

How exactly is women taking advantage of their education system their fault for men not taking advantage of them? They are working hard to get to where they are and they are not the reason why less men gradate or go to college.

16. "Female privilege being able to have an opinion without someone tell you you’re just 'a butthurt fedora-wearing neckbeard who can’t get any.'"

Reality: Female *privilege* is being violently attacked and threatened online for having an opinion and being likened to mass genocide for advocating for women's rights.

So, no, we don't get to have opinions without fear of rebuttal. In fact, we get to have the jolly good time of scrolling through sexist and sexual remarks, threats of violence and rape, as well as the possibility of being DOXXED.

17. "Female privilege is being able to talk about sexism without appearing self-serving"

Reality: Female *privilege* is having others tell you your lived experiences of sexism aren't real and that you are over reacting to non-existent problems.

(I'm starting to think the original author of this list likes to play "devils advocate" in feminist spaces and is butt hurt about not being welcomed like the enlightened white knight he thinks he is.)

18. "Female privilege is arrogantly believing that sexism only applies to women."

Excuse me for a moment while I laugh hysterically at this.

Alright. Last one, here we go...

Reality: Female *privilege* is actively trying to dismantle oppressive, patriarchal systems and societal norms that harm women, trans-women and non-binary people — and, yes, also men — and being told that you're attacking men. That you're doing your activism wrong.

You can't face oppression from a group of people who are already oppressed, the most you can face is prejudice.

It's tiring how many times people have to explain these things.

End note: Feel free to offer suggestions for more intersectional wording as I know a lot of this is very cis rebuttal against cis assumptions.