This Holiday Season, Check Your Privilege

Image credit: Jamilla Jean Photography

As the cold weather has rolled in and shopping centers became packed to the brim with crabby, last minute shoppers, overly-commercialized holidays and the end of 2014 have arrived. No matter what holiday(s) you recognize because of family tradition, cultural practices, or just because you enjoy the image of a fat man shimmying down your chimney, remember this simple tip: check your privilege. 

Now, I am sure there are plenty of individuals saying, “But it’s the holidays! I spend the other 360 days of the year checking my privilege; just let me relax today.” But it never hurts to keep the education and the dialogue about what privilege means going, especially as we enter a new year.

Here are just a few, simple ways to keep your mind sharp and your privilege in check during the holidays. I promise, with an open mind, the ideas are easy to grasp:

• When your daughter, granddaughter, sister, or another female family member comes home for the holidays, avoid falling into the stereotypes about what a woman needs to be successful and happy. Contrary to popular, patriarchal belief, a woman does not need to be in a relationship/engaged/married or have a child to consider herself a success or to achieve true happiness. Where did the stigma come from that women cannot be happy, single and childless? Instead of asking her when she’s going to get married, ask her how school is going, how she likes her job, or how she feels about the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead. Happiness is different for all women, just as it is for all other gender identities.
• Just because your entire family is together does not mean that other families have that same luxury. The unfortunate lack of togetherness that families face can happen for a multitude of reasons. One of the more prominent ones that have truly come to light during the past six months through traditional media, social media, etc. is the violence that the black community has systematically faced, especially at the hands of police brutality. Because of stereotypes and assumptions about the community due to cultural misrepresentation and a lack of education and proper training of the police force, there are young men like Mike Brown, Antonio Martin, and Tamir Rice who will be mourned during the holidays by their loved ones; there are the grandchildren of Eric Garner who will not have a visit from Santa Claus because he was killed. And several of these men and their family and friends will not see justice. This also goes out to the police officers who have been murdered by anarchists and those who despise not only police brutality, but cops as well. Again, their are a multitude of reasons why some families do not have the privilege of being with each of their loved ones during the holidays, but make sure you become educated before you make assumptions led by your privilege.
• Being a straight, cisgender individual can make all the difference. Although popular opinion has positively changed over the past several
  

  Image credit: EMM, not Emma.

  decades, being of a different sexual orientation or gender identity can be tough, especially around the holiday season. This can be from one extreme of being scared of bringing your significant other to the holiday party to another extreme where the religiosity associated with the holidays can put LGBTQ youth in an uncomfortable situation. And the rate of homelessness among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and especially transgender youth is still considerably high. Not only is homelessness high, but so is the suicide rate among the transgender community and the intersex community because of the heteronormative guidelines that our society has abided by for several generations. Yes, while you are sipping your eggnog while opening presents and watching Elf for the eighth time this season, remember that you have a privilege that others may not have simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

• Although the holidays tend to be associated with a large degree of gift giving, remember that not everyone can afford to receive new clothes, a PlayStation 4, and an iPhone 6. The holidays have continued to lose their “meaning” of time with friends and family and become more about spending an obscene amount of money on buying presents. Because of the wage gap and the difficulty that still exists when looking for jobs in a field that one is interested in, each family has a different holiday experience. Some can afford to buy expensive technology, clothes, and a trip to Disney World, while some may not even be able to afford to put dinner on the table. So when you go to complain that you got an iPhone 5 instead of an iPhone 6, remember that there are people your age that cannot afford to have a phone, a computer, a TV, or a video game console. And if that alone does not persuade you, remember that if you do bitch and moan, you will just end up making an ass out of yourself on social media.
  

  Image credit: Gizmodo

• Also, try your best to do your holiday shopping well before the season even begins so we can begin to make the holidays about “joy, togetherness, and all that other mushy stuff” and begin to eliminate the commercialization and the theme that the holidays are about getting the most expensive presents possible. Those people who work in retail or who work in the restaurant industry that you tell to get a “real job” so they will not have to work during the holidays? Not everyone has the privilege of being able to get a job where they can take vacation time during the holidays due to factors such as disability, education, or even a lack of available careers in the market.

* This list is definitely not exhaustive and outlines only a few of the basic ways you can check your privilege. *

Hope everyone had a happy holiday and a happy new year! And remember: You can still enjoy whatever holiday you celebrate and do whatever you love to do, but remember to check your privilege and continue to be aware that the person who sits next to you in class, who is checking you out at the retail store, or is the next person you see pop up on your Facebook newsfeed may not have the same holiday experiences as you do.

Header image credit: Gizmodo