The putative titles reflect the claims of “male privilege,” that society provides men with benefits they enjoy without thinking about them. The other is about “female privilege,” the claims men throw back in response to their own benefits, which women argue are either trivial in comparison or the product of societal misogyny.

Male Privilege :

Men build discursive spaces and discursive norms based on their own experience. And for instance, in a male-built discursive space, a threat of sexual violence may be viewed by male participants as an obvious joke. After all, the vast majority of men will never experience sexual violence in their lifetime. (Fewer than 4% of men will be sexually assaulted.) And so within the context of a male discussion on a World of Warcraft forum, for instance, it may seem entirely innocuous to use ideas of sexual violence to express one’s views on the game, or to use “rape” as a verb to describe one’s gameplay skills.

Women as a group have a vastly different experience with the idea of sexual violence. One in six women will be a victim of sexual assault during her lifetime. (Yes, some men are also sexual assault victims. But the numbers are overwhelmingly female — about 90% of sexual assault victims are women.) Rape is not an abstract idea or an obvious joke. For thousands of women, it is an immediate and extremely painful reality

Female Privilege :

And, so, predictably, some critics of feminism, “men’s rights” blogs, and the like have assembled lengthy lists of female privilege. (Women get their dates paid for — it isn’t fair!) And it’s true that there are areas where, taken on a stand-alone basis, male and female treatment appears to favor women. As we’ll see, I don’t think these areas really provide an analogue to male privilege.

We’ll start with the obvious, descriptive matter: Some areas exist in which women have some advantages. For one obvious example, some bars offer free drinks to women on some evenings. (Ladies night.) Looked at in isolation, these could be viewed as areas of female privilege. However, in context, it seems evident that this apparent female privilege fills one of two roles.

The posts appear at Concurring Opinions, both written my Kaimi Wenger, and stem from the  Danielle Citron post, about which I commented here earlier.  Kaimi’s posts are, standing alone, not particularly consequential, but the comments to the posts are fabulous.  This may be the best discussion of sex discrimination you will ever read.

Despite my inclination to add my opinion on the discussion, I think it best to leave it to others to decide for themselves. To whet your whistle, I offer one of my favorite exchanges:

Alex Trenton – November 10, 2011 at 1:35 pm

“Just about anything that can be put forth as so-called female privilege has roots in misogyny.”

That is the essence of unscientific thinking. It’s completely unfalsifiable: no matter how disadvantaged men might seem, someone with an ax to grind can always come up with an inventive theory by which it’s really men that are being privileged. (“Too many men on death row? That’s rooted in misogynystic beliefs that men are more responsible for their actions than women are.” Never mind that it’s not exactly a privilege to be killed.)

And the response:

allgoodtees – November 10, 2011 at 2:39 pm

@Alex Trenton

That is the essence of unscientific thinking.

Careful, true colors are showing.

Men = Capable of breaking this down scientifically (logical, reasonable)

Women = Someone with an axe to grind (overemotional, irrational, incapable of such detachment)

Men can talk about this in abstract, detached, observational ways because they are not the ones being marginalized by the attitudes they’re discussing. Asking women to set aside their emotions (ie, look at this like the men do, dear, and you’ll understand) is impossible, because it’s their life you’re discussing, and the ways these attitudes impact their life.

It doesn’t get any better than this. Enjoy!