Check your biographic privilege
privilege · 5 comments · 450 words · read ~1,574 times.
A friend and I were having a good old grouch-and-moan session over a couple of beers. We were being snide and petty about all the people who'd ticked us off that week.
"And another thing!" I proclaimed, "Have you seen their Twitter bio? It's all 'Forbes 30-under-30' and 'Global Speaker' and 'Best Selling Author'! Bah! Why can their bio just say 'I like cheese!'?"
My friend took a glug of beer. And said he agreed with me - and that made him feel bad.
We're a pair of straight-white-cis-posh-sounding men. We're festooned with privilege. The person we were discussing, bluntly, is not.
When we walk into a room, we're judged in one way. When our frenemy makes a first impression, it's often under different circumstances.
I can get away with my Twitter bio saying I'm a "Digital Idiot". When people see my scruffy beard and stained t-shirt, they think "Ah! A real geek. He must know what he's talking about!"
That's not a privilege granted to everyone.
Of course, there are competing tensions at play. British culture values self-depreciation. American culture places huge emphasis on self-confidence. The Kiwis call it "Tall Poppy Syndrome". I think it's best illustrated in this gif showing the difference between British and American athletes.
I remember, a couple of years ago, witnessing a small revolution on Twitter. A bunch of academic women realised that they were avoiding using their earned title of "Doctor" in their Twitter bios - and then made sure to correct that.
My friend was much more eloquent at explaining this than I have been in this blog post. But the point is that some people have to be relentlessly self-promoting.
The shield of privilege may not be available to them; it is absolutely right that they make sure everyone knows that they have the right to be taken seriously.
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