MALE AND WHITE PRIVILEGE IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

     Domestic violence has become rampant in several homes in America today. No matter the situation, violence of any form should not occur, because every problem has a solution. Most time when violence occurs in a relationship, people tend to get behind the male even if he was at fault, most especially if he is white. The world has shown that color and sex determines the fate of people in domestic violence. If you are white and male, there is a high tendency that you will not be scolded, whereas, being black, you must face the music. In every aspect of life, white and male privilege occurs. It may be that color and sex determines who faces scrutiny in domestic violence.

     A typical example is Mr. Charlie Sheen, the Hollywood sitcom actor who has an unpleasant image for being violent towards women he has relationships with. Though he claimed to hold women in high esteem, he showed his dark side by physically and emotionally assaulting them. Though the women were mostly porn stars and prostitutes who people considered low-class, does not give him the right to be disrespectful towards them.

     However, with all that he did, he was never cautioned by the public. Everybody acted as if it was normal. Mr. Sheen made more money and fame from his controversial behavior. He saw it as fun and part of his act. Because of his color and sex, people did not feel he was doing anything at all. They were celebrating mediocrity and wanted more from him, and indeed, he gave them more. He never looked back. One would only wonder if it will be the same if he was to be black or female. According to the article, “The Disposable Woman”, Mr. Sheen earned the right to be disrespectful and violent towards women, because of his color. His color gave him the right to do whatever he felt like, because he knows he would be celebrated more and more. I believe it would be impossible for him to stop because he is covered by his color. No matter what he does, people will still hail him. Also in the disposable woman, the host of the Television show in which Mr. Sheen appeared on, failed to press on with the issue of his violence against women, which Sheen is obviously guilty of, because of his color. This shows the gain of white privilege, not being redressed for you wrong-doings.

     Another celebrity, Chris Brown, was also guilty of domestic violence. He got into a fierce fight with his then girlfriend, Rihanna, and the outcome was messy. He ended up assaulting her mercilessly and she sustained major injuries. For what he did, he got a lot of backlash from the public, album sales dropped and he got a lawsuit. Mr. Brown’s predicament was nothing compared to Mr. Sheen’s, because of Brown being black. On every Television and Radio station, people condemn him and sometimes insult him. This was where being black did not count.

     But male privilege helped him. In spite of the backlash, people still backed him, saying Rihanna might have provoked him into lashing out at her. He gradually got support and people soon forgot about what he did. According to the conversation in the Article, “How Chris Brown is effing up my sex life”, the author’s friend was given the same excuse of Rihanna being indirectly responsible for what happened to her, provoking him  Today, all the brouhaha surrounding his actions is all dead and buried, and everything is back to normal. If it were a black woman, she probably would not have recovered due to negative publicity and lack of support.

     No matter what happens, violence of any nature should never occur at all. The parties involved should try to control themselves so as not to regret their actions. The Fact that you were provoked, does not still give you the right to be violent. It is a pity that we live in a world where male and white privilege prevails. Judging by color and sex is never the right thing to do. We all know what is right. Stiff  judgments should be meted out equally to people guilty of domestic violence. Color or sex should not be the determinant. Being white and male helped Charlie Sheen while male privilege helped Chris Brown. The world will be a better place if equal treatment is being meted out and everyone is treated equally.

THE GAINS OF WHITE PRIVILEGE

      “We are just performing our normal routine check sir”, was what the immigration officers told me while they allowed the white man behind me go without checking him thoroughly. This scenario got me thinking, was the white man allowed to pass easily because of his color? White Privilege has become a worldwide pandemic, whereby whites are getting undue advantage in every aspect of life, based on their skin color. White Privilege has also given them an indirect right to do anything bad or against the law, knowing they will not be disturbed or called into question for it. “If you are not white, you are not right”. It can be argued that most white people  are being neglected for their transgressions and are given biased or unequal chances in life.

     We can argue that white privilege also comes into play when appointing leaders or heads of organization. In Robert Jensen’s article on how White Privilege shapes the United States, he talked about the partial nature of the white society, and questioned whether he got to where he was by merit. White are mostly heads of co-operations, heads of departments, managers, just to name a few. But the question is, did they get there on merit? Every company you go to, you see the boss being a white person. I also expected my Professor to be white too. That’s a normal notion. You go to interviews, expecting to be interviewed by a white person, whose boss is also white. A typical image of a Doctor is a white person, so is a Dentist, Bank Manager, or a Head of a department in a school. From Robert Jensen’s thoughts, I came to the conclusion that some might have gotten there because of their color. Must a bank manager be white? Must the head of a department or a Professor be white? These factors show that White privilege controls everything we do.

     Another occurrence that bothers me is being asked your skin color, when filling out a job application. The skin color has nothing to do with the abilities of an individual. This now makes it easier to get a job, based on the color requirements, which is mostly white. Also, In commercials today, most of the characters are white. On billboards, it is also the same, also in cartoons too. Even when the characters are black, the voices are of white people. It also happens in movies too. Why can’t the reverse be the case? I shake my head in disappointment at white privilege.

     Also, whites tend to get overlooked when they do things unacceptable, but a person of color, most especially black, is always scolded and castigated for doing wrong. The Young Turks, an online News agency, talked about the neglect of white people’s transgressions on things a person of color would be condemned for. They talked about Sarah Palin’s daughter who got pregnant while not yet married. When the news surfaced, people gave all types of excuses, saying that it was their personal life and should not be used to judge. But if it were to be a black or Latino family, they would have said they showed the disgust in typical black or Latino families.

     Also, It was discovered that Sarah Palin had attended five different colleges, and failed, eventually making up her courses at a community college. Anybody with this kind of record is not fit to hold any leadership position. But nobody said anything. She is considered by many as the perfect politician, and was allowed to run for presidency. But if it was President Obama, he would have been condemned by the press, of not being serious at school, thereby not being capable of leadership. If a White person possesses a gun, nobody would be afraid of what he might do. But let a black man hold a gun, people would be afraid of him, expecting him to cause harm. I can go on about the gains of white privilege, but it does not mean it will stop.

     With all these going on, I become afraid that I might not be given the recognition I deserve for my works, in the future. It makes school seem like a waste of time, when someone you are a lot better than, gets the position you have worked for, because of his color. White privilege is also an indirect way of racism, which does not seem like ending. It is here to stay. But people should get whatever they deserve, no matter what circumstance. I do not see the big deal in a person of color, being at the top, neither do I see the reason why everyone should not be redressed equally, for any transgression.

WOMEN: TOOLS OF PUBLICITY?

     The publicity of a product is meant to portray the advantages of patronizing a particular product, and sometimes, the disadvantages of using rival product too. In many commercials, men and women are sometimes used to advertise products. Most commercials are targeted towards the men, while only a few are towards the women. In commercials, women are mostly used to draw attention to the commercial, while the men make up most of the targeted audience. In this process, it is assumed by the producers that attention will be moved from the relevance of the product, to the women. By this, women have lost their values by being dressed half naked in most adverts. Producers have shown not to care about the views of women, all they care about is the popularity of the commercial and the success of the product in the market. They take women to be mere sex symbols in selling products.

     John Berger discussed the undermining of women in his documentary, “Ways of Seeing”. This could be dated back to the days of Oil Painting, when women were painted naked in pictures, to the amusement of the men. Back then, women were considered as objects meant to be owned and not to be adored. The painters do not care about the feelings of the women, who appear unwilling in most of the paintings. The women were always at the will of the men at all times.

     These morals have been with us ever since then. In most commercials, women have been used immorally to advertise products, as sexual objects meant in attracting attention. The United Kingdom version of the Lynx Shower Gel commercial really got my attention, where a man used the shower gel, and that made women lust after him. They also went as far as taking off their clothes, all because of a shower gel. We all know that being clean is good also attracts positive response from the opposite sex, but that does not mean that women will always strip for any user. The nude scene was completely irrelevant to the product. This depicted women as easy going people.

     Darryl Roberts also discussed in his documentary, “America the Beautiful”, the relevance of some billboard commercials. He talked about Billboards where half naked women featured on them. Most times, the product has nothing to do with nudity, but they are just put there to draw attention. He also talked about a thirteen year old girl who became America’s youngest supermodel. As much as people were amazed at how a girl of such a young age could captivate the fashion industry, others thought that she was too young to model. The Fashion designers did not care about her age or her feelings. All they wanted was for her to put on their clothes and get on the runway. At a point, she was asked to lose weight, though she was too skinny. This goes to show that people do not care about the feelings of women. All they care about is the outcome, at all costs.

     It is also portrayed in cartoons, where women are drawn almost naked and are shown to children. In a cartoon, “family guy”, one of the male characters once said, “Women are not people, they are devices built by the Lord Jesus Christ for our entertainment”. It may sound funny, but these are actually picked up by children who take the bad perception of women.

     Women play an important role in the society and should not be portrayed as just objects. More documentaries will still be made to highlight the damage being done. If nothing is done to end the degrading of women, generations will adopt it as a norm and the trend will continue. Commercials do not need nudity and sexual contents to send their messages across. But also, the producers will argue that they just do it to draw attention, adding that the women portrayed in these commercials, do it out of their own freewill.