You may be a recipient of male privilege and not even be aware of it! What is male privilege? It's the assumption that you are superior to...well, it's not really acceptable to say whom in polite society any more, but, if you're a recipient of male privilege, you already know exactly who you're superior to. This comes with a lot of advantages in everyday life.
If you are uncertain whether or not you're a recipient of male privilege, take this simple test: how many of the following completions of the sentence, "You know you're a recipient of male privilege, when..." apply to you?
...you can walk past a construction site without having to be concerned about having to listen to comments about your gravity-defying architecture or fitness to bear children.
...you can take it for granted that somebody else will cook and do the dishes.
...nobody feels they have the right to destroy your reputation online because you dare to design computer games or critically review them.
...you join the military and the only people you have to worry are going to attack you are the enemy.
...you don't have to be concerned that a cure for a major medical disease won't benefit you because none of the test subjects for the treatment had bodies like yours. You don't have to explain to supposed medical experts that, no, in fact all human bodies are do not work in exactly the same way.
...your family doesn't consider your dream of being a nuclear physicist to be a "nice hobby" and put pressure on you to set it aside until after you've raised a family.
...you don't have to worry about people laughing at you for being called a mistress of the universe.
...you can go into a job interview not having to worry if you will be asked if you plan on having children; secure, in fact, in the knowledge that if the subject comes up, you will be judged positively for wanting them.
...you never have to experience the unique joy of being asked to get coffee when you're the senior executive from your company sitting at the negotiating table.
...all of the nominations for best actress Oscars go to men, and you're okay with that.
...your grey hair is considered sexy.
...that paunch you carry isn't going to make you any less attractive to members of the opposite sex...well, not in your own mind, in any case.
...the sexually explicit jokes on the company's server aren't about you.
...if the sexually explicit jokes on the company's servers are about you, that's something you can laugh about with your co-workers at a bar after work.
...after you complain that you work harder than anybody else at the company and are only paid 70% of what people of the other sex are making for the same job, you aren't accused of being in a bad mood because of a monthly biological function.
..., for that matter, you work harder than anybody else at the company and don't have to worry that you're only making 70% of what people of the other sex are making.
...you are described as being aggressive, hard-nosed and/or tough, it is meant in a complimentary way.
...you don't have to expose parts of your anatomy to get ahead. Unless you're a male model.
...if you are successful, you don't have to deal with innuendos that you exposed parts of your anatomy in order to get ahead, whether you did or not. Unless you're a male porn star, in which case it's just taken for granted. And, among other privileged males, even respected.
...your journalism degree only seems to qualify you to start working for a small local newspaper writing recipes, health news and/or gossip columns.
...the majority of online porn caters to your sexual preference.
...you don't have to worry that the most fashionable clothing of the day will destroy your feet or make it hard for you to breathe.
...hearing slang terms for your genitals makes you proud rather than cringe.
...auto mechanics, dishwasher repairmen and/or telephone help line workers don't talk to you like you obviously are too dumb to understand the simplest concept they could possibly explain to you. This won't stop them from taking advantage of your ignorance to gouge you for their advice, but it does take some of the sting out of the process.
...you're male. No, really, being born with a penis pretty much sums it up.