Writer Timothy Leary once proclaimed that “women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.” Implied sexism aside, it is clear Leary is criticizing the faults of men and how women should not seek to emulate them. One such flaw that comes to mind is “male privilege,” which is defined to be unearned economic, political and social advantages or rights conferred to men based solely on their sex. Male privilege permeates throughout much of society, and learning to identify it is a huge stride for gender relations.

A privilege that men enjoy is being authoritative. This is not saying that men are domineering by nature, but rather that men see the removal of power as a form of emasculation and hence are less responsive to women who attack their privilege.

There is a set of actions that men use to retain their power. It includes claiming a monopoly on truth, physical intimidation, emotional leverage, denial and other methods. These actions constitute a form of oppression where fear trumps reasoning and leads to dysfunctional relationships.

Women have been speaking about this issue for a long time and their perspective is insightful, as they are the marginalized group. Feminist Betty Friedan criticized how men define the aspirations and ideals of femininity in her book, “The Feminine Mystique.” Friedan wrote that “the only way for a woman, as for a man, to find herself, to know herself as a person, is by creative work of her own.” Women do not deserve to live in a society whose institutions are created and maintained by men. This kind of system limits women’s ability to take initiative.

Men should evaluate the merits of what women say by reason alone and not by their gender. Moreover, men should not wait until another man reiterates what women have already been saying to accept a woman’s ideas. This gives men the artificial notion they are the purveyors of progress in gender relations by stealing the credit from women. Women speaking for themselves is not an affront to men, but men defending their own prerogatives — especially the ability to be heard with reverence — is a threat to women.

It is important to recognize the different ways that stigmatized groups deal with their stereotypes. According to psychologist Erving Goffman, there are three kinds of responses that come from a marginalized individual; minstrelization is when an individual exaggerates the stereotypes imposed on him or her because that is often the only way he can criticize it; normification is when the individual challenges the stereotype by minimizing the difference between him or her and the dominant group; militant chauvinism is when an individual asserts that he or she is consistently superior to the dominant group.

In response to these different actions, men are likely to apply convenient rationalizations to cast women in a certain set of stereotypes. The cliche damsel-in-distress reflects minstrelization, where a man may reaffirm a sexist view that women are helpless. When a woman undertakes normification by having a job that is traditionally male dominated, a man may conclude that there is no disparity between the treatment of men and women in society whereas such an inequality still exists. If a woman is seen as a feminist, a man creates new stereotypes to impose on women and discredit their ideas.

These hypothetical situations are not a depiction of all men and women, but rather show shortcomings of certain rationales. With regards to topics such as dating, academics and politics, miscommunications happen at many levels. Nonetheless, this does not make gender inequalities — namely male privilege — any less relevant. The remedy to male privilege begins with understanding what it is to begin with. At the heart of male privilege is the unconscious wielding of unmerited powers and the failure to recognize the lack of rights of women.

There is little debate that gender disparity is contemptible, but there is not enough discussion on the blinding effects of gender privileges and restrictions. The word “privilege” has been used in many contexts and now appears jaded to many people, but this is because too many people do not stop and process the consequences of privilege.

Henry Cao is a Weinberg sophomore. He can be reached at [email protected]. If you would like to respond publicly to this column, send a Letter to the Editor to [email protected].

The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.