my name is Rita Hyatt and I am
privileged and because I’m privileged I
get to stand here today and talk to you
when I first started writing my script
for this very talk my managers advised
me to stay away from politics
nonetheless what I had to say is that
staying away from politics is a
privilege by itself now I do hope
everybody here knows that when people
like myself are addressing privilege it
is not a debate
it is rather something complex and
essential you see it connects all our
lives and all the factors around our
lives that shape them sing away from
politics or not getting political is a
privilege that women cannot afford not
only women but persons of color and all
minorities religious minorities racial
ethnic sexual minorities because not
being a minority is a privilege as a
young woman I am most familiar with the
notion of gender privilege or the lack
of a notion to be more accurate our
lives as women are shaped by misogyny
and by sexism from the moment that we
are born as a little girl I had to
choose my hobbies and interests based on
what is deemed appropriate as a
university student I have to fight in
the major I want to study because it’s
not deemed as the most suitable for
women I am expected to get married and
have children but studying law to later
become a human rights activist or a
lawyer or a judge might get in the way
of that and you see my male friends
don’t have to suffer these problems nor
will they have to suffer what it means
to be paid less than their equally
capable and equally qualified colleagues
simply because they were born with this
gender privilege they were born
with a privilege of being males the
privilege should not be a privilege
gender privilege is when you are safe
when you go to the police and you are
safe when you seek justice because the
law itself does not discriminate against
you it’s when man can go to the store
buy the razors to shave without any
added taxation but the same cannot be
said for women who need to buy their
monthly menstrual products because
apparently getting your period is
considered a luxury that requires added
taxation gender privilege is when you’re
not scared of getting hurt if you decide
to sell your day that you’d rather head
home instead of going somewhere more
private it’s when rapists are marrying
their victims not held accountable for
their crimes
privilege is when the person of minority
in the workplace has to work double and
triple as hard as everyone else to get
appreciated and acknowledged privilege
is one persons of color ethnic
minorities facing racism and prejudice
and hate on a daily basis privilege is
decades of so-called science that is
devoted to proving your intellectual
superiority at the expense of those with
darker skin color being privileged means
not having to read about the slavery of
your ancestors not having to listen to
and feel pain for the robbery of your
grandparents not seeing your parents
falsely accused and imprisoned and being
privileged
means not witnessing your brothers and
sisters being shot unarmed being
privileged is when you when you’ve never
heard of the story of the three boys of
color getting purposefully hit by truck
and then fined for not wearing
reflective clothing while the driver
that hit them walks free it’s when you
don’t have to worry about anybody trying
to deprive you of your right to vote or
if your right to get married and it’s
when your political preferences
normal preferences but their political
and don’t necessarily get you in jail or
killed privileged ladies and gentlemen
is my Leonardo DiCaprio can play the
character of a man in a wheelchair but
an actual man in a wheelchair cannot
play that character what I’m talking
about is able-bodied privilege it’s when
able-bodied actors and actresses are
cast to play differently abled
characters at the expense of real
differently abled human beings but most
importantly of all privilege is not
something to be ashamed of having the
biggest problems that are happening
today around the world that are
affecting the human race are because
some people refuse to acknowledge their
privileges but before we get to
acknowledgment of privilege let us first
understand something together you and I
let us suppose the scenario let us
suppose that a certain person a man for
instance is non-sexist
this non-sexist man still benefits from
sexism because sexism gives him an other
men priority over women and the same
situation goes for all privileged people
and that is exactly why if you ask me
simply admitting that we are somehow
perceived as more entitled is not enough
we need to work on altering these
structures that are giving us is unfair
privilege and that doesn’t mean we have
to stop being male or stop being white
or stop being able bodied what that
means is that we need to make sure that
these identities we possess don’t put
others at a disadvantage
it also means we have to employ these
privileges to help those of us who don’t
enjoy them because I think we never
really get to understand to wrap our
heads around the idea of privilege
properly so every single person of us
can relate to being both privileged and
underprivileged how take me as an
example I am underprivileged because
some people still seem to think that
my femininity can get in the way of my
rationality that that I cannot take a
decision but ironically I recall that
every time I do the occasion I’m labeled
bossy and and and cold I am a young
Muslim woman if I tomorrow decide to
wear the veil my goal of becoming judge
in Lebanon will be immediately shattered
just like that like so many girls so I’m
not alone like so many girls I suffer
from this gender privilege because some
people can’t see past my hair and my
skin and I on the other hand I cannot
seem to convince them that I’m more than
just an appearance but simultaneously I
find myself very privileged because I
have been brought up in a household
capable enough of providing me with a
good education and accordingly enough
experience that told me to be brave
enough to voice out my opinions without
having to worry about whose feelings I
have to safeguard or what labels what
names I will be called so in this sense
I’m more privileged than this other girl
who has the same aspirations as myself
could probably be better than me at
reading and public speaking only only
this girl could not be here in my place
because she did not have the privileges
that I did and if she finds fault and
injustice if this girl finds herself
discriminated against she’s not entitled
speak up about these things like I am
but however if we haven’t noticed both
scenarios do lead to the same result
so if I were a bits more or a bit less
privileged I wouldn’t be standing here
and we wouldn’t be having this talk this
era that we’re currently living in it’s
the era of social activism more than
ever we see young activists take to the
street to stand up for the injustice
they face to take action good news right
no not good news because what’s wrong
with this picture
is that they the underprivileged are the
majority if not the only ones who are
holding the protest signs the only ones
who are put in the face of armed forces
order to maintain civil peace
so before we seek to end our own
struggles with being discriminated
against and before we ask others to
support us we need to examine how and
what we are doing in order to end other
struggles how we are supporting those
who are less privileged than us
because if any positive change is to
occur and putting an end stop the
discrimination each and every person of
us has a role to play so this sounds
very simple but the rich should help the
poor and man should fight for gender
equality and institutions must be
structured to at least meet the needs of
all members in the society abled and
differently abled and because
fundamental rights or in principle for
everybody in practice they should be
granted to everybody it is about time
that transparent and open conversations
on prejudice take place within local
communities at national and
international levels and these
conversations must soon become
discourses that are able to shape our
attitudes on one hand and change our
behaviors on the other when dealing with
or when responding to cases of unfair
privilege but such discourses demand
courage and perseverance and sacrifices
and many more
but in this uncertain world that we are
currently living in it’s time we truly
act act for the sake of others before
our own I for instance have started to
employ my privileged voice whenever
possible for those who are less
privileged I hope you do too thank you
[Applause]
privileged and because I’m privileged I
get to stand here today and talk to you
when I first started writing my script
for this very talk my managers advised
me to stay away from politics
nonetheless what I had to say is that
staying away from politics is a
privilege by itself now I do hope
everybody here knows that when people
like myself are addressing privilege it
is not a debate
it is rather something complex and
essential you see it connects all our
lives and all the factors around our
lives that shape them sing away from
politics or not getting political is a
privilege that women cannot afford not
only women but persons of color and all
minorities religious minorities racial
ethnic sexual minorities because not
being a minority is a privilege as a
young woman I am most familiar with the
notion of gender privilege or the lack
of a notion to be more accurate our
lives as women are shaped by misogyny
and by sexism from the moment that we
are born as a little girl I had to
choose my hobbies and interests based on
what is deemed appropriate as a
university student I have to fight in
the major I want to study because it’s
not deemed as the most suitable for
women I am expected to get married and
have children but studying law to later
become a human rights activist or a
lawyer or a judge might get in the way
of that and you see my male friends
don’t have to suffer these problems nor
will they have to suffer what it means
to be paid less than their equally
capable and equally qualified colleagues
simply because they were born with this
gender privilege they were born
with a privilege of being males the
privilege should not be a privilege
gender privilege is when you are safe
when you go to the police and you are
safe when you seek justice because the
law itself does not discriminate against
you it’s when man can go to the store
buy the razors to shave without any
added taxation but the same cannot be
said for women who need to buy their
monthly menstrual products because
apparently getting your period is
considered a luxury that requires added
taxation gender privilege is when you’re
not scared of getting hurt if you decide
to sell your day that you’d rather head
home instead of going somewhere more
private it’s when rapists are marrying
their victims not held accountable for
their crimes
privilege is when the person of minority
in the workplace has to work double and
triple as hard as everyone else to get
appreciated and acknowledged privilege
is one persons of color ethnic
minorities facing racism and prejudice
and hate on a daily basis privilege is
decades of so-called science that is
devoted to proving your intellectual
superiority at the expense of those with
darker skin color being privileged means
not having to read about the slavery of
your ancestors not having to listen to
and feel pain for the robbery of your
grandparents not seeing your parents
falsely accused and imprisoned and being
privileged
means not witnessing your brothers and
sisters being shot unarmed being
privileged is when you when you’ve never
heard of the story of the three boys of
color getting purposefully hit by truck
and then fined for not wearing
reflective clothing while the driver
that hit them walks free it’s when you
don’t have to worry about anybody trying
to deprive you of your right to vote or
if your right to get married and it’s
when your political preferences
normal preferences but their political
and don’t necessarily get you in jail or
killed privileged ladies and gentlemen
is my Leonardo DiCaprio can play the
character of a man in a wheelchair but
an actual man in a wheelchair cannot
play that character what I’m talking
about is able-bodied privilege it’s when
able-bodied actors and actresses are
cast to play differently abled
characters at the expense of real
differently abled human beings but most
importantly of all privilege is not
something to be ashamed of having the
biggest problems that are happening
today around the world that are
affecting the human race are because
some people refuse to acknowledge their
privileges but before we get to
acknowledgment of privilege let us first
understand something together you and I
let us suppose the scenario let us
suppose that a certain person a man for
instance is non-sexist
this non-sexist man still benefits from
sexism because sexism gives him an other
men priority over women and the same
situation goes for all privileged people
and that is exactly why if you ask me
simply admitting that we are somehow
perceived as more entitled is not enough
we need to work on altering these
structures that are giving us is unfair
privilege and that doesn’t mean we have
to stop being male or stop being white
or stop being able bodied what that
means is that we need to make sure that
these identities we possess don’t put
others at a disadvantage
it also means we have to employ these
privileges to help those of us who don’t
enjoy them because I think we never
really get to understand to wrap our
heads around the idea of privilege
properly so every single person of us
can relate to being both privileged and
underprivileged how take me as an
example I am underprivileged because
some people still seem to think that
my femininity can get in the way of my
rationality that that I cannot take a
decision but ironically I recall that
every time I do the occasion I’m labeled
bossy and and and cold I am a young
Muslim woman if I tomorrow decide to
wear the veil my goal of becoming judge
in Lebanon will be immediately shattered
just like that like so many girls so I’m
not alone like so many girls I suffer
from this gender privilege because some
people can’t see past my hair and my
skin and I on the other hand I cannot
seem to convince them that I’m more than
just an appearance but simultaneously I
find myself very privileged because I
have been brought up in a household
capable enough of providing me with a
good education and accordingly enough
experience that told me to be brave
enough to voice out my opinions without
having to worry about whose feelings I
have to safeguard or what labels what
names I will be called so in this sense
I’m more privileged than this other girl
who has the same aspirations as myself
could probably be better than me at
reading and public speaking only only
this girl could not be here in my place
because she did not have the privileges
that I did and if she finds fault and
injustice if this girl finds herself
discriminated against she’s not entitled
speak up about these things like I am
but however if we haven’t noticed both
scenarios do lead to the same result
so if I were a bits more or a bit less
privileged I wouldn’t be standing here
and we wouldn’t be having this talk this
era that we’re currently living in it’s
the era of social activism more than
ever we see young activists take to the
street to stand up for the injustice
they face to take action good news right
no not good news because what’s wrong
with this picture
is that they the underprivileged are the
majority if not the only ones who are
holding the protest signs the only ones
who are put in the face of armed forces
order to maintain civil peace
so before we seek to end our own
struggles with being discriminated
against and before we ask others to
support us we need to examine how and
what we are doing in order to end other
struggles how we are supporting those
who are less privileged than us
because if any positive change is to
occur and putting an end stop the
discrimination each and every person of
us has a role to play so this sounds
very simple but the rich should help the
poor and man should fight for gender
equality and institutions must be
structured to at least meet the needs of
all members in the society abled and
differently abled and because
fundamental rights or in principle for
everybody in practice they should be
granted to everybody it is about time
that transparent and open conversations
on prejudice take place within local
communities at national and
international levels and these
conversations must soon become
discourses that are able to shape our
attitudes on one hand and change our
behaviors on the other when dealing with
or when responding to cases of unfair
privilege but such discourses demand
courage and perseverance and sacrifices
and many more
but in this uncertain world that we are
currently living in it’s time we truly
act act for the sake of others before
our own I for instance have started to
employ my privileged voice whenever
possible for those who are less
privileged I hope you do too thank you
[Applause]
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