Privileged white guys, let others through!
In which I drop into your inbox with some Monday Morning Feminist Complaint
Hey! It’s Monday morning. How are you? I have a couple of long reads backed up for my difficult 4th and 5th Substack posts, but everything feels very heavy at the moment, so I’m going to spare you my lengthy pontificating. I do, however, have a short burst of indignation to share. After all, when everything in the world is terrible, who doesn’t want to start their working week feeling renewed fury about the ingrained nature of male privilege?
The reason I am so annoyed is because ingrained male privilege should, really, be a solved problem by now. After all, dealing with men who take up space costs time and money and gets in the way of doing other, more important work. And it is also very, very boring. There is so much other change — so much productive activity — that is stopped because so many people are working around men who are not only comfortable standing in the way but are blithely bringing along their friends to stand next to them.
If you want to situate my mood more exactly, it might be helpful to know I’m typing with a copy of Sarah Ahmed’s terrific Feminist Killjoy Handbook by my side, open on the page that says:
Power works by making it hard to challenge how power works.
And the message of this post is, roughly: privileged white guys, step aside and let others through. If that makes you feel uncomfortable, then you should probably carry on reading.
I’ll start with some context.
Anyone who follows me on any social media platform will know I’m currently kneedeep in producing a conference. Because we’re doing it quickly and want to give a platform to as many voices as possible, we’re doing an open call for proposals. We’ve tried (and perhaps we’ve failed, but we’ve tried) to position this event as one aimed at campaigners and activists in the digital rights and social sector. The reason we’re doing that is because those voices are being actively minimised by the UK government (this is a topic for another post/long walk in the park while shouting), and rather than just complaining about it, we’re working round the clock to try and make a platform where some other voices can be heard.
Now, perhaps we should have also put PRIVILEGED WHITE MEN WITH INSTITUTIONAL AND CORPORATE JOBS, PLEASE HOLD BACK in bold caps at the top of the open call page, but we didn’t, so that’s my bad, so I’m going to say it here instead. And I’m going to go one further and say, that if you’re a privileged white man, then the next time you see a great opportunity, don’t just hold back, take the time to pass it on.
Every self-promoting email delays structural equity by several minutes
This might feel like a bold claim, but every time someone with massive structural privilege puts themselves forward for an opportunity and other people have to deal with that, they are materially putting back the cause of structural equality back by at least several minutes.
What do I mean exactly?
Well, let me take you on a tour of my inbox, which features actual emails from guys saying things like (and I am only slightly paraphrasing):
I don’t seem to qualify for a free ticket for this event, at which I wish to present my work, even though it has nothing to do with the purpose of this event. Can you why clarify why that is the case?
Or,
Just emailing you [on every single configuration of your email address that I can work out] to let you know that I have put in several proposals for ways I can showcase my work, ideally on my own or perhaps with several other guys!
Or,
Thanks for your email explaining that this event is aimed at voices that are under-represented at the AI Safety Summit. Please can you explain why I can’t book five free tickets for my colleagues at [large consulting firm/high status academic institution]?
Every time someone writes one of these emails, they are taking up time and space that could be occupied by someone, or something, else.
Firstly, regardless of whether or not anyone replies, someone has to read the damned email. Often — if it’s me, because I am not blessed with patience — I also have to spend several minutes feeling furious about this abject waste of time. And if it’s a particularly high status person, then sometimes everyone has to regroup and say, This is weird, right? Why are they putting themselves forward for an opportunity they definitely don’t need. Is it even okay to turn them down? Often, someone then has to spend much too long crafting a diplomatic reply, which is usually a total waste of time, because (to generalise) subtlety is not well spent on privileged white men who like sending emails, as they will often instantly email back and spend four paragraphs explaining why they were right all along.
In that time, the people reading those emails could be doing all kinds of other things.
For instance, we could spend it supporting someone who feels less confident putting themselves forward for an opportunity.
Perhaps we could be doing some work that we are actually paid to do.
Or we could be taking a break, having a cup of tea, enjoying the sound of birds singing in the garden.
If you are a privileged white man with an institutional or corporate job who feels comfortable sending emails explaining how great you are, then I have an important request — which is that every time you feel compelled to promote yourself, promote someone else instead.
Don’t just let someone else go first, actively open the door for other people who don’t instinctively self promote with such gusto. And if you need a reward, buy one of those badges that says “This is what a feminist looks like” (or maybe one of our Keep Science Woke t-shirts 😉) and bask in the glow of the warm nods of appreciation you’ll feel.
This feels very pressing not just because of my inbox, but because I spent several hours at the Labour Party conference last week, sitting in sessions where many people were going on about how the secret to making the tech industry more representative is probably spending years and years and years reforming the education system and putting in quotas and doing more of those cringey high status lists. And, well, I can’t wait for that. In fact, as someone looking down the barrel of their 50th birthday, I’ll probably be dead by the time those changes have made an impact. Imagine, instead, what could be achieved, and how fast, if more people with privilege took the time to step aside and made space for others?
So, if you’ve got to the end of this, perhaps you can spend 10 minutes today passing an opportunity on to someone else. And, in case you were wondering, you definitely don’t need to email me to tell me you’ve done it.
(ALSO! Feminism for the 99% is really good. You should probably read it if you haven’t!)