Article Reflections

The readings about “JAPs” and transgender individuals did not surprise me; rather the article on male and white privilege was what stood out to me. Discrimination against individuals against the norm has always occurred, whether it is religion or gender in these particular articles, to race, interests, and more. I myself had never heard of the phrase, “JAP” to describe a rich Jewish woman, even though I come from an area with a high population of Jews. It was interesting how this racial slur/stereotype had both negative and positive connotations to it; some bragged about being a “JAP”, while some despised the word as a terrible racial slur.

I had not though of this male or white privilege idea until reading the article. After thinking about it for a long time, I realized her argument did have some weight behind it. Being male and Asian, I realized that the author’s list of race privileges held true to some extent. If I myself were to excel at school or in class, it would be because I was Asian. As a tennis player, I was also good at ping pong and badminton. Every time I played a white friend, they would always joke how somehow being Asian meant I was good at both of those sports. Sure these stereotypes are generally true, but somehow my race was always considered to be part of the skill equation.

After thinking some more, I came to realize that the article seemed to almost be whining or complaining about these disadvantages/privileges, but again, what could someone do about it? What is going to change these ideas or stereotypes? As I said in the past, equality will never happen unless everyone somehow assimilates into a single society or civilization with the same ideas, expectations, morals, religions, and more. All of these stories/narrations present these same ideas, the same negative attitudes/actions brought to a certain group of people, but what does that actually do other than inform us of these injustices?