Jewel Woods - a black male feminist with a checklist

You might have seen the privilege checklists that do the rounds on the internet. They're long and usually incoherent lists of how men or whites are privileged compared to others. But some progressives take them very seriously.

What is the latest checklist? It's a 93 point list on black male privilege, written by a black male feminist called Jewel Woods (hat tip Elusive Wapiti).

It's refreshing, as a white male, not to be the target of the latest list. And the list does us all a service by damaging the credibility of such privilege checklists, as well as the political mindset behind them. Just look at some of the evidence Jewel Woods gives for being privileged as a black man relative to black women:

12. I do not have to worry about the daily hassles of having my hair conforming to any standard image of beauty the way black women do.

13. I do not have to worry about the daily hassles of being terrorized by the fear of gaining weight.

What exactly are black men supposed to do about this? It comes across as a whinge about the nature of reality.

21. I can live in a world where polygamy is still an option for men in the United States as well as around the world.

22. In general, I prefer being involved with younger women socially and sexually

Again, the average black man has little control over any of this. It's part of a social or natural reality. And yet it's being thrown at them as a privilege checklist.

36. Many of my favorite movies include images of strength that do not include members of the opposite sex and often are based on violence.

37. Many of my favorite genres of films, such as martial arts, are based on violence.

OK, so many men like action films with male protagonists. And?

41. I can believe that the success of the black family is dependent on returning men to their historical place within the family, rather than in promoting policies that strengthen black women's independence, or that provide social benefits to black children.

42. I have the privilege of believing that a woman cannot raise a son to be a man.

What can I say? He doesn't want men to return to the family as husbands and fathers. He wants black women to be even more autonomous through larger amounts of state funding. And if black men themselves believe otherwise then that's supposed to be more evidence that they are guilty of "privilege".

It just goes to show how these checklists are designed to badger/guilt trip people into following a left-wing politics. Think about it, he believes that black men will prove themselves committed to equality only if they endorse fatherless families, i.e. only if they believe that they are unnecessary in the lives of their own children.

50. In school, girls are cheerleaders for male athletes, but there is no such role for males to cheerlead for women athletes.

59. I am able to play sports outside without my shirt on and it not be considered a problem.

60. I am essentially able to do anything inside or outside without my shirt on, whereas women are always required to cover up.

So the sexes aren't interchangeable. The male chest doesn't have the same sexual connotations as the female one. Again, this is a complaint about the nature of reality.

66. In college, I will have the opportunity to date outside of the race at a much higher rate than black women will.

68. I know that the further I go in education the more success I will have with women.

70. By the time I enter college, and even through college, I have the privilege of not having to worry whether I will be able to marry a black woman.

71. In college, I will experience a level of status and prestige that is not offered to black women even though black women may outnumber me and out perform me academically.

So black women enter college in much larger numbers than black men, giving black men in college a dating advantage, and this is considered to be evidence of black male privilege? Why isn't it evidence that black men are less privileged than women when it comes to college admissions?

74. I can choose to be emotionally withdrawn and not communicate in a relationship and it be considered unfortunate but normal.

76. I have the privilege of not knowing what words and concepts like patriarchy, phallocentric, complicity, colluding, and obfuscation mean.

Right, so it's now considered a political offense to be emotionally withdrawn or to be unfamiliar with technical terms within feminist discourse. These checklists become longer and more demanding with each passing year.

77. I have the privilege of marrying outside of the race at a much higher rate than black women marry.

Truly incoherent. According to point 41 black men are privileged because they believe they are necessary to the black family. But in point 77 they are considered privileged for marrying out. So they are damned either way.

I won't go on further. I'll just draw the obvious conclusion. Why would anyone want to be male feminist? Would you really want to inhabit the mental space of Jewel Woods, who believes he is privileged because he doesn't have to care as much about hair care as his female peers?

Was progressive politics ever more stultifying, or as intrusive, as this?