People are blind to privilege.

The fracas that resulted from the latest hiring round at GB proved that gaming's community is among the least self-aware groups of people I've ever witnessed.

The Obvious:

Males within gaming seem to average out towards the "oblivious to privilege" side. Not only are they not aware of their privilege, they seem to complacently reject the notion of privilege... which is something the privileged can do very easily. There are exceptions, blah blah, but if you mush all the dudes together into one, that one guy will be fairly oblivious even if not overtly hostile to the idea.

Positive ground is being made among this group as the worst examples embarrass and infuriate everyone else. Even on this forum I've seen a huge change in how words like "patriarchy" are treated over the relatively short course of two years of posting. (Check my posting history; it's not long.)

Dealing with this worst element is energy/soul/lifeforce/joy-sapping. It’s painful, awful, necessary work. White guys like me should be bearing the lion’s share of that work.

The Not-So-Obvious:

There is a toxic urge among privilege-conscious members of the game community to maintain a laser focus on patriarchy and an almost pathological desire to ignore intersectionality/kyriarchical explorations of power and privilege. A massive reliance on a group of like-minded people sarcastically mocking fictionalized villains cobbled together from the words of opponents who are clearly intending to outrage or offend. These purposefully-hurtful elements are fed and the in-groups tighten up and harden up in a cycle.

A massive reliance on a group of like-minded people sarcastically mocking fictionalized villains cobbled together from the words of opponents who are clearly intending to outrage or offend. These purposefully-hurtful elements are fed and the in-groups tighten up and harden up in a poisonous circle.

This circle focuses a great deal on patriarchy, because issues of color are not its primary concern as people of color are so rare in this community, even among the privilege-conscious. White privilege manifests itself within these groups in the form of white female privilege, as the white males involved in these groups are only involved because they have passed a series of natural privilege checks and the narrative within the group is already suited to checking his privilege for him if he forgets.

White females, as the Internet proves, have a little more leeway in discussions of feminism/race/gender, to such an extent that race can disappear from the argument either accidentally or quite overtly (see the recent “No More Men-Only Panels” pledge losing its white female originator because people of color became involved).

I have taught underprivileged kids for almost a decade. In that time I have seen how white female privilege can be just as devastating to the truly underprivileged as white male privilege. White female privilege can be especially destructive to transgender women and women of color.

There are myriad manifestations, but one that I have witnessed many times is the white girlfriend of a black male. The straight white female perspective is, of course, one that focuses on the potential hostility of white male power. Very often young girls in these relationships are hyper-aware of the white-racist angle that tells them they should not date black boys, but seem completely oblivious to the damage done to their black female peers when a white girl is brought suddenly into the social circle.

Tension is not uncommon when new members are introduced to a social circle by romantic association with a pre-existing member. Personality differences or pre-conceptions within the group about the new member can create immediate unease. The simple reality that this new member did not enter via the normal route of “earning it” is awkward, and exacerbated when the new member makes that awkwardness plain.

As misunderstandings and inter-group rivalries heighten, fights are not uncommon, often physically instigated by black female students who are then punished very harshly, as black students are in public schools. Then we have an angry black female and a crying white female. Think about that image.

As the tensions build towards these violent finales, conversations revolve around how mean people are being to the white girl and how the white girl just doesn’t understand why these black girls hate her so much. She didn’t do anything wrong. Everyone is so mean to her.

White Female Privilege & The GB Thing:

GiantBomb hired two people who appear to be highly qualified and capable. In the days since their hiring, we have evidence of them performing their tasks competently and, it seems, as was desired by the people doing the hiring.

Those two are white males and their existence as white males triggered some outraged criticism and then a stream of hateful meanness directed towards the criticism. The hate message pushed one of the GB-critical to announce her departure from games commentary.

The industry, such as it is, lined up against the hate-speech.

The hiring was not really a surprise, however. The names of the two people were known within the community for well over a week, and the “sides” had plenty of time to chew on the new reality and make its plans.

During a video podcast she recorded with a friend and fellow games-industry writer, the woman who eventually ended up being harassed offline questioned whether or not she should go to war on Twitter. The two white females appeared to decide they were going to Twitter to vocalize their objections and then did just that.

As they contemplated the Twitter angle, both women were clearly aware of what was likely to happen. They had both been victims of meanness and hate on social media, as so many women constantly are, but a decision was made to go forward anyway.

There were a few problems that made this particular journey into battle more complicated, however, and here we will get directly to the heart of how white female privilege works.

Two women, both protesting the same issue on the same platform to the same audience.

One of them got a torrent of hate speech and even death threats and was terrified off the Internet by horrible bastards.

The other did not get that response. Bastard negativity and pricks, sure, but not the same response as her friend.

The difference?

The one bullied off the Internet is a transgendered woman.

The one who was not is pretty, white, and straight.

As the avalanche of hate fell, both participants Tweeted confusion and protests. The transgendered participant isn’t even the one who applied for the job. The straight participant sardonically remarked on how the transgendered woman was getting far more hate, aware of the anti-trans bent of the attackers but oblivious to how her white female privilege factored in.

White privilege tells us everyone is equal because we are on top. I can tell a less privileged friend, “Let’s go to battle!”, but I have a suit of armor he does not.

Check your privilege, people. Everyone. Especially us white males, but everyone must be aware of their power and privilege.

We have lost a great voice, hopefully temporarily, because we, as an overall community, are blind to our privilege.