Sure, we all play the game now and again of “which superpower would I want?”. If you could gain any superpower you could think of, which would you want and why? Lately, I’ve been dreaming about having the power of teleportation, not so much for the traditional “teleport somewhere and grab a bunch of cash” — because, first of all, where would you find a big bunch of cash these days and, secondly, what the heck would you do with it? — but because such an ability would allow one to surgically remove some of the rot that has invaded our society and is working hard to destroy it. Mind you, before the secret service shows up at my door, this is all hypothetical (and, perhaps, the beginnings of a short story).
In reality, however, I do have a superpower, of sorts: my place of privilege. As a straight, white, cisgender, educated, reasonably well-off man, I’m not sure I could be more privileged.
But is that really a superpower? Wikipedia defines a superpower as “a special or extraordinary ability far greater than what is considered normal, possessed by those of superhuman status.” That works for me.
Whilst those who have this superpower might not consider it special or extraordinary, I suspect that those who do not certainly do.
Examples of this superpower include:
- Walking around a store without security personnel following me to make sure I don’t steal something
- Not fearing for my life if I get caught accidentally running a red light, exceeding the speed limit, or even just having a broken taillight
- Being able to show affection to my partner in public without derision or assault
- Knowing that if I don’t get a job, it’s because I didn’t have the skills or experience the employer was looking for, not some other irrelevant reason
- Watching movies where the protagonists look like me and their romantic interests look like someone I’d be interested in
- When people think of our nation’s leaders, past and present, for the most part, they think of someone who looks and acts like me
- Saying I’m married will lead most people to make a correct assumption about my spouse’s gender identity
While this particular superpower won’t let me substantially improve our society in a large, spectacular way as teleportation would, it does let me make a small but significant impact on a regular and repeated basis. Oslo Pride recently posted a video that demonstrated the power of even small displays of support, something I’ve believed in for a very long time.
This is where my superpower — and yours, if you share the same superpower — comes in. As people of privilege, we can be a force for good, supporting those who lack our powers and working towards the day when this power isn’t super anymore.
To this end, as my final project in a class I was taking (LGBT Culture and Society), I developed a brochure called The Straight White Guy’s Guide to supporting the LGBTQIA2+ community and other marginalized groups. Take a look, if you share my superpower, and share it amongst your peers. Together, we can make our privilege the norm instead of a superpower.
This post is part of the 20th annual LGBTQ Families Day, hosted Mombian.com.
