TA!

"This semester, class", your professor says as you enter the room, "We'll be talking about the intersection of race, gender, and privilege. Who can tell me what privilege is?"

A hand shoots up, and she calls on the girl who volunteered to answer. Blue-haired and pale, with glasses and a pixie cut and an abnormally thin body, she draws all eyes as she answers. The professor turns to you as the class looks away, and mouths something. She's asking if you'll TA or not.

Yes, you mouth back.

"Privilege is the opposite of oppression. It's a set of advantages given to a specific group by society, when other groups have to struggle for those same advantages."

The professor nods, satisfied. "Very good, Samantha. Can anyone give me examples of privilege?" She ignores Samantha's raised hand. "Rebecca?"

Rebecca is a blonde, a human Barbie doll sitting in the very back, trying to avoid being noticed by the professor. Apparently that didn't work very well for her. "Oh, uh, privilege... uh, white guys... um... white guys... They get paid more?"

"That's right, they do! Henry, any other examples?"

Henry's so forgettable that even while staring at him you're still not sure what he looks like. "White men can get away with crimes more easily than black men, and are more likely to be believed innocent when women call them criminals."

"Also a good example. Thank you, Henry." The professor pauses for a moment, before continuing on. "But why are we only talking about white men? What about privilege for other groups? Who, besides white men, has benefited from the societal structure we've laid out?"

The class is silent, and the professor waits a while for an answer before continuing. "That's right, white women! Early feminists were mostly white women, and were only listened to because of their whiteness. During segregation, black men were lynched because white women accused them, even though they had no evidence. White women in Britain or Germany enjoyed the wealth of their nations just as much as their men did, if not more - after all, men had to work, while they could stay home and do nothing and enjoy the fruits of their mens' labor."

"That isn't right", Samantha says. "It's... it's intersectional. Women were oppressed by -"

"*POC* women were oppressed by men, yes. But look at the way Western culture treats women! Like fragile flowers, princesses who can't make their own decisions, who need to be cared for and provided for and fought for. Would anyone really call that oppression? No, of course not!" The professor gestures for you to step forward. "Even now, white women are the gatekeepers of culture, and a white wife is a symbol of being middle-class for so many men of color. And so, it only makes sense that both white women and white men have to make reparations! Luckily, our newest student is an example of that, a practical exercise in our theory-heavy field. Would you like to demonstrate, dear?"