Privilege: a special right, advantage or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people

One of my roommates came across a post while scrolling through Facebook this week that is filled with unfortunate ignorance. Paul Joseph Watson sarcastically claims that his male privilege is not really a privilege at all. Instead, Watson claims that his privilege causes him to be more likely to die in the workplace, die in combat and commit suicide. Though Watson presents somewhat factual evidence, though his cited sources are Wikipedia, he fails to present the statistics and structural reasons behind all of his claimed detrimental effects of “male privilege.”

Watson first claims that men are 11 times more likely to die in the workplace as a result of male privilege. According to the most recent statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2014, there were 4,679 fatal workplace injuries. Men encompassed 4,320 of the total fatalities (women made up 359 of the fatalities), a majority of which occurred in transportation incidents. Those who worked as truck drivers were the most likely to be involved in workplace fatalities followed by tractor-trailer drivers. Yes, a majority of those involved in workplace deaths happen to be male. However, when you look at the statistics a majority of these deaths occur because of motor vehicle accidents, a leading cause of death in America—not because of your "male privilege."

Secondly, Watson claims that "male privilege" entitles men to contribute to 99.9 percent of combat deaths and casualties. In Operation Iraqi Freedom there were 4,412 casualties: 4,302 men and 110 women. Considering that the military just opened all infantry and combat positions to women in January 2016, it is unsurprising that men made up a majority of military casualties. With the rise of equality, women will be able to defend their country in the infantry which is no longer a male privilege.

Next, Watson claims that "male privilege" causes men to commit suicide five times more than women. First off, suicide is not something to joke about or make light off. On average there are about 117 suicides per day, and each year 42,773, Americans die by suicide. Men are actually three and a half times more likely to commit suicide though women attempt suicide three times as often (men tend to use more lethal means when attempting suicide such as using firearms). Suicide is not funny nor is it something that should be debated in attempt to sarcastically deny your "male privilege."

If you know someone in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255.

Part 2 coming next week!