Welcome to Sex and the State, a newsletter about power. I’m a writer working on decriminalizing and destigmatizing all things sex. I use evidence and stories to interrogate existing power structures to propose better ways of relating. To support my work,
Your life will tend to be better if you believe you have more agency. Thinking you can change your personal situation inspires more action and results than the paralysis that comes from too much focus on the barriers that hold you back.
It’s not that “anybody can accomplish anything if they work hard,” or that barriers like structural racism don’t exist. It’s that positive action is just more likely to give you what you want or at least make you feel better about yourself.
At the same time seeing the limits imposed on others can give us us more empathy for them.
Also we definitely need a deeper more nuanced discussion of privilege and what it really means.
Many ignore that privilege is situational and limited. That is why lower income white males feel “they can’t get a break.” White and poor is better than black and poor, but not by much.
Wealth transcends skin color. Except maybe if you’re a black man in a traffic stop with a white cop.
This is very insightful, Cathy.
Your life will tend to be better if you believe you have more agency. Thinking you can change your personal situation inspires more action and results than the paralysis that comes from too much focus on the barriers that hold you back.
It’s not that “anybody can accomplish anything if they work hard,” or that barriers like structural racism don’t exist. It’s that positive action is just more likely to give you what you want or at least make you feel better about yourself.
At the same time seeing the limits imposed on others can give us us more empathy for them.
Also we definitely need a deeper more nuanced discussion of privilege and what it really means.
Many ignore that privilege is situational and limited. That is why lower income white males feel “they can’t get a break.” White and poor is better than black and poor, but not by much.
Wealth transcends skin color. Except maybe if you’re a black man in a traffic stop with a white cop.