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What's a "straight white male?"
What's it mean to be called a straight white male? The words straight, white, and male
by themselves seem simple enough, but the category itself is meaningful in ways you probably haven't thought about. It's hard to see when you're in it. People who are not straight, white, and male, however, see it. For example...
Of all the combinations of sexes, races, and sexualities (straight black male, bisexual hispanic female), straight white male is basically the default. The objective standard. Take this sentence as an example:
(scroll down)
Someone is walking down the street.
If you had to make the fairest guesses you could as to that someone's sex, race, and sexuality, what would it be? Starting with sex... they'd really have to be male or the sentence would have read "A woman is walking down the street," don't you think? Being a woman is different, that calls for description, but a guy you can just call "someone". "Someone" just sounds like a guy. Next, race. Probably white. Being Black or Hispanic is also something that calls for description; You would have to say, "A Black guy is walking down the street" but if it's a white guy you don't have to say "white," you can just say "someone." Last one, sexuality. Well obviously straight! It'd be pretty absurd to declare that the "someone" is gay! Sure it's conceivable that they could be gay, but it would be completely innapropriate to make such an assumption unless we were told. So they've gotta be straight.
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