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Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: It is a reasonable response for me as a white, straight, males to get defensive when a person, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation, tells them that they are “privileged.”

Just to start, I am a white, straight, man. I want to make it very clear that I am NOT denying racism, sexism, homophobia, or any form of bigotry in any way. Things like that absolutely DO exist, and I think they are horrible and the people who promote those concepts are horrible people. (I’m painfully aware I’m not breaking any new ground in saying that lol).

That also being said, I want to make it clear that I am aware that POC, the LGBT Community, women, and all other groups outside of straight white men that I failed to mention here have had it way tougher for YEARS and that there are absolutely inequalities in this world. I am not denying that.

I am not talking about if someone says “straight white men are privileged” as a blanket statement. I’m saying if they tell me, personally, that I am privileged because I am a straight white man.

My simple point is this. You do not know my life. You don’t know the shit I’ve had to go through. The pain and the hardships I’ve had to endure. The abuse, neglect, and economic struggles I have faced. I had to work my ASS off to get where I am, despite all of my struggles, and despite the countless obstacles, some of whom were people. 

You don’t know what I’ve been through, and I don’t know what you’ve been through. So don’t tell me I am Privileged. From where I’m standing, if this is privilege, then I don’t know why you would want it in the first place. 

Again I am not talking about ALL straight white men, I am talking about ME.

I have had 2 occasions within the past year where I have been told I’m “privileged” in person, and I’ve seen quite a few posts online where I’ve made comments and people have responded as well telling me so. 

In the two instances it happened in person, I got defensive and basically started to say, “you don’t know what I’ve been through and I don’t know what you’ve been through so why don’t you back off.” And in both occasions I was cut off and basically told that “white dudes always get defensive when they’re told they’re privileged.” 

Well yeah. Yeah I am defensive. I don’t think here’s a single person out there, who if the roles were reversed, wouldn’t get defensive.

So, change my view.

Edit: spelling and grammar (I probably missed some other ones too so bear with me)

NOTE: there’s a HUGE typo in the title. It’s supposed to say “tells me that I AM PRIVILEGED” not that “they are privileged” at the end. Sorry about that.

Edit:

Hey guys! Thanks so much for posting everybody. I walked away from my phone for about 10 minutes and had more comments and DMs then I was prepared for! I’m going to reply to them as swiftly as I can do please bear with me!
gpt
Privilege in this regard does not refer to what you have you have to deal with, but rather what you don't have to deal with.

Plenty of straight, white men go through genuinely tough shit. Everyone accepts this to be true. Hardship as a general principle doesn't see color or gender or sexual orientation. Very, very, very few people actually think that being of a SWM identity prevents all hardship. That's nuts. 

What privilege is referring to, instead, is all of the things you never had to deal with because of those identities. 

Your race doesn't make your life *more* difficult. Your sexual orientation doesn't make your life *more* difficult. Your gender doesn't make your life *more* difficult. 

Like a cop might have been aggressive towards you, but they didn't act that way because you're white. You might not have gotten a job once, but it wasn't because you're a man. You might have been punched at a bar before, but it wasn't because another guy thought you were hitting on them. These are the kind of things that straight, white men are privileged to not experience, even if many other forms of hardship are nondiscriminatory.