system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV. I think it's racist and sexist to assume some one is more 'privileged' than other people based off of their skin color and their gender, no matter what.
gpt
I think you misunderstand what privilege in this context actually means.

Does it mean the generic straight white upper-class man in the US won't face problems in their life? No, absolutely not. Does it mean a black lesbian poor trans woman will have a harder life than the first person? No, it still doesn't.

But that's not the point. It's not a phrase used to talk about single, individual people. It's meant to talk about the demographic as a whole.

For instance, we could say that white men are privileged over black men when it comes to prison sentences, because statistically, black men get longer and harsher sentences for the same crimes. But that doesn't mean that it is impossible for a black person to get an "easier" sentence than a white person; just that it's less likely, therefore the black person is disadvantaged in this regard.

This holds true for many other situations, and many other demographics. A woman is less likely to succeed in politics than a man. A cis person is more likely to have doctors that understand their problems than a trans person. A white person is less likely to be sentenced to prison than a black person. Does that mean women *can't* succeed? Does that mean cis people *can't* have hard to explain medical issues? Does that mean a white person *can't* go to jail? No, it doesn't mean any of those things. It just means that, in general, as a demographic, some groups of people have it easier than others overall, even if certain individuals don't.

A good way I've heard it explained is to imagine life is like a video game. The straight white rich male is easy mode, and (insert whatever demographic is most oppressed here) is EXTREME ULTRA-HARD MEGA DEATH MODE.

Does that mean the person playing on easy might not have issues with the game from time to time? No. Does that mean the person on the hard difficulty cannot succeed? No. But it does mean that, in general, the person on easy will find life easier than the person on hard.