There comes a time in a child's life where their parents will sit them down with all serious-like and utter theses words: "it's time we have the Talk".
"The Talk". Capital "T", the birds and the bees, and where babies come from talk. The dreaded anticipation and unavoidable awkwardness of having your parents explain what sex is and how it works. Of course, some children already knew about it before this moment as the internet is a thing and we don't live in a vacuum, but I digress.
These were my general associations with the phrase "the Talk". I used to believe that "the sex talk" was the only "Talk" a parent or guardian could have with their child until I began to delve into the world of social justice and activism.
I started to learn that marginalized people would have various "talks" with their parents or guardians about how to stay safe from oppression because of their identities. For example, young women are told not to walk home alone at night and wear less revealing clothing to avoid getting sexually assaulted. I didn't realize it at the time, but my sisters and I have had this "talk" many times before as I grew older.
These talks are important, life-changing even. In a world like ours, where people get killed by police for the color of their skin and transgender individuals are harassed in bathrooms, marginalized people need these talks to be safe. In an ideal world, these talks wouldn't even need to happen in the first place. In an ideal world, there would be no oppression and no need for marginalized folks to take extra measures to stay alive and healthy.
However, we do not live in this world. We live in a world where those who are in poverty and those who are experiencing homelessness have little chance of getting out those situations. We live in a world where Donald Trump has a huge following of people who are every kind of -ist and -phobic in the book.
While, yes, these conversations about protection against oppressors and systems of oppression are important, as a society, we have to start changing the conversation. We have to start educating people about their privileges.
Talking about privilege has become sort of a taboo and educating people about their own privileges becomes difficult. Privileged people seem to have a hard time coming to terms with their privilege. I know I have, and I'm still earning about my own privilege since our system is designed to keep us ignorant to it.
If we start talking to our children about their privileges, we can begin to change the culture, and come one small step closer to ending social inequality. By starting to teach them about privilege at a young age, we can end the extreme defensiveness that arises from privileged people in these conversations.
People need to be aware of their privilege, because, with it, they can live a more comfortable life than others. If unchecked, it can lead to people taking up too much space. And, if abused, it leads to more oppression.
It's time we start looking at how we are benefiting from our broken, corrupt system. It's time we tell our children that they don't have to worry about access to healthcare or just walking down the street at night. I'm tired of having older adults call me "too radical" for just saying the word "privilege". Open your eyes and acknowledge your privileges. It's about time.
