My sociology professor had a really good metaphor for privilege today. She didn’t talk about race or gender or orientation or class, she talked about being left-handed.
A left-handed person walks into most classrooms and immediately is made aware of their left-handedness – they have to sit in a left-handed seat, which restricts their choices of where to sit. If there are not enough left-handed seats, they will have to sit in a right-handed seat and be continuously aware of their left-handedness. (There are other examples like left-handed scissors or baseball mitts as well.)
Meanwhile, right-handed people have much more choice about where to sit, and almost never have to think about their right-handedness.
Does this mean right-handed people are bad? No.
Does it mean that we should replace all right-handed desks with left-handed desks? No.
But could we maybe use different desk styles that can accommodate everyone and makes it so nobody has limited options or constant awareness that they are different? Yes.
Now think of this as a metaphor. For social class. For race. For ethnicity. For gender. For orientation. For anything else that sets us apart.
I really like lancer and susie’s friendship a Lot because it’s so blatant that they’re both just..weird and well-meaning kids that want friends and people that understand them-which that understanding is something they clearly provide for eachother too. Lancer isn’t SCARED of susie like everyone else is, he looks up to her and even admires and clearly wants to befriend her from the beginning. And in return susie is encouraging and kind towards lancer in a way that no one else is. She also always puts forward a real effort to make him feel wanted and included, especially when they eventually join kris and raslei, and rather than only being there out of obligation (like the other people in lancer’s life) susie Truly trusts and wants to spend time with him because they have Fun together. There’s just something so selfless and genuine about their friendship and how much they come to care about eachother even in such a short time, and I think a huge part of that is shaped by the fact that they understand each other in a way that other characters don’t always relate to. They’re both just really lonely kids and neither one of them want to be a bad person but are made to act like such whether out of self-defense or what they feel to be obligation, and the security they provide eachother with their friendship is what ultimately brings out the good in one another.
sky's stuff 