Today I'd like to shed light on a topic known as Privilege.

I am a straight, white, American, middle class, female adult.
In that statement, I have SO much privilege that I never even think about and probably took for granted so many times.


So let's dig into this.
I identify as straight. All of my life since childhood I've always been attracted to men. I think girls are pretty and some of them are sexy. I won't deny and say if I see a girl walking by I don't look at her boobs or butt, because I do. I just have a natural tendency to do that. I'm not sure if there's a reason behind it or if it's just because if a girl is wearing a shirt that shows her cleavage, my eyes gravitate towards it. I know 100% in my heart I'm not a lesbian because I hate the taste of vagina and the thought of being sexual with a girl doesn't really interest me. I could probably kiss or touch a girl but I could never have sex, date, or marry a girl...I'm not into it. All of my sexual and emotional desires are with men. My heart flutters around men, not women. So I'm definitely not a lesbian and I can't even go as far as saying I'm bisexual. I identify as straight.

With that being said, I have a privilege. I was born into a sexual mindset that is deemed normal and universally acceptable. I am in the safe zone of sorts. When I was a kid, if someone was labeled LGBT, they were a social outcast, a religious blasphemy and someone that you should avoid and hate. However, despite growing up in a religious and conservative area, I had friends who were gay, lesbian, bisexual etc. I enjoyed the friendships we had before I even knew their sexuality or what sexuality even was and after finding out what they identified as, it did not change my view on them. Despite my religion telling me that gay people were a sinners, I couldn't find it in my heart to deny their existence or right to be happy. Now with people identifying as LGBT so frequently, I think society overall can find it more acceptable. Obviously the overly hypocritical bible thumpers will never accept them but in time I think that the LGBT will be so common that being straight will become the minority. In my opinion, we should not place ourselves in these confinements of roles and genders etc.... we love what we love. As long as both parties consent to what takes place, why should it matter?

I am white. This is a privilege because I can blend in with society and not worry about racial profiling, or racial stereotypes, or needing to go through special procedures to acquire what I want in life. I generally don't get judged or denied. For a long time African Americans were slaves and once slavery was abolished, they were segregated. Now, we live in an era where a black individual and a white individual can sit side by side with their children and not be cast aside, but like I mentioned above, if two gay people were out and about, they'd be the talk of the town. I honestly think we should just move past all of this stuff and find something else to hate. You know what I think is worth hating? Murderers. Rapists. Abusers. Molesters. Terrorists. Those are the kind of people who we should be concerned about. Not the color of someones skin or who they kiss.

I am American. America...oh yes... good ol' MURICA! The land of the free and the home of the brave. Despite the shitty things that go on in this country, if we look outwards to other countries, we have it pretty damn good. We can go into a grocery store and select any kind of food we want. We can pay for that food and eat that food and throw the rest of it away without even batting an eyelash. Yet in other countries, infants will scavage for days just to find rotten morsels of food for themselves and their siblings. This is probably one of the main privileges. The American Privilege. The freedom to do what we want, be what we want, eat what we want, drink what we want, wear what we want, say what we want. I have the freedom to make this blog without worrying about if my family will be publicly executed for saying something offensive. While I would love to live in other places, I know deep inside that I am very grateful to be born and have citizenship of the USA because some countries are really shitty to be in and my heart yearns for them to find refuge.

I consider myself to be middle class. I have a full time job making above federal minimum wage and I have enough money to pay my bills and still enjoy things on the side. I am not wealthy at all. I live paycheck to paycheck like many others, but I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm poor. By poor, I'm looking at the American standard of poor and obviously outside countries. Compared to third world countries, everyone in the US is rich as hell. But within the US, I would say I'm in the comfortable middle. I'm not on the streets digging through trash and sleeping on cardboard, but I'm also not in a lavish palace. Where I am, I am free from being targeted by people who attack the rich and I'm free from the suffering that the poor encounter. I live comfortably and I hope to remain this way for the rest of my life.

I am a female adult. Now, while women 'mostly' have equal rights to men,  there are a few things that are lacking but I'm not concerned about that. I am a female adult. I am not a man but I am an adult and the privilege of being an adult is to have the freedom to do things you couldn't do as a teenage or child without being judged or breaking the law. I'm 25 so I can drink, smoke, gamble, have sex, do whatever the hell I want! Fortunately, I don't smoke or gamble. I do drink a little and I am sexually active with my bf. As a child or teen you aren't taken seriously. You aren't experienced or mature enough. You lack responsibility and resources to get on your feet and live independently but once you're an adult and out of high school suddenly the world shifts and you're in new territory. Even so, from 18 - 23 you still aren't taken seriously. You're probably still in college and experimenting with sex, smoking, drinking or drugs etc.... you have that rebellious phase of life and finally one day it clicks in that you're an adult. People take you seriously and they acknowledge and respect your choices and lifestyle. Suddenly something you do today is okay but if you would have done the same thing, the same way, 5 years ago, it would have been appalling.

I just wanted to say that I am very grateful to have these labels placed upon me and my heart goes out to people who are criticized, judged, hated, discriminated against for who they are, how they were born, how they feel and love, how they live, etc... I wanted to express my support for everyone and everything and that we all deserve equal rights and chances and opportunities. So if you are reading this today, do me a favor and show your appreciation for someone in your life or even a stranger. Try to acknowledge your beliefs and the beliefs of others and while you may disagree with theirs, cast those beliefs aside and just acknowledge that person as a strong individual and treat them with kindness, respect, and love. In the end, we're all just human beings, slowly withering away on Planet  Earth to die and carry out the plans of the universe.