Not every white male creative is a member of the boys club
In this guest post, a male creative whose appointment was the subject of critical public commentary explains how it feels to be the subject of that backlash.
As a white male creative, I’ve been ridiculed several times on social media just because I was hired. The news comes out and there is outrage, not just in the comments section but also from one Cindy Gallop. The company who hired me is also ridiculed, making it far less likely that they will hire another white male creative (or publicise it) in the future.
I’m called privileged, self-entitled, privately educated, chauvinistic, undeserving and it’s generally assumed I’m part of some ‘boys club’, a club that even if it did exist, I’ve certainly never been invited to.
It’s a shame that we have got to the point that criticism of Gallop – however minor – needs to be done anonymously.
It is quite possible to absolutely support the need for continuous improvement in gender (and cultural) diversity whilst also noting the elements of Gallop’s rhetoric that are fallacious at best, bottom-feeding at worst.
Who are we not allowed to question? That way lies your answer to where power rests.
You live in Iraq under Sadam? You won’t speak out against his regime for fear of getting disappeared? Sadam is an example of what privilege looks like.
You’re in a senior role in advertising and you wish to question the Social Justice Warrior Narrative that all white men are born with this thing called privilege and that you are responsible for the disparate outcomes of people who freely choose certain paths in life which lead to a predictable pattern of results?
…You get hounded out of your position and smeared in the media.
Why doesn’t your white male privilege save you here?
Maybe it doesn’t exist…?
“I’ve suffered more blatant gender discrimination than any female I know in this industry”
Maybe you don’t know that many females in the industry. Which is entirely possible, because there’s not a large pool of female creatives to choose from.
I do feel genuinely bad for you if you took public criticism of your organisation’s hiring tendencies to be a slight against you just because you had the misfortune to be hired at the wrong time. But you did get hired. If there’s a chance that the industry – as a whole – has a bias against female creative candidates then we do need to be talking about it.
http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=af16_patriarchy
You don’t need an invitation to the club, mate – membership is automatic.
Your path to success has had challenges. But it would’ve been much harder if you were a woman from that background. Or not white.
Yr “imagine if” scenario is pointless because it’s fantasy – reality is that the only scenario is one where white men are dominant.
Yes, privilege is relative and you might not have had as much as the private-school boy you’ve been portrayed as, but your road, in Australia, now, has still been much, much, much easier than it would’ve been if you weren’t a bloke, and white.
If membership is automatic that would assume that exclusion is automatic then? Way to tar EVERYONE with the same brush.
Acknowledging this does not translate to a personal insult. I’m a middle-aged white male and therefore things are easier for me than people who aren’t white middle-aged men. It’s just reality.
So, “shut up and suck it up” is basically your contribution to a complex debate?
No, because the author’s concept that calling out Male White Corporate Oppression is racism is null and void, so there’s nothing to suck up. Thx 4 yr contrib to the debate, btw x
You seem to be confusing institutional racism for individual racism. Blasting a company for a hire on the basis of that hire’s race is racist.
This is just typical SJW nonsense, erg: “Some hypothetical person that I can’t really point to has maybe had it worse than you, so please kindly sit down and shut up.”
I am Mexican. I grew up Mexican and poor. I was the first person in my family to graduate from university.
But you know what? I am fair skinned. So instantly, I am “white” and I get told daily by bigots like “The Professor” here that I was born into privilege due to my skin color.
Yes, my skin color. Not my social station in life. Not my economic station. My freaking melanin content overrides all these factors and for some reason, despite the fact that I was born into a ghetto to uneducated immigrants, surrounded by crime and lacking in basic educational opportunities I am supposed to give way to pompous middle-class twits simply because they have a vagina.
This hypocrisy of bigotry masquerading as social progress has to stop. Gender and Identity politics are worthless. Class always has been and always will be the single most defining barrier in a persons life. Not what skin color they were born with. Not what genitals they were born with. But WHO they were born to.
Taking your story on face value, I’m full of respect for what you have achieved. Being the first in a family to graduate from uni will most likely have a positive impact on your future family for generations to come.
However, if you had been a woman, the path you’ve trodden would’ve been harder again. And if you had made it to where you are today, you’d still, for all you’d have achieved, have to work harder to be taken as seriously in a business/boardroom context than as your male counterparts.
You’re dead right that class is also a major factor to be considered, but replace a male with a female and, all other things including class remaining equal, the female will be made to work harder to achieve the same things.
These facts are not meant as a personal insult. They do not make your significant achievements any less worthy of respect or admiration. They don’t change a thing about your life or how it should be perceived.
How would you know?
You don’t. So STFU.
What if he was an attractive woman ?
“Class always has been and always will be the single most defining barrier in a persons life. Not what skin color they were born with. Not what genitals they were born with. But WHO they were born to.”
Absolutely.
I originally didn’t necessarily think the men in question were themselves entitled, and can understand being upset at having vitriol directed at you over the internet, but to be honest, this made me less sympathetic. Claiming men are discriminated against in society and in the workplace more so than women actually does make this author sound pretty entitled, because it’s not rooted in reality at all.
No one’s saying that all men have an easy pass, or that they can’t have suffered hardships to get where they are. But they will have it relatively easier than a woman with the exact same background – because she, on top of having to work past all the other barriers, has to face gender barriers on top of all that.
“Imagine if I was Asian and people ridiculed me for being hired because I was Asian and it’s 2016 for fuck’s sake, why are we only hiring Asian men.” “Imagine if I was female, and people ridiculed me for being hired and everyone said ‘FFS it’s 2016, why so many females? THIS IS FUCKED!’.”
And these comparisons actually makes the complaints of being discriminated against as a white guy seem less valid, not more. Because they’re not at all the same thing, since studies show both Asians and women face more barriers to the workplace than white men. No one makes those complaints about them, because they’re not being hired disproportionately for senior jobs. Even in industries where they’re overrepresented, women/racial minorities are often underrepresented at senior levels and sometimes even underrepresented at entry levels compared to graduation rates. e.g. In nursing/teaching, men still get paid more and disproportionately get promoted.
According to what statistics do women have it harder?
There are more women in advertising than men according to the facts.
But I think the author was pointing out that’s besides the point. Discrimination is discrimination. Discriminating against white males on social media is just the same as discriminating against someone in the office. Man or woman. It’s all bad. And his final words?
Just stop it.
“I’ve suffered more blatant gender discrimination than any female I know in this industry in the most humiliating and public forum”
Congratulations for overcoming a tougher background than many in this industry have experienced. You got the job. Meanwhile very few women and people of colour, regardless of background, get creative director roles.
Oh but you had a bad run in the trade press so it’s almost the same thing as attempting to overcome hundreds of years of systemic bias.
Fist bumps all round from the dude bros.
#alllivesmatter
I love how men think that the ‘privilege’ that women speak of is directly related to your social standing/status.
Privilege is never being talked over because of your gender. Privilege is not being marginalised to what you look like because of your gender. Privilege is not being told that you’re being ‘too emotional’ or told that your period is affecting your mood. Privilege is having your opinion heard and not thrown out because of your gender.
You might have been left out of the boys club but you are still afforded the respect and privilege that comes with being male. And just like how — as a man — you will never know what it feels like to fear for your body when you’re walking alone at night, you will never understand how it feels to be discriminated against every day and to have to shake it off and move on like nothing happened.
I don’t believe that women should be hired for the sake of hiring women — and I’m sure that you deserved the role — but you will never be able to see the discrimination and the ingrained misogyny in this industry even though it leaks from the walls, because you do not experience it.
So, sorry I do not feel bad that someone slated you on the internet because you’re a white male — at least anonymous words don’t hurt as much as being marginalised to your face.
Literally just got pulled into a room yesterday by a female manager, who told me to ‘take it easy’ on a colleague who is a woman, who complained about my honest criticism of their shit work because “woman go through hormone changes”. How about women stop playing the victim, blaming their hormones, learn from their mistakes and get on with the job… The phsyiology excuse exists, and get’s used every-day which is weak as piss and the reason no one wants to work with you in the first place.
Literally have been asked if it’s ‘that time of the month’ because I didn’t smile in a review, however, I have been witness to dozens of sooking male creatives to which no one bats an eyelid. FYI, it wasn’t my time of the month and last time I checked, I wasn’t paid to smile for you.
I’ve listened to other male creatives refer to talented female creatives as ‘the hot one’ or whatever other descriptor related to her looks, rather than the work she does. Do you think for a second that you talk about each other like that?
There have been more than one occasion where female creatives have been told to be more ‘blokey’ and to ‘fit in’, or left out of an activity because it was organised for ‘the men’.
In case you didn’t realise, we ARE getting on with the job, and have been for a long time. So much so that we’ve had to adjust how we act and react to this bullshit.
Sorry if one female manager you have worked with one time asked you to go easy on someone once because of their hormones — we promise as a gender it will never happen again.
Or maybe it’s time you got your head out of your arse and started respecting the women you work with, which is the reason why this conversation keeps happening over and over.
But you know, cheers for proving my point.
To be clear, you are literally, on a comments forum, in public, on a widely read industry website in the year 2016 actually suggesting that, “no one wants to work with [women]” because they can’t take criticism and make excuses about their “shit” work due to their physiology. Or more specifically no one wants to work with women because they are victim-playing women? What the actual F?
No, misogyny certainly doesn’t exit in this industry does it!?!?
The article clearly pointed out that he had been marginalised to his face and overcame that through hard work… and you want to talk over the top of him and diminish his experience through your lens?
Because this is all about you?
Wow. Just… wow. I’m sorr, but I can’t feel bad for you in the least. You are where you are because you chose to follow that path. As someone previously said, membership is automatic. So while it hurts to be singled out like you feel you were, imagine all the times this bias has worked to your advantage without you even knowing it, let alone having an issue with it.
#notallmen
Really feel for this guy and agree wholeheartedly with this piece conceptually. It’s about equity, rather than equality (for me anyway and I’m white female to be clear), whether that’s on race, gender or anything else. There needs to be more done to be inclusive for sure, but that doesn’t mean calling out a company just because they hired a white male before knowing any of the background. Sure, females need more support in putting their hand up than men often do and we need to have diversity practices in place to ensure everyone a fair crack, which is exactly why it needs to be equitable rather than equal, because we are not all ‘equal’, we are different, and those differences in opinions bring more creative thinking to the table
Absolutely 100% agree Rebecca.
We don’t want you in our club anyway, you’re too much of a sissy to be in our proud white man club.
Cry more loser…
Also, in actual seriousness, it’s amazing how this article has only generated further scorn. You truely are a moron if you thought this would generate sympathy for you because you got butt hurt by the internet.
Whatever your opinion on the subject this proves that attacking a company because of its hiring policies isn’t always so straight forward, the mud you sling at the top generally drips down. Rather than complaining try making an example and embodying the change you want to happen
http://www.dailylife.com.au/ne.....pzx3j.html
Well said, prof!
I see where the original sentiment is coming from but a fact’s a fact…
As a white, educated, middle aged creative, I wonder what it is I’m supposed to do to fix it? Not work? Not take roles when offered?
I’m drowning in male tears
your article wasn’t *that* bad until this part -> “I’ve suffered more blatant gender discrimination than any female I know in this industry in the most humiliating and public forum.”
you say you’ve been discriminated against, but you still got the job. i don’t think you know what actual discrimination is.
Actual discrimination would be what the author called out; being lambasted on the internet for being a) white and b) male.
To the writer, ask yourself, if you were in all the same circumstances;
Poor, publicly educated, speech impediment, slow learner etc.
But then imagine you are a black woman on top of all of this – do you think you would have been even considered for an entry-level role?
If you think you would have – you’re naive.
If you think you wouldn’t have – now you understand your privilege (and mine as a white male).
The answer is probably yes. Agencies are full of politically correct people, as well as well-intentioned people who would like to help out someone they perceive as having a tougher experience.
Sydney ad agencies in 2016 are likely to be one of the most liberal places in the history of mankind. Despite the few rotten eggs that still hang around.
They’re like terror attacks or plane crashes. They don’t actually happen that often, but by taking up a disproportionate amount of media coverage and cognitive real estate it seems like they’re omnipresent. It’s called a bias. Gender studies 101
How is that even a point?
The guy has been discriminated against and is pointing out discrimination is wrong. Then you want him to imagine he’s a black woman?
What exactly is your racist angle?
The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you know nothing about. You don’t have a vagina, so you’ll never understand.
Grow up Australia! Do it now before everyone else realises you are shit!
“Imagine if I was Asian and people ridiculed me for being hired because I was Asian and it’s 2016 for fuck’s sake, why are we only hiring Asian men.”
I’d happily invite you to talk to me, an Asian male in the advertising industry, but we probably won’t have much to speak about. Unfortunately I can’t relate to the hardships you’ve faced as a white male in Australia who now works as a senior creative director.
I also sit with the wider female population to which you’ve not “suffered more blatant gender discrimination” against, so not sure if you’d be keen to mingle with me at all.
Well. Where to start with this. Firstly I’m embarrassed to read this article. It basically exemplifies everything that’s been wrong with Kevin Roberts mentality and how deep that culture obviously runs within your boys club.
And yes, you are part of it.
Sorry, but everyone has struggles they have to go through in life, and your white male privilege is what has allowed you to rise to this position. In a way that women, or minority groups would have found much, much harder.
Your ‘what ifs’ are completely irrelevant and offensive. You’re detracting from the argument at hand and refusing to take on anything constructive.
This discourse is so necessary. We’re not pitting genders against each other, but rather asking why is this such a consistent within the industry and in general. Trying to encourage an equal platform. You claiming inequality doesn’t exist, or that you are the one facing inequality doesn’t make it so. It’s almost laughable.
I agree, this debate needs to end soon. You need to think long and hard about what side your on.
Where in this article did the author ever claim inequality doesn’t exist? He claimed that he had suffered discrimination from the outset and even though he worked his way up the ladder, still suffers from discrimination, the discrimination of being perceived as a privileged white male?
He IS a privileged white male. He GOT the job. He’s complaining about being called on it. Give me a freaking break.
There’s a reason why the phrase is “check your privilege” – it means make an effort to be aware of the advantages you’ve received as an accident of birth.
The OP pointed out he’s an underprivileged white male. White, yes, male, yes, but compared to all the privately educated north shore women in advertising, massively underprivileged.
He got the job through hard work.
Maybe you should check your privilege?
I too hope this discussion bullsh*t ends soon and we start actioning things. I’m sorry good guys were used as a discussion point but this had to turn around didn’t it. It’s a massive problem and I understand it came in like a freight train nobody noticed was coming because when it’s not a problem that effects you it’s hard to get your head around and you fail to notice it (that’s not your fault). But now we know we just need to change it. Now you know how it feels, see it as a privelidge to help, because you’re right it fucking sucks being the target and degraded for having a penis, it makes no sense at all and visa versa. We need the good peoples to step in and stand up for what’s right so we can get on with this awesome show. If your agency doesn’t have 50/50 or even close if it’s that one or two tokens in the corner ask why, tell your bosses to get on it so this can all stop and if you see dudes being inappropriate towards the girls around you just call it out and tell him to pull his head in. That’s all we need to do. But lets not start feeling sorry for head Saatchi dude, he’s the attitude problem not the solution, he is the actioning we need so this Bullsh*t stops.
Just because you’re a man doesn’t mean life isn’t eventful or difficult sometimes. But as a white man it means that reaching the point you’re at is MORE difficult for anyone not white, male and able-bodied. Fuck off.
I’m sorry you’ve personally suffered abuse/ridicule because of the Cindy Gallop thing. But you’ve kind of proved critics’ point:
“And even then, I never fit in. I didn’t go to their schools, I didn’t talk like they did, I couldn’t afford to dress like they did, I didn’t have rich parents and connections like they did. I didn’t really relate to any of them, including the women who as far as I knew all went to prestigious schools and all had family backgrounds much better than mine.”
So there was a white privileged boys’ club, which you have struggled to be accepted into. Surely you can empathise that women, people from non-anglo backgrounds, and others who are ‘different’ have also felt this isolation and wondered how to break in. And why should they? The norm needs to change – you (and the rest of us) shouldn’t have to learn how to speak/dress/politic like them.
Every time a meeting I attend begins with 10 minutes of footy/pub chat I am screaming with frustration on the inside. The pics of Kevin Roberts on mumbrella – manspreading and foozball – nup no problem relating to women there!
Sheesh
“The norm needs to change – you (and the rest of us) shouldn’t have to learn how to speak/dress/politic like them.”
Why? You state this as some sort of fact when you offer nothing but your own whining anecdote for evidence. Every subculture has their own standards/qualifiers. Be it a way of talking, dress, interests, etc. It is the very basis of group psychology. Merely demanding that it be done away with because you don’t like it isn’t just silly, it is stupid.
So many male tears…
As less than 9% is white and male I reckon we could claim minority status.
Thanks for a great article.
Unfortunately, you just can’t win. There’s a level of hatred, hysteria and groupthink that is simply impenetrable. When simple minds – in one of the most liberal industries in one of the most liberal cities in the world, during the most liberal period of human history – throw around big words like patriarchy and privilege (even intersectionality is coming our way), you know reason has left the building.
And they accuse us of being biased…
I’ve worked in corporate communications and public relations for about 15 years in the government environment and have found in practically each organisation that woman outnumbered mean about two to one.
I’m a Gen X’er and have genuinely not seen or heard about any form of sexism, discrimination or bias in any workplace I’ve known, in fact gender has not arisen as a point of issue with any female colleagues.
Just a thought, but could it be that when people don’t get instant gratification in this day and age, or don’t climb the greasy pole quickly enough according to their respective life schedules, they feel mandated to point the finger of blame at someone else for stymieing their career.
Yep, there was/is a cohort of old school thinkers out there, but in my experience they’re terrified of being labeled as such and keep their musings to themselves or circle of friends.
I think many jump to hysterics way too quickly and can’t accept that misfortune and disappointments are constant visitors in life.
Men have become compliant and quiet punching bags to vent anger towards – and at the end of the day we too have our own unique struggles, stories and scars as everyone else.
It’s not easy for most of us in life. Why must many ambit commentators insinuate that somehow we get a magic escalator to convey us to wherever we get and don’t suffer just like everyone else along the journey.
Hear hear! So sick of all the hateful opinions which flare up the minute anyone opens their mouth about anything. Australia has really taken over the whinging mantle from the poms. I’m pretty sure that the majority of people in 2016 actually do want to find a more equal way to do great things in our industry. It’s my experience in the workplaces that I’ve been in as well. Can we just get on with it.
I think the point being made by the writer is that he worked hard to get to the position of being in the running for this role and then won out over all the other candidates because he deserved it.
So all of the backlash over his appointment (along with the others at the same time) sends the message that he was not the best candidate for the job. None of us have all of the information on all of the candidates and their experience and how they performed in the interview(s), etc.
Why should ANY best qualified person miss out on a role because of a statistic? Why should a company not hire the best qualified person that applies for a role because of a statistic?
I would be pretty cranky if I was told I missed out on a role specifically because they wanted to hire a female for it, just as much as any female would be cranky to have missed out on a role because of her sex. Just because on average it happens more one way than the other does not make any individual case more or less discriminatory.
There are laws in this country to prevent that and action that can be taken if it does occur. Let’s make sure we are doing all we can to assist people who find themselves in this situation – instead of blindly criticising hard working, well-deserving, successful, talented people and the companies that hire them.
Is the author suggesting white men have it tougher? Surely not! This article is about defending the privilege of white men by creating smoke and mirrors about how tough they are doing it.
Is the author really making this statement to defend men who make sexist claims in the media? I would not have thought this position could be defended.
The aim of this article is criticise women who demand a seat the table, or want to be considered for executive roles. God forbid women should want the same thing as men.
Or, instead of demanding you should actually work for it. As he demonstrated, breaking in is very possible. One does not get power by simply demanding it. Well, not unless you have privilege anyway.
As a white male who has worked in fairly senior roles is their discrimination? Have a walk around any holding group office during reporting season and listen to the language.
The great thing about this discrimination is its sense of equality. Pick your minority and you will hear it: Women f**kn everything up by having a baby. Those f***kers at head/regional office. Asians. The British mafia running media. And not to forget the queers, (too many of them apparently and since when could they forecast revenue?). I always found this last one the quaintest use of language.
In my experience most agencies have a pretty diverse workforce and discrimination doesn’t seem to be more of an issue than in other industries (which is not right, but a reality). However, get to the holding group level and there is a lot of big swinging white dicks with little desire to change.
I didn’t realise that so many empathy by-passes had been performed.
I don’t work in the advertising or media industries, so from an outside perspective looking in… it seems like these industries are just filled with self involved ‘woe is me’ victims and sooks.
You all seem to prefer obsessing over the problems and who needs to be blamed and shamed, instead of focusing on finding solutions.
No wonder so much of advertising today is utter garbage.
Enjoy it while you can and quit your bitching. All too soon you will be seen as too old for the role you currently have. If you doubt it, look around you at the number of people older than yourself. Then imagine women older than yourself holding the same position. Suck it up. You have a job. You do get paid. Enjoy it while you can. It will disappear before you know it. Then…who wants an older white male creative?
Man points out that sexism against men exists, points out example that happened on an online forum.
Man gets blasted for being a sexist, privileged pig, on an online forum.
Stupid man.
Have a read people
http://www.realsexism.com/
@sobering stats
Thanks for that link!
Our opponents throw out lines such as “overwhelming evidence”, but all they really have are emotions and a bunch of cognitive blindspots (availability heuristic, confirmation bias etc).
When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, feminists?
Such a missed opportunity – you realise you are a little bit short on the private school white male checklist, you experience unfair discrimination for representing a majority group, you realise gender can be a negative thing for some people. And you still leave the room saying poor me. Dude look around, you are only a few rungs from the top of the ladder still. Look down. There are people there. Who are working as hard as you. Who deserve it as much as you. Empathise. Nope, instead it’s a lash out of a clipped wing from your privileged perch.
Just explain it away… No seriously, do it.
Poor man. Sounds rough. Sexism, not even a little bit, can happen to men. Unfortunate turn of events can happen to men. Not sexism, tho!
Great example of straw man arguing.
The point is that white men are accused of benefiting from some privilege. The author shows that’s not the case. We work hard and sometimes get the job we want.
Sexism and lack of privilege is essentially the same thing, i.e. men can experience sexism.
I work in PR, not advertising, so I’ve not seen the clearly unpleasant (to put it mildly) situations many women have been exposed to in advertising. At the same time, I’m relatively senior and certainly didn’t have the posh school, loaded parents etc., so I can understand where the person who wrote this article is coming from. It’s clearly an emotive and challenging issue.
But seriously, what I presume are grown adults calling people C@@nts, or Fuckwits, or Morons, in an industry (i.e. your profession!) forum, as this article and others have thrown out, is pretty uncomfortable reading – to be honest it’s embarrassing. You might not agree with what this guy, or Michelle O’Keefe, wrote and some of the associated comments (and I’m not saying put in a swear jar) but seriously, think about the impact your vitriol could have.
If that was originally a comment. It was a very long one
I highly doubt you’ve suffered more sexism than most women, but that aside, do us a favour. How many women work in your creative department (as creatives)? Last time I looked Leo’s had 30+ men and 1 full time female creative. It would be really interesting to hear if the numbers have changed. They may have slipped a junior team in since then. But maybe not. It would also be really interesting to know what the make-up of other agencies creative departments are. The boys club exists, whether you think you’re a part of it or not. You are. Oh and Cindy Gallop was not attacking you personally, she was attacking the industry as a whole. And she’s right. It’s woeful and it needs to change.
I’m a white man, and I want to reach out to the author.
I understand that you’re feeling that it’s not fair that people assume your appointment is because of your maleness and your whiteness. It sounds like you worked really hard, and you felt like your appointment was being reduced to just your gender and not your talent or work.
We all want to live in a world where appointments are purely based on merit, and not on discrimination. We have a long way to go. When we get there, you and I will be able to know for sure that everything we achieve was unaided by our gender or race.
I hear you when you say you didn’t grow up wealthy, and you had to work hard. Some people have the additional head-start of being born white, male, AND really wealthy and they definitely have it easier than you in some regards.
But that doesn’t mean that being white and male doesn’t give you privilege too. You say that if the “boys club” exists, you weren’t invited. It does. You were. At birth.
Here are just a few benefits of being in the boys club that it can be hard to see from our perspective:
– Our resumes are 60% more likely to be shortlisted for interviews than women, and 80% more likely to be shortlisted than more “ethnic” sounding names (including names typical of the asian men you mention). That’s EXACTLY the same resume with exactly the same qualifications and experience. Researchers have done numerous studies submitting identical resumes with male and female names. This isn’t in the 60’s. This is in the last few years.
– We will, on average, be paid 22% more, and significantly more for the SAME work. This isn’t about being in different industries or having more senior jobs than women. This is the same exact work. Men are likely to be paid higher for the same job. We don’t even notice this! I don’t go out of my way to ensure it happens. Our bosses are inclined to offer us more money and say yes more often to requests for raises.
– Most of our female friends and colleagues have experienced sexual assault or harassment, stalking, or violence. MOST of them. That doesn’t mean men don’t — but we are 5-10x less likely to encounter that kind of horrible stuff.
So there is a boys club. We don’t have secret meetings and talk about how to stop women getting ahead (anymore) — but you got a membership the moment you were born and it does impact your life.
That doesn’t mean you’re not talented. It doesn’t mean you didn’t work hard. It doesn’t negate the difficulties you had to overcome. But it does mean that, in ways that you and I often don’t even notice, things ARE easier for us than for our sisters.
The imaginary scenarios you point out where workplaces were only hiring women and asian men would be discrimination, yes. But that fact that they’re IMAGINARY is the thing. Plus to IMAGINE that scenario, you really have to imagine that it happens in a context where:
– One of the leading causes of death for white men is women assaulting them
– White men are paid significantly less than women
– Almost every world leader is a women
– Almost every CEO in the advertising industry for the past 100 years is a woman
– There’s a TV show called Mad Women on air where the women kick around drinking and men in tight, revealing outfits make them cocktails becuase that’s how the industry was not long ago, and still is, in parts.
– Women in the industry often say obnoxious things about how men earn less becuase they don’t work as hard and aren’t as talented.
– Men only gained the right to vote 90 years ago and still don’t have it in many countries..
etc. etc. etc.
So if you IMAGINE that context and then IMAGINE a situation where an ad agency appointed a whole round of women of colour to senior roles (for the thousandth time), then we can IMAGINE how that would indeed be sexist and horrible.
But that all takes a lot of imagining. It’s much easier to imagine that some of the women who are upset about the discrimination are right to feel that way.
It sounds like you’ve experienced some of the ugliness of what discrimination at work feels like. That feeling of hurt you have is quite like the feeling woman might have all the time. As I see it, being a good creative is about empathising with people.
I reckon you’ll be even better at your job if you can do that and question some of your assumptions.
@sam mclean
I’m a white male CEO, and I’m telling you, if there was any way I could get away with paying women less than guys for the same job, 100% of my employees would be women.
Our shareholders want profit. I want my board not to fire me.
Capitalism is the most democratic and egalitarian system there is.
A long winded essay of that sort proves you’re missing the Authors point. Read it again and stop generalising.
Fantastic, well-thought out comment, Sam.
Unnerving that to the OP, a fantasy world of women having privilege over men is more believable than women and minorities suffering very real set-backs due to their gender and/or skin colour right now, with thousands of first-hand testimonials.
Views tend to carry more weight when there is a name attached.
You need a name to validate the truth? Poor form.
That’s not what I said.
This article is brilliant.
I too mirror this man’s up bringing and I am glad that someone has been able to cut through the ‘racism isn’t racism if its aimed at the white man’.
It’s the same in the film industry in this country, now females are being handed out millions in grants as incentives to encourage women to take part, while passionate no questions asked struggling innocent men continue to struggle getting projects up.
Any claim to a white man’s upbringing, privilege or position in an industry is both a form of discrimination and racism. But no one wants to believe it to be so, because it’s “white men” we are talking about.
There is certainly a boys club in Adland. And it’s a horrible club with narcissistic, talentless, soulless people, weasels, rats and snakes. The worst part is that they’re often the successful ones.
And there’s a lot of white women in that club too.
Interesting to see Cindy’s real motivations revealed today:
“I see that Kevin Roberts was paid… $4,137,786 last year, whereas… nobody anywhere is paying me anything to do the work I do in this area. I note that PublicisGroupe/Saatchi and Saatchi Worldwide now have a vacancy for a leadership coach, and I’d like to offer my services. Obviously, to ensure there is no gender wage gap, at the same salary Kevin Roberts was being paid.”
http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/.....s/1404621#
“Imagine if I WERE”, not “imagine if I WAS” – this must be conjugated to the subjunctive form, not indicative, as it is not a statement of fact.
I didn’t read this whining blather but your grammar mistake caught my eye. I’ll let you know if I spot any others on my scroll back upwards.
You’re welcome.
Men hold 99% of the world’s power and wealth and do about 1% of the work.
Being a majority doesn’t mean you’re the one in power.
You may have had a crappy start to life, BUT NOT BECAUSE YOU ARE WHITE OR MALE. In fact, if you’d been anything BUT white and/or male, your life would have been even crappier, no matter how much hard work you put into it. If you had been Tyrone instead of Kevin, you wouldn’t have had nearly as many opportunities as you’ve had, no matter how hard you worked to get them. If you’d been Kayla instead of Kevin, or Tanisha, the same thing.
You haven’t suffered because of your race or gender. And that’s privilege. So while yes, criticism hurts, writing about it isn’t going to win you much sympathy amongst those of us who don’t have the benefit if being the default, preferred race and/or gender in this society.
It’s awesome that you managed to get this far when you started out in poverty, though, and I’m happy you got out of it. And if anyone makes fun of your speech, tell them to step on a Lego.
‘Men hold 99% of the world’s power and wealth and do about 1% of the work.’
Nice one Larissa. Would you mind pointing out which 1% of the work do men do exactly?
Sincerely,
Tyrone.
Hey guys any of you read up on a thing called ‘intersectionality’?
It’s impossible to say ‘it would be so much more harder if you were non-white non-male’ even given that is true it really is straw man and deflecting from what the anon was ranting on.
Pure play an average 28 year old woman who attended priv girls schools (Ravenswood, PLC, St Caths et al.) who had a supportive family tight knit family through university and beyond (first jobs through school and uni) is in a much superior position than your 28 year old man from a struggling background (language impediments, poor family, no access to ‘networks’) in this particular creative industry.
In broader society who knows. Maybe the middle-upper class woman is relatively disadvantaged to a male from a low socio economic demo when it comes to your joe blow in the street prejudice but when recruiters are positively focused on hiring diversity it is natural that some hard workers who happen to be white males will get shunted out with similar grades in favour of those women or whose background is diverse.
I don’t get what’s so hard about this.
As for the 52% truth, lies and damn statistics but it wouldn’t surprise me if women made up the majority of PR communications and marketing roles. More a reflection on the amount of grads coming through and proportion of smart young ladies the industry is attracting than some conspiracy to ‘destroy the joint’ / dismantle any male oppression that exists.
The only thing I have a problem is some recruiters going through applications for interns or vacant roles and selecting based on quota metrics or proportional metrics. Say you have 150 applicants for 6 new positions. Say for some odd reason you have 120 men and only 30 women apply for the position, to enforce a gender split is inequitable and holding all genders equal you will pass over more talent applicants for the 4th and 5th positions. Odds are at least one woman will still be chosen if it was based on merit but holding a equal quota level of representation is inequitable and impractical in the majority of circumstances as many times for a role you do not have equal amounts of applications coming in from men and women.
The OP points out that he’s probably had it rougher than the majority of white, privileged, privately educated people in the industry and he’s told he’d have it even worse if he was a woman.
Ironically, by white, privileged, privately educated women.
Racism is racism and sexism is sexism, no matter who it’s performed against. Whether that’s a Brit calling an Aussie a ‘shackle dragger’ or being told you’re exhibiting ‘typical male behaviour’ or ‘mansplaining’ by a woman.
To think otherwise really shows how sheltered and ignorant you are, and if I was your parents I’d be asking for a refund on your private school tuition fees.
White male writes article about how white male privilege doesn’t exit. Other white privileged males agree. LOLOLOLOLOL. This industry is really in great hands.
I’d love to see the aev on this article.
No man, white or otherwise, should ever have to suffer the indignity that this poor man has.
In 1994 and 1995 I ran award school. It was 50/50 male and female going in and (because of blind judging) 50/50 male and female in the final 12 – both years.
Then in 2016, a company hires 5 white male creatives without interviewing a single woman, then takes five days to release a statement basically saying there weren’t any women good enough.
I’m sorry, you got caught up in this ‘anonymous’, but if you had noticed the women around you being disappeared and said something or done something, maybe you wouldn’t have been so vilified for taking advantage of your privilege.
How do you know they didn’t interview any women?
And how is he ‘taking advantage of his privilege?’
The guy is asking for discrimination to stop, on both sides of the fence.
Being discriminated against due to societal/workforce structures that are no fault of his own. Interesting!
To use the stupid logic in the comments section, if I pointed out there are 167 female billionaires much more privileged than every man I know, the counter would be ‘yes but there are 9 times more male billionaires far more privileged and far more white than those women’
Completely. Missing. The. Point.
Privilege is ‘a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group’
The OP pointed out he has been vilified for being male and had abuse hurled at him. That’s not ‘white male privilege’. That’s discriminatory behaviour and I’d be surprised if lawsuits aren’t called for in the future.
Contributing to this argument – in any way as a male – is tantamount to playing chess with a pigeon.
No matter how good your moves are, the bird will still sh!t all over the board and strut around like it’s winning.
I couldn’t care less about what you all think about my appointment. I couldn’t care less about Cindy’s comments. You can all go fuck yourselves. Seriously, in a fucked up world, there are far more important things to care about other than 5 white guys getting new jobs in a shit industry. That’s why, when the opportunity arises, I’m getting out of it. I’d rather go do some good in the world rather than sell shit food that makes people sick. So see you all later.
Let’s play chess sometime. Better than playing fucking advertising.
http://maddox.xmission.com/c.c....._feminists
Man-splaining (verb): The act of talking when you’re a man.
Zip it, oppressor. Whatever it is you’re saying doesn’t matter because you have a penis. Unless you don’t identify with the sex you were born with and/or are gender fluid. Then it’s okay to have a penis. We only want to talk to marginalized groups of society, like the 51% of the population that’s female, 2% of people who are gay and 1% of people who are trans-sexual, so the minority of 54%.