[coagmano]

There's one term I always avoid in discussion, and that's Privilege.

Beyond the dictionary definition, privilege already had widely used emotional connotations that made it an insult to call someone privileged. Which means when you try to talk to people about their White Privilege or Male Privilege, you're alreday starting with a penalty and need to assure them that you're not trying to insult them.

Much easier to have a discussion about the concepts encoded in the terms when you don't use them. I find most people find them quite intuitive and it helps create some empathy, which is usually the point of the exercise

[Viliam1234]

The problem with words coming from some, uhm, ideological framework, is that by using them you kinda implicitly accept the framework. Which some people refuse to. To imagine how it feels like, try using words from a framework you strongly disagree with -- even if you construct a sentence you technically agree with, it just feels wrong.

Sometimes the words become a part of common vocabulary so much that people talk about e.g. "third-world countries" without necessarily accepting Mao Zedong's Three Worlds Theory (or even being aware that such thing exists). Words like "privilege", however, still have their origin obvious.

[function_seven]

What do you use instead?

[coagmano]

It's context dependent, but I do like the difficulty setting analogy. Like the pact of punishment in Hades, except you don't get extra rewards.

In one abstract example there'll be a discussion of why x group are so sensitve about y. Instead of saying "check your privilege" I say something like "maybe their tired of having to worry about z? When was the last time you had to think about z on a day to day basis?", asking genuinely and waiting for response, not just asked rhetorically.

[function_seven]

Oh, I see. I was thinking you had a different word. But you’re not using another word, but rather getting into analogy or explanation.

I like it. “Privilege” means different things to the speaker and to the listener, so skip the label and delve into the thing that you mean instead.

[ehutch79]

Advantage has worked for me. I mean someone saying that to me instead of privilege.

Privilege just invokes the idea of 'fat cats' in a dark hunting lodge smoking stogies and sipping whiskey, complaining about commoners.