This Is How I’m Discovering What White Privilege Is As A White Woman

Emily Steele
2 min readJun 26, 2020

This morning, I was running without a shirt on on my usual trail.
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As a female, alone, I am always vigilant & aware of my surroundings.
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I saw a gathering of construction men (all white, if it matters) leaning against their work truck in the middle of the trail in front of me.
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As I got closer to them, per usual, I lowered the volume on my music (I feel safer when I can hear) & prepared myself to be stared at & potentially cat-called, because this is just what happens to you as a female in the world sometimes.
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After I passed them, I turned the music back up & carried on like usual.

And I thought…
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damn.

DAMN.

What a privilege it is to be momentarily uncomfortable & scared… and then return to normal.

What a privilege it is to only fear being cat-called, not gunned down in the middle of my run.

What a privilege it is that, although I am strong & capable & scrappy when the time calls for it, because of the color of my skin (&

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Emily Steele

lifter of heavy things: thoughts, words, weights, burdensome beliefs