Summary Of Roxane Gay's Peculiar Benefits

In today’s society, when the word “privilege” is associated with someone, it is often seen as something negative and people tend to ignore and turn away from the word in fear of receiving accusations. In Roxane Gay’s “Peculiar Benefits”, an excerpt from her book Bad Feminist, she argues that people should accept and acknowledge the privileges they hold. Gay’s argument is built based on her personal experience, citing cultural critics/other people, and emotionally appealing to her audience.
The intended audience for this text are those who hold some sort of privilege, but don’t acknowledge or accept it. In the excerpt, Gay states that “at some point, you have to surrender to the kinds of privileges you hold. Nearly everyone, particularly in

the developed world, has something someone else doesn’t, something someone else yearns for” (16). When Gay says, “developed world”, she is speaking to Americans in particular. Gay makes a valid point here because living in America gives someone privileges that many people don’t have in their countries. An example of this is having access to free education from pre-school to high school. This may not be considered as a privilege because it’s something that people here are already accustomed to, but to those who live in other countries, particularly developed countries such as Haiti (which she talked about in the beginning of the essay), having access to free education or just education itself is something a lot of them would kill to have. I personally believe that Gay does a great job at making it clear as to whom she is speaking to. It’s fairly easy to pick out the audience based on what she had stated above. Before reading, the target audience may already have the expectation that they’re not privileged because they’re not financially stable or they are people of color. However, as Gay mentions, there isn’t just one or two kinds of privilege. She points out that “There is racial privilege, gender (and identity) privilege, heterosexual privilege, economic privilege, able-bodied privilege, educational privilege, religious privilege, and the list goes on and on” (16). By reading this, people may realize that they belong to at least one or several of these and come to the realization that they are more privilege than they thought. It’s important to at least take that away after reading this text because that’s exactly what Gay is trying to do with this essay – to make people acknowledge their privileges.
The situation that motivated Gay to write “Peculiar Benefits” is because she witnesses how people are unaccepting to the privileges they hold, as well as how the word “privilege” has been used so many times that it has become meaningless. While the excerpt worked well when it came to functioning as a conversation with the audience, I don’t think it has the same effect when it comes to other authors. Gay mostly uses her personal experience throughout the whole text and doesn’t really use any other sources besides mentioning the cultural critics. Although she didn’t use other authors, it didn’t weaken her argument.
As well, the purpose of this text was to persuade the audience to recognize and accept the privileges they hold. Throughout the excerpt, what stuck to me the most is when she stated that “To have privilege in one or more areas does not mean you are wholly privileged. Surrendering to the acceptance of privilege is difficult, but it is really all that is expected” (17). It may be safe to say that this certain part will really have the audience contemplate and consider the privileges they hold and act as though it’s such a crime to hold such privilege. While I believe Gay may have achieved the part where people acknowledge their privilege, I’m not entirely sure that she has convinced the audience to accept their privilege. I feel as though people will still be afraid of admitting to others what kind of privilege they hold, because they fear the accusations that may come with admitting to their privileges. What made this essay really persuasive is when Gay stated that “Privilege is relative and contextual” (19). By stating this, she is arguing that privilege is based on one’s perspective, what is benefit to someone may just be normal to another. A great example of this is how we easily have access to the internet, freedom of speech, and can easily obtain the newest electronic devices in the US. We take these things lightly because it’s normal for us, but the same cannot be said for others. As well, Gay makes an example of how privilege is relative and contextual by discussing her own life. She talked about the ways in which she was privileged because she came from a middle/upper-middle class family, but she also mentions the ways in which she lacked privileged as a woman and a person of color. Mentioning these facts about her life makes the audience realize that privilege doesn’t necessarily shield you away from stereotypes and racism.
Gay establishes her credibility mostly through her personal experience, which worked very well. Gay states that she is “a woman, a person of color, and the child of immigrant, but I also grew up middle class and then upper middle class (Gay, 16).” This description established her credibility because she mentions that she has been at both ends of the spectrum. She has seen and experience what it’s like to be a woman and a person of color as well as being a middle and upper middle class. She wasn’t afraid to acknowledge the privileges she holds, as well as the ones she lacks. Another way she established her credibility is by talking about her family summer trips to Haiti. This part really took an emotional appeal on me because of how descriptive Gay was in mentioning what she witnessed in the country. She describes, “how at every intersection, men and women, shiny with sweat, would mob our car, their skinny arms stretched out, hoping for a few gourdes or American dollars (15).” As I was reading this, I was picturing it in my head and it’s heartbreaking to know that so many people live this way. The targeted audience will most likely feel the same way because it’s easy for us to empathize when we hear about other people’s suffering.
Gay also utilizes several words and phrases that came off as strange at first, but once I really delved into the actual meanings, it made a lot more sense and actually made her argument stronger. The title itself catches attention, “peculiar benefit”, because the denotation for “peculiar” is strange or odd, whereas “benefit” is an absolute advantage that a person has, however the connotation for these two are contrasts of each other. This leads the audience to question what she actually means and they eventually will understand as to why she It seems as though Gay uses “peculiar benefits” instead to catch the reader’s attention, which worked well on her part. Gay introduces the concept of the “Game of Privilege”. She says that people make privilege a competition by comparing the kind of privileges people hold, which is unnecessary because no one really wins. While introducing this concept, she states several questions, which makes the audience engage with the point she is making. It’s also interesting how she mentions that the Game of Privilege is a “mental masturbation”, it seems almost vulgar to say such a thing, but she’s exactly right – the Game of Privilege indeed only works with people who feel good playing the game. The words and phrases that Gay used in this excerpt were a little informal, which made it personal.
In conclusion, Gay’s “Peculiar Benefits” presented a strong argument about how privilege shouldn’t be considered as an accusation, but rather, people who hold any should acknowledge and accept their privileges.

Throughout the essay, Gay makes it fairly easy for readers to understand every point she makes and the transition from one paragraph to the next flowed well. Gay was mainly speaking to Americans as she had noticed that people in developed countries were more likely to be the people who refuse to accept their privilege and may even make a game out of it by comparing who is more privileged and who isn’t. Gay also makes it clear that there’s not just one privilege and lists out some of the privileges that one can hold, which was really important as most people may have come to realize that they actually hold more privileges than they thought. Gay’s purpose in writing this was for acknowledge their privilege, and I believe she does this effectively by including her personal experiences and establishing her credibility. I personally felt convinced by this argument and am sure that many Americans who have or will read this may agree. There are definitely a lot of things that one can take away from the essay. If one can’t accept their privileges, then the least they can do is to at least acknowledge the fact that they do hold

one.