I did both quizzes although I do not recommend them for anyone genuinely trying to learn more about their personal biases and inherent privileges. The 2nd quiz is significantly better than the first, but that is not saying much.
1st quiz : -210 "extremely oppressed"
2nd quiz : 52% "somewhat privileged" - more accurate due to the inreased number of questions asked and the depth of them ; the result suffers greatly from being American-centric (which it acknowledges) which means no weight is given to socio-economic and cultural factors in my own country. For example, immigrants to Australia prior to around the 1960s suffered extreme prejudice if they spoke english with a heavy accent (italian, greek, etc). My ancestors all came from Ireland, Scotland, and (much more distantly) England. They immigrated to a country that looked like them, spoke like them, and had the same cultural background as them. At no stage did they have to assimilate or struggle to find a welcoming community that accepted them. This made their lives dramatically easier in this respect compared to immigrants from other backgrounds.
I personally do not use the expression "check your privilege" as I use other words to convey the same (generally) intended meaning. I have no issue with being told to check my privilege, although I do find it a peculiar expression (but then, the english language is full of those). In my profession, it is actually a legal and ethical requirement for me and my colleagues to routinely self-assess our personal and professional advantages and biases. Such reflection is not just "best practice", it is literally required by national regulations. And engaging in this type of critical reflection absolutely makes me, and my colleagues, better educators.
A good explanation for what "check your privilege" really means :
Does this mean I didn?t struggle, too? No. Does it mean that I?m a bad person? Nope.
It simply means that I gained an unearned advantage, in comparison to other people ? by no fault of my own, but rather, because of prejudice.
We, unfortunately, live in a society that carries a great deal of prejudice on many different levels ? and this impacts the way that we are treated.
Often times, our laws and other institutions can reflect this prejudice, too. And the result is that people end up with advantages and disadvantages, depending on their intersecting social statuses ? things like disability, race, a/sexuality, gender, class, and much more.
And this ? only this! ? is where the idea of ?checking your privilege? comes from.
When someone asks you to ?check your privilege,? what they?re really asking you to do is to reflect on the ways that your social status might have given you an advantage ? even if you didn?t ask for it or earn it ? while their social status might have given them a disadvantage.
Yes, it?s okay if your initial reaction to being asked to check yourself was not a pleasant one. It can be uncomfortable to be asked to reflect on these issues. It can be especially uncomfortable if, like me, you just didn?t know how.
http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/07/what-checking-privilege-means/
In my view :
If someone is shouting (literally or metaphorically) "check your privilege!" as a way of shutting down conversation with absolutely no willingness to listen or otherwise communicate = then that is wrong. If someone is refusing (literally or metaphorically) to listen to someone saying "check your privilege" or equivalent in a civil discussion *for no reason other than objecting to being asked to reflect on their own circumstances and how they may be impacting their current viewpoint* = then that is wrong. Of course, being wrong doesn't often stop people from keeping-on-keeping-on.
So if you're asked to think about what, if any, privileges you may have, you're free to choose whether you do so or you don't. Obviously. I'm not sure why any rational adult would choose "don't", but then again I'm aware that I think that way because of my own privilege and personal biases.
People who don't like thinking, learning about themselves, and the world around them baffle me greatly. Luckily I checked my privilege before deciding that I am somehow superior to them. I'm not. We just have different priorities.