I really don't see that the use of 'privilege' among identity politics types is especially difficult.
If you look at Kate's Twitter account (http://twitter.com/griffinkate), you'll see that she's spent most of today trying to explain the concept to people who think they already know what "privilege" means, that they certainly don't have it because they're not rich/posh/whatever, and how dare she be so offensive as to undermine their accomplishments by calling them privileged? Now at least one of those guys is being genuinely unpleasant, but I don't think he's deliberately misunderstanding her.
I don't think that this is the best use of her time and emotional energy. Multiply by, oooh, every feminist activist in the English-speaking world, and we see the scope of the problem.
a privilege is an advantage one person or group of people has over others
Well, yes, but AIUI feminists use the term in a more precise sense - privilege (uncountable noun...) is a systematic advantage enjoyed by members of a group that they are not, in the main, aware of.
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If you look at Kate's Twitter account (http://twitter.com/griffinkate), you'll see that she's spent most of today trying to explain the concept to people who think they already know what "privilege" means, that they certainly don't have it because they're not rich/posh/whatever, and how dare she be so offensive as to undermine their accomplishments by calling them privileged? Now at least one of those guys is being genuinely unpleasant, but I don't think he's deliberately misunderstanding her.
I don't think that this is the best use of her time and emotional energy. Multiply by, oooh, every feminist activist in the English-speaking world, and we see the scope of the problem.
a privilege is an advantage one person or group of people has over others
Well, yes, but AIUI feminists use the term in a more precise sense - privilege (uncountable noun...) is a systematic advantage enjoyed by members of a group that they are not, in the main, aware of.