Sometimes we have an advantage

I have been covering sports now for four years. I started when this year’s seniors were freshmen.

Through that time, I’ve surely taken more than 100,000 photos. But at Saturday’s district tournament, the pictures I took were by and large better than any I had taken previously.

This is because I bought a new camera. It’s used and several models older than what’s out now, but it’s a mirrorless Nikon camera and it takes so many photos in so little time.

I’ve always compared my photos to other sports photographers. Whether it’s pictures from IA Wrestle or award-winners we see at the Iowa Newspaper Association Awards, I was always trying to get myself on par with others.

I think of this as an analogy for a controversial topic — privilege. I am privileged to have this new camera. My photos became better without any additional effort on my own part.

That doesn’t mean it’s without its challenges. I’m still susceptible to officials standing in my way, the camera deciding to focus on the person in the background rather than the action or the wrestlers facing the other direction.

But just because I face challenges does not mean I am not still a leg above those with lesser cameras.

I know I have white privilege, and so I cannot speak to what it feels like to live without it. I can speak to the ways women struggle that (most) men cannot understand.

I recently saw a video clip from a stand-up routine. The comedian asked a man in the audience to imagine he was to go on a first date. She asked him to name the scariest thing that could happen on said date. He thought for a moment and responded that he may spill his food on himself.

The answer got many laughs from the women in the audience. The comedian, a woman herself, said all the women in the room knew where this was going. When she asked a woman in the audience the same question. Without hesitation, she responded — murder.

Curious, I did this same exercise with my friends back in Wisconsin. I asked three men. One said if she doesn’t show up. Another said if they don’t get along and it was a waste of his time. Another said if they are different political parties.

Then I asked three women. I didn’t allow them to listen to each other’s answers so they wouldn’t be biased in their responses.

The first said she was most scared she would be drugged and wake up the next day with no idea what had happened. The second worried she would be kidnapped. The third said she was afraid she would be shanked.

Privilege seems a complex topic, but it’s really quite simple. Men have the privilege of not having fear of their safety front of mind.

Privilege doesn’t mean that there are no struggles. It isn’t a personal attack. We can’t help our privileges. What we can do is help to even the playing field.

What does that mean? For starters, men can help hold others accountable.

More than 80% of police officers are men. More than 60% of judges are men. More than 75% of elected prosecutors are men.

Sexually violent crime victims are more than 90% women. And yet, an NBC News investigation found that less than 4% of rapes, sexual assaults and child sex abuse allegations end in a sex crime conviction.

NBC is just one of many studies that shows the same thing — chances of a sex crime conviction are low, even if the victim takes all the proper steps. Because of this and other reasons, a majority of rapes are not reported.

According to Time, a majority of undetected rapists are repeat offenders.

Men are overwhelmingly in position to help change these numbers.

For starters, we need to understand why men are committing violent crimes so disproportionately to women. According to the FBI, 80-90% of violent crimes are committed by men. Forget about immigrants, white men commit more than 50% of the violent crime in the United States.

Secondly, we need men at every level of our justice system to help us get violent offenders off the streets. It starts with law enforcement investigating and building a case. It continues with prosecutors willing to fight to get the perpetrator behind bars. Finally, judges must ensure the sentences are adequate for the crime.

We must acknowledge our privileges in order to move forward.