White Privilege, Color Blindness, and Services to Battered Women

Abstract

White privilege is a system of benefits, advantages, and opportunities experienced by White persons in our society simply because of their skin color. In this article, the authors present the results of a descriptive, exploratory study of White privilege in battered women’s shelters in the Deep South. Based on a qualitative analysis, the authors show how White privilege is intricately connected to executive directors’ claims of color blindness, the othering of women of color, and viewing White as the norm. The authors conclude the article with implications for service provision to battered women and directions for future research.