Humza Yousaf: Stop telling young white men they have ‘privilege’

Former first minister Humza Yousaf has said it is “deeply unhelpful” to tell young white men they enjoy a privileged place in society.

Yousaf, who spoke out about “toxic masculinity” during his time as first minister, said phrases such as “white privilege” were damaging to young men growing up in difficult circumstances.

The former SNP leader spoke to Holyrood as part of a feature looking at what it’s like for young men growing up Scotland.

He said negative media portrayals of young men and phrases such as “white privilege” – a term he admitted to using himself in the past – were “deeply unhelpful” and helped push boys towards extreme online influencers as well as the far-right.

He said: “I represent Glasgow Pollok, where there are some areas of very high deprivation. There are young men living difficult lives, particularly if they were born post-2008 and all the austerity that has come with that; they don’t feel they are in a privileged position but the world is telling them, ‘you’ve got heaps of privilege and you should be thankful for it’.”

He added: “There is a perfect storm of factors that are coming together that are making predominantly young white men more susceptible to the arguments and populism of the far-right.

“For all we’ve talked about toxic masculinity [and] the issues around not having a positive male role model, nobody has been talking about the solution to that.”  

Yousaf said he had grown up in the period after 9/11 surrounded by negative portrayals of Muslims in the media, but had drawn strength and guidance from his community.

He said: “I was 16 at the time of 9/11 and from then onwards for around the next decade, we were bombarded with negativity about Muslims…The difference was that within the Muslim community, we understood what our positive identity as Muslims was. We had a set of values – core beliefs – that were positive and part of our identity…I’m not sure we’ve worked enough with young men or ourselves to understand what a positive male identity looks like and encompasses.”

Yousaf’s successor as first minister, John Swinney, has announced plans to hold a cross-party summit to address the rise of Reform UK, a party he described as being “far-right”.

Yousaf welcomed that approach and said it could bring an “electoral advantage” for the SNP. Commentators including pollster John Curtice have said the summit could benefit Scotland’s current party of government by helping to drive a wedge between the unionist parties in the run-up to next year’s election.

Yousaf said: “John is looking to facilitate and bring people together. He’s said that in relation to the real toxic politics of Reform and the threat they pose in Scotland. Of course there’s an electoral advantage for [the SNP] potentially in that regard, but also it’s absolutely the right thing to have done.”