Pierre Bourdieu wrote in 1977 that what is essential goes without saying because it comes without saying: the tradition is silent, notleast about itself as a tradition. Whiteness and maleness are silent precisely because they do not need to be vocalised. Whiteness and maleness are implicit. They are unquestioned. They are the default. And this reality is inescapable for anyone whose identity does not go without saying, for anyone whose needs and perspective areroutinely forgotten. For anyone who is used to jarring up against aworld that has not been designed around them and their needs.