In general I agree that “blind spot” (as suggested in the comments to that series of posts) would be a better term, but in this case, I think that being able to joke and display affection without people freaking out is a privilege even in the ordinary colloquial sense of the word.

Thanks for the link-- I'd missed a bunch of the comments, including Ragen Chastain explaining why (though she won't criticize other people for using "privilege", she doesn't use it herself.