How Well Do You Understand OPPRESSION?

Sarahs Joking
Jul 22, 2017 · 6 min read

Trigger Warning: Discussion on Identifying Racism, Sexism, Homophobia & more…

Too many times have I heard conversations becoming derailed by ignorant folks who are far too slow to catch up on their knowledge of the ongoing oppression of the most vulnerable in our society. This basic lack of understanding is what often holds back the conversations we desperately need to have in order to restore humanity to those who continue to live under the oppression created by Rape Culture, White Privilege and heteronormativity (just to name a few!).

But Sarah — I am one of those people who have taken the time to educate myself on these things! What else can I possibly know?

Ummmm….a LOT actually! And its so amazing to me just how many activists claim that they are able to recognise their own privilege or can actually RECOGNISE oppression and call it out when they see it.

Keep reading and educate yourself MORE!


IDENTIFY THE APPROPRIATE FORMS OF OPPRESSION THAT APPLY HERE:

Is it: Racist, Sexist, Homophobic, Xenophobic, Islamophobia, Cisgenderism, Classism, Colorism, Ableism, Lookism, Rape Culture, Religious Imperialism, Adultism, Ageism, Antisemitism, Alloism, Jingoism, Saneism or Sizeism?

Submit your answers in the comments section to be featured in our winners section!

The first two have been done for you as an example.

This teddy-bear:

ANSWER: sexist

Face-Wash:

ANSWER: Racist

SAND-PAPER:

T-Shirts:

SPOON

Stop Signs:

TOOTHPASTE

CREDIT CARDS:

sailboats

  1. fridge
  1. ipods
  1. bow
  1. keyboard
  1. helmet
  1. air freshener
  1. thermostat
  1. flowers
  1. twezzers
  1. remote
  1. sponge
  1. television
  1. house
  1. cookie jar
  1. drill press
  1. nail file
  1. hanger
  1. computers
  1. bookmark
  1. grid paper
  1. lip gloss
  1. candle
  1. toilet
  1. outlet
  1. toothbrush
  1. clamp

SOAP:

  1. soap
  1. shawl
  1. camera

Sexism has been an almost universal condition of civilization, probably due to the fact that men tend to be larger and to have more upper body strength than women. This brings with it a greater average capacity for violence, violence is the language of despotism, and we are only slowly moving beyond despotism. Sexism tends to force women into subservient, restrictive roles that many women do not want, and to force men into dominant, competitive roles that many men do not want.

Heterosexism

A subcategory of sexism, heterosexism describes the pattern in which people with clearly defined genders are assumed to want to have sexual relationships exclusively with members of the opposite gender. Since not everybody does, the outliers can be punished with ridicule, restriction of partnership rights, discrimination, arrest, and even possibly death.

Cisgenderism

Cisgenderism is a social pattern in which people who do not identify with their assigned gender roles or do not have clearly-assigned gender roles, are forced to either choose gender roles that do not suit them or suffer the social consequences.

Classism

Classism is a social pattern in which wealthy or influential people congregate with each other, and oppress those who are less wealthy or less influential.

Racism

Racism is a social pattern in which people who are identified as members of one specific “racial” group are treated differently from people who are members of another.

Colorism

Colorism is a social pattern in which people are treated differently based on the amount of visible melanin in the skin. It is not the same thing as racism, but the two tend to go together.

Ableism

Ableism is a social pattern in which people who are disabled are treated differently, to an unnecessary degree, than those who are not.

Lookism

Lookism is a social pattern in which people whose faces and/or bodies fit social ideals are treated differently from people whose faces and/or bodies do not.

Sizeism

Sizeism is a social pattern in which people whose bodies fit social ideals are treated differently from people whose bodies do not.

Ageism is a social pattern in which people of a certain chronological age are treated differently, to an unnecessary degree, than those who are not.

Nativism is a social pattern in which people who are born in a given country are treated differently from those who immigrate to it, to the benefit of natives.

Colonialism is a social pattern in which people who are born in a given country are treated differently from those who immigrate to it, usually to the benefit of a specific identifiable group of powerful immigrants.

Submit your answers in the comments section to be featured in our winners section!

Sarahs Joking

Written by

I write whatever I want, not whatever gets applause. Satirist, comic, award-winning writer.