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Dismantling Racism Resource Book

The Common Elements of Oppression
By Suzanne Pharr

Text from Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism Chardon Press, 1988
It is virtually impossible to view one oppression, such as sexism or homophobia, in isolation
because they are all connected: sexism, racism, homophobia, classism, ableism, anti-Semitism,
ageism. They are linked by a common origin-economic power and control—and by common
methods of limiting, controlling and destroying lives. There is no hierarchy of oppressions.
Each is terrible and destructive. To eliminate one oppression successfully, a movement has to
include work to eliminate them all or else success will always be limited and incomplete.

To understand the connection among the oppressions, we must examine their common elements.
The first is a defined norm, a standard of rightness and often righteousness wherein all others are
judged in relation to it. This norm must be backed up with institutional power, economic power,
and both institutional and individual violence. It is the combination of these three elements that
makes complete power and control possible. In the United States, that norm is male, white,
heterosexual, Christian, temporarily able-bodied, youthful, and has access to wealth and
resources. It is important to remember that an established norm does not necessarily represent a
majority in terms of number; it represents those who have ability to exert power and control over
others.

It is also important to remember that this group has to have institutional power. For instance, I
often hear people say that they know people of color simply do not have institutional power to
back up their hatred or bigotry or prejudice and therefore cannot be deemed racist. In the same
way, women do not have the power to institutionalize their prejudice against men, so there is no
such things as “reverse sexism.” How do we know this? We simply have to take a look at the
representation of women and people of color in our institutions. Take, for example, the U.S.
Congress. What percentage of its members are people of color or women? Or look at the
criminal justice system which carries out the laws the white males who predominate in Congress
create: how many in that system are people of color? And then when we look at the percentage
of each race that is incarcerated, that is affected by these laws, we see that a disproportionate
number are people of color. We see the same lack of representation in financial institutions, in
the leadership of churches and synagogues, in the military.

In our schools, the primary literature and history taught are about the exploits of white men,
shown through the white man’s eyes. Black history, for instance, is still relegated to one month,
whereas “American history” is taught all year around. Another major institution, the media,
remains controlled and dominated by white men and their images of themselves.

In order for these institutions to be controlled by a single group of people, there must be
economic power. Earlier I discussed the necessity to maintain racism and sexism so that people
of color and women will continue to provide a large pool of unpaid or low-paid labor. Once
economic control is in the hands of the few, all others can be controlled through perpetuation of
the myth of scarcity which suggests that our resources are limited and blames the poor for using
up too much of what little there is to go around. It is this myth that is called forth, for instance,

Dismantling Racism Project 26 Western States Center