Hierarchy of oppression

A hierarchy of oppression is a ranking or hierarchy of oppressions according to arbitrariness and cruelty or according to the negative effects on oppressed communities and individuals. Hierarchies of oppression are generally discredited though widespread and often unstated.

Commonsense may indicate that, for example, a black lesbian woman is more oppressed than a straight white woman. However, political and social activists and theorists find hierarchies of oppression counterproductive because they prevent coalitions from being formed between groups and individuals who, according the hierarchy, or more or less oppressed. Thus, not only does a hierarchy of oppression actually constitute a hierarchy of victimization but also a hierarchy of guiltiness. Thus, to continue the above example, under a hierarchy of oppression a black lesbian group would not form a coalition with a predominately straight white feminist group because the straight white women do not need as much help as and because the members of the straight white group are also more so oppressors than the members of the black lesbian group. Others would argue that hierarchies of oppression create a competition between oppressed groups with the most oppressed the winners.

Many would also argue that hierarchies of oppression are highly inaccurate, obscuring the oppression that even members of dominant or "less oppressed" groups, such as straight or white men, are negatively affected by oppressions such as racism, homophobia, and sexism, which, according to a hierarchy of oppression only affect the non-white, non-straight, and non-male.