''Oppression Olympics'' is a critical term for a type of perceived

victim mentality Victim mentality or victim complex is a psychological concept referring to a mindset in which a person, or group of people, tends to recognize or consider themselves a victim of the actions of others. The term is also used in reference to the t ...

that views

marginalization Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. In the EU context, the Euro ...

as a competition to determine the relative weight of the overall oppression of individuals or groups, often by comparing race, gender, religion, sexuality, socioeconomic status or disabilities, in order to determine who is the worst off and most oppressed. This characterization often arises within debates about the ideological values of

identity politics Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity, such as ethnicity, Race (human categorization), race, nationality, religion, Religious denomination, denomination, gender, sexual orientation, Socioeconomic status, social background ...

intersectionality Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how groups' and individuals' social and political identities result in unique combinations of discrimination and privilege. Examples of these intersecting and overlapping factor ...

, and

social privilege Social privilege is an advantage or entitlement that benefits individuals belonging to certain groups, often to the detriment of others. Privileged groups can be advantaged based on social class, wealth, education, caste, age, height, skin col ...

. The term arose among some

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

scholars in the 1990s and is used to criticize the view of marginalization as a basis for competition rather than cooperation. The first potential recorded use of the term as a way to theorize comparing oppression was by

Chicana feminist Chicana feminism is a sociopolitical movement, theory, and praxis that scrutinizes the historical, cultural, spiritual, educational, and economic intersections impacting Chicanas and the Chicana/o community in the United States. Chicana feminism ...

Elizabeth Martínez Elizabeth "Betita" Martínez (December 12, 1925 – June 29, 2021) was an American Chicana feminism, Chicana feminist and a long-time community organizer, activist, author, and educator. She wrote numerous books and articles on different topics ...

in a conversation with

Angela Davis Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, and author. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Feminist Studies and History of Consciousness at the University of ...

at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

in 1993. Martínez stated: "The general idea is no competition of hierarchies should prevail. No 'Oppression Olympics'!"

Dynamics

The Oppression Olympics have been described as a contest within a group to "assert who is more authentic, more oppressed, and thus more correct". This may be on the basis of one's class, race, gender, disability (mental or physical), sexuality, among other stated or ascribed identities. A person's stated or ascribed identity "become fetishised" within the group and judged in preconceived

essentialist Essentialism is the view that objects have a set of attributes that are necessary to their identity. In early Western thought, Platonic idealism held that all things have such an "essence"—an "idea" or "form". In '' Categories'', Aristotle s ...

terms. There is a dynamic "of agreeing with the most marginalized in the room". According to Stoyan Francis, "The gold medal of the Oppression Olympics is seen as the commanding spot for demanding change, for visibility and allocation of resources".

Usage

The term is coined after the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

and their focus on medals and other competitive achievements. Elizabeth Martínez, in a conversation with Angela Davis on May 12, 1993, responded to a question about coalition building as follows: "There are various forms of working together. A coalition is one, a network is another, an alliance is yet another. ... But the general idea is no competition of hierarchies should prevail. No Oppression Olympics!" Davis supported Martínez's characterization and stated, "As Betita has pointed out, we need to be more flexible in our thinking about various ways of working together across differences." Martínez would later write more extensively about the "Oppression Olympics" in her 1998 monograph ''De Colores Means All of Us: Latina Views for a Multi-Colored Century''. In a foreword for the book, Angela Davis writes that Martínez evoked "a term that will be recognized by many who have heard her speak" and states that Martínez "urges us not to engage in 'Oppression Olympics' r createa futile hierarchy of suffering, but, rather, to harness our rage at persisting injustices in order to strengthen our opposition to an increasingly complex system of domination, which weaves together

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

, and global

capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

exploitation". In his book '' The Holocaust in American Life'' (1999), historian

Peter Novick Peter Novick (July 26, 1934, Jersey City – February 17, 2012, Chicago) was an American historian who was Professor of History at the University of Chicago. He was best known for writing ''That Noble Dream: The "Objectivity Question" and th ...

derived a related term, "Victimization Olympics", to describe how persecuted groups have "competed" to portray themselves as the most grievously oppressed, with

Holocaust victims Nazi Germany discriminated against and persecuted people on the basis of their race or ethnicity (actual or perceived), religious affiliation, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and, where applicable, mental or physical disabilities. Di ...

"intent on permanent possession of the gold medal". To illustrate the competition, Novick quotes an excerpt from an essay published by African-American author

James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (né Jones; August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer and civil rights activist who garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems. His 1953 novel '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'' has been ranked ...

in 1967:

Criticism

The dynamics of the Oppression Olympics have been criticized as being "intellectually lazy, lacking political depth", and "leads towards tokenization". These dynamics surrounding identity politics have been criticized within

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

thought for their social hierarchy building, as anarchism is fundamentally against notions of hierarchy. Academic

Ange-Marie Hancock Ange-Marie Hancock is the Dean's Professor of Gender Studies and Professor of Political Science and Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Southern California. Starting in January 2023, she will be the Executive Director of the Kirwan I ...

has criticized the energy spent upon the Oppression Olympics within progressive circles as being an impediment to wider collective action in furthering social change. She opines that "Thanks to the Oppression Olympics and the political complexity facing the twenty-first century, standing in solidarity for wide social transformation is increasingly difficult to begin and challenging to pursue."

Scholarly work

In her article "Dialogical Epistemology—An Intersectional Resistance to the 'Oppression Olympics, Nira Yuval-Davis addresses the issue of Oppression Olympics and argues that categorical intersectionality provides an enhancement to this problem. In her work ''Solidarity Politics for Millennials: A Guide to Ending the Oppression Olympics'', Ange-Marie Hancock argues that the core causes for Oppression Olympics are the desire to one-up other victims, and blindness to the plights and disadvantages of other groups. Research in identity studies has termed this (inter-group) competitive victimhood.

References

{{Reflist 1993 neologisms Angela Davis Identity politics Intersectionality

Dynamics

Usage

Criticism

Scholarly work

Further reading

See also

References