#He also spoke about being literally made to undress being literally displayed. Like the metaphorical part is important but yeah
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i think maybe we should start talking about victims and survivors as an oppressed group even outside of the context of other marginalizations. I'm thinking especially about victims of domestic violence, bullying and sexual abuse but also refugees and victims of natural disasters and other forms of ongoing stress/trauma, I just have less perspective on that and would welcome other perspectives here.
And yes, being part of a marginalized group, a) is in and of itself an ongoing stress, b) makes it more likely for you to become a victim of both interpersonal power imbalances as well as the effects of the global power imbalances as expressed as war and climate catastrophies, etc and c) makes it harder to receive help. I just think seeing those as intersections might be helpful? Conversations about domestic violence and sexual abuse are very commonly framed as conversations about gender and while I do think gender is an important factor in both, it is unhelpful to deny the doubt, downplaying and scrutiny all survivors regardless of gender face.
I think it would be helpful when building support networks to keep in mind the social bias against victims, whether those support networks help people escape a war zone or an abusive home. My impression is that a lot of the same social mechanisms that apply to marginalized groups, also apply to victims and survivors. It's the downplaying of the impact of the violence/disaster, the dehumanization, the speaking about you and not with you, the being robbed of your agency, there being "good" and "bad" victims, the contradictory and impossible standards you are held to, the way you're expected to bare yourself to display yourself and your wounds and be available for questioning...
I don't know maybe this is a useless concept or already really common framing but like I'd like to have a conversation about it?
#I really do think that not acknowledging the specific oppression of victimhood in and of itself does harm to survivors and our rights#But I don't know how else to phrase it than this? Does this make any sense? Should I explain something differently?#The baring and displaying yourself part is from a speech from a local black activist and didn't just mean it metaphorical#He also spoke about being literally made to undress being literally displayed. Like the metaphorical part is important but yeah#I've not been able to get this kind of framing of oppression out of my head it's literally so good and applicable to so many situations#Ohh also I guess refugees are often acknowledged as an oppressed group I just meant more like.#Seeing both the often racialized oppression and the intersection with the specific oppression that victims face and all refugees are victim#Regardless of which specific like events/laws/economics/stress/traumas they're fleeing from#and regardless of whether they're racialized. Though again. Ofc the specific intersections you sit at do matter and all that
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