In order, what groups have it worst in your country?

Basically, just what the title says: in order (top five or so, but more if you want), what groups have the it the worst in your country?

By groups, I’m talking race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, class, etc. Generally something that people are born with and/or couldn’t have helped…so not, for example, members of political groups, felons, or drug addicts (though if you’re burning to list one of them, go ahead). Also, please try to stick to “single”, or at most “double” groups - with “Muslims” and “women” being examples of single groups, and “Muslim women” being a double group. So no jokes about how no one has it harder than your Jewish/lesbian/transgendered/handicapped/left-handed friend Susan!

By “having it worst”, I mean whatever combination of social or legal discrimination, expectations, stereotypes, difficulties, isolation, or anything else that would add up to make you think “wow, it’s got to be really tough for ___________”.

The purpose of this thread is not to be divisive, though I’m aware that might be a result. Nor is the intent to raise one person’s pain over another - I think we can all recognize that pain is pain, whether it’s experienced by someone from a group you think generally has it easy vs. a group with a generally more difficult experience. I’m just genuinely curious to see where people’s minds are on this question - frankly, I have no idea where this might go.

Putting this in IMHO because I’m looking more for gut reaction/opinion than statistics, but mods, move at will.

I watch Fox news, and listen to Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

No question, rich white men are worse off than anyone.

That’s a triple group. :stuck_out_tongue:

I think the exact ranking varies by the geography (urban? rural? any public transportation around?) but here in the U.S. I’d wager it’s: the very poor, the disabled, and the elderly. In my personal experience, teh gays don’t have it as bad as those three.

Racial tensions vary sooo much by geography that I’m not gonna go there in a thread asking for country-wide experiences.

That’s a lot of variables and overlap. I’m not sure this question can be answered. But it’s just a message board, so I’ll try.
America is a big country, and most of them are from there, so I’ll answer for my state.
In Texas:

The homeless poor.
The mentally ill.
The disabled
Poor people with homes
Arab people
Openly gay people
Black people
Hispanic people
People of other ethinic groups too many to sort through
Athiests
Women

Being poor sucks no matter what country you’re in.

Convicted sex offenders probably have it worst in our society with regards to social and legal discrimination.

But if you are going with born, innate traits I would say the severely mentally ill have it pretty bad. Trouble holding down jobs; trouble with the law; social rejection; lack of family, peer and social support; issues with homelessness and to top it all off the severely sick are too sick to even realize they need help. It is like if one of the symptoms of diabetes was you wanted to eat as much sugar as possible. The severely mentally ill don’t know they need help.

Also it varies dramatically based on where you live for some issues IMO.

Being homeless would suck everywhere, but I think/assume being gay would be a lot easier in a place like LA or San Francisco than in Montana. Being black is probably easier in New York than in Mississippi, etc.

I kind of like your list, but I’d make a few adjustments to it. I’m atheist and I don’t believe atheists should be on a list consisting of groups who experience difficulty because of discriminatory or racist practices. I don’t believe atheists are abused, or discriminated against to any degree. You can’t tell an atheist by looking at one. Of course, many Americans, irrationally, cast aspersions on atheists, but it doesn’t affect our lives, or livelihoods at all…even in Texas.

My list would be [lowest number = worst off]:

  1. The homeless poor.
  2. The mentally ill.
  3. The apartment/trailer home dwelling poor
  4. Poor people with homes
  5. The disabled
  6. Arab people
  7. Black people
  8. Hispanic people
  9. Openly Gay people
  10. Women

I think being an atheist is like being gay. There is a general hostility towards people who are atheists or gay but they are not obvious so they can avoid a lot of individualized hostility. But you still have to live with the awareness that the society you’re in doesn’t like “your kind”.

Yeah, but I don’t have to worry about being atheist bashed if I’m outed, or state-sponsored bigotry and discrimination targeting atheists and the atheist lifestyle. American Christians may hate atheists, but they hate and fear gays, and have actively pursued their elimination or, to be more charitable than I should, their marginalization. There’s no comparison. Gays have it much, much worse than atheists.

I think White males are taking a pretty good beating at present. Their suicide rate is considerably higher than the other ethnicities and than women.

I would say the two groups that have it the worst in Canada are the mentally ill and Natives. Funnily enough, Native Canadians also have a wide variety of opportunities available to them (such as tax exemptions, treaty payments, housing subsidies, post-secondary education funding, economic development assistance, general business assistance, employment aide, youth work and training initiatives, and self-government practices) above and beyond what is available to any Canadian citizen.

Farmed animals.

In Holland

Young Moroccans men
Pedophiles
Muslims
Illegal immigrants
Small scale farmers

but they are still probably better off here then in most of the world…

Pedophiles are considered an oppressed group in Holland?

Won’t somebody please think of the child… molesters?

actually maybe pedophiles are the group who have it the toughest , in a not my problem sucks to be you fashion, even non practising ones are shunned,…and in third world countries the rich can buy freedom to do what they want, the poor are fucked anyway