# Intersectionality and the Oppression Pyramid

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intersectionality-and-the-oppression-pyramid/1018016>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [May 7, 2025, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intersectionality-and-the-oppression-pyramid/1018016 "2025-05-07T16:38:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 86

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**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2025, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intersectionality-and-the-oppression-pyramid/1018016/86 "2025-05-11T11:48:55Z")

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I have not read this entire thread, but i just ran into this

Continuing the discussion from [Should accusations of gaslighting be treated as accusations of lying?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-accusations-of-gaslighting-be-treated-as-accusations-of-lying/1018149/30):

> [@Should accusations of gaslighting be treated as accusations of lying?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-accusations-of-gaslighting-be-treated-as-accusations-of-lying/1018149/30):
>
> (Except that AFAIK this _is_ banned for certain characteristics/identities, the ones which are… well, high on the oppression pyramid

And it’s an excellent example of why the phrase “oppression pyramid” makes me cringe. It implies there’s a single dimension of oppression, up and down. And that’s so totally false. In most situations, men have more privilege than women. But there are a lot of situations where women have more privilege than men.

I happen to believe that the groups that are protected from bigoted speech on the SDMB were not picked as “high” on some ranking of oppression. I don’t think they were even all picked for exactly the same reasons. (Note the separate discussion in the rules about trans issues, for instance.)

Anyway, i suggest that “oppression pyramid” is a bad metaphor that inspires conflict as well as being a really bad description of reality. If you want me to take your argument seriously, i suggest you find better words to describe whatever it is you want to describe. @k9bfriender , for instance, was able to clearly describe a real problem he has observed using accurate words.

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