ABSTRACT
Humans, as hunter-gatherers, struggled to stay alive and master the environment. The invention of agriculture 12,000 years ago enabled more humans to live longer lives and signalled the beginning of class oppression. An owning class exploited and enslaved people for their labour. Middle-class occupations (teachers, priests, military leaders, healers, etc.) which supported the owning class emerged. Sexism, the systematic mistreatment of females, arose with the development of classism and paralleled the mistreatment of enslaved individuals. The tremendous invalidation placed upon enslaved and oppressed individuals from those in oppressor roles resulted in internalized hatred towards oneself and one’s group, or internalized oppression. The mechanism of internalized oppression, whereby members of oppressed groups oppress themselves and each other, continues to be a key factor in maintaining all forms of oppression including, but not limited to, racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, ableism. This extends to health and social care practitioners who, due to their oppression as workers within a class system, denigrate each other. Oppression and internalized oppression are divisive forces that fracture human efforts and damage human physical, psychological, spiritual, and planetary health. Listening partnerships that support healing from oppression and internalized oppression can transform interprofessional teams and health and wellbeing.
