ABSTRACT
This chapter presents theoretical similarities among racism, sexism, torture, terrorism, and disaster. The academic study of racism and sexism in the United States is hampered by inherent operational prejudices that are institutionalized and widely applied and that produces and sustains stress in the victim. Terrorism, torture, disaster, racism, and sexism are all stressful and may be viewed in terms of submission-dominance patterns. Perhaps some benefit may result from studying racism and sexism by speculating that they are part of a group of public health illnesses characterized by stress and violence, which includes terrorism, torture, and many features found in persons in the midst of natural or artificial disaster. The literature on torture, terrorism, and disaster unlike the literature on racism and sexism it's more devoted to understanding and helping victims by studying successful adaptation. A target for racism or sexism can feel as if his or her life is in a disaster, characterized by features of terrorism and torture.
