Say Something Highlight: Pyramid Of Harm

The Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program created the Pyramid of Abuse to describe the social forces that support gendered violence.  If you haven't heard of the MVP program, you should definitely take a look at the great work they are doing in schools, colleges, sports teams, military units, and other areas where individuals can be empowered as active bystanders against gendered violence.

The Pyramid of Abuse is such a phenomenal visual about how the smaller, less noticed, less commented upon, or less taken seriously forms of violence located at the bottom of the pyramid (jokes, objectification, language, and strict gender roles) form the foundation that allows other, more serious acts of violence to occur.  The concept of the pyramid, where each ascending act of violence is build upon a strong base of systematic and cultural norms around gender is truly inspiring.  

However, at Say Something, we saw a bit of a void -- or more accurately, a HUGE connection!  We were inspired by the Pyramid of Abuse to create a Pyramid of Harm that describes the continuum of damage caused by many types of bias. The image represents our understanding that bias forms a foundation for discrimination and violence.  That means, any form of discrimination and violence, any form of oppression.  If we changed the examples on the pyramid to speak to racism, classism, heterosexism, ableism, ageism - and the list can go on- it becomes evident that they follow a similar pattern.  A pattern whereby there are cultural norms set in our day to day lives (in the form of language, systems, and structures) that establish a foundation for the escalation of violence to the tip of the pyramid: death/homicide/murder.

Our goal, at Say Something, is to encourage everyone to speak up and Say Something when they see or hear acts of bias and discrimination being perpetrated - regardless of the category of oppression being witnessed.  If we can communicate why a rape joke isn't funny, or suggest to someone that using a racial slur is not appropriate, we can start to deconstruct the foundation of violence and oppression.  And these small acts will lead to big changes for everyone.


Laura Penney is the Community Engagement Coordinator at Safe Passage and the project director of the Say Something Prevention Initiative.