This Thing Is Not Like The Other: Writing Someone Else's Oppression, Part 1

A while ago, I ran across a discussion on Twitter about how we write people who aren't like us. It's something writers have to do constantly, hence the title of this blog. However, the discussion in question veered off into an interesting direction: people of all different backgrounds discussed expressing confidence in their ability to write about a marginalised group to which they did not belong based on their own experiences as the member of a different marginalised group.

Now, while there can certainly be overlaps, I'm not sure how transferable these experiences really are on a large scale. Even within a group, people will have very different experiences-- for example, people with invisible disabilities experience different manifestations of abilism than people whose conditions are immediately apparent.

Although we tend to think of privilege and oppression in very delineated terms, there are many facets to how a marginalised group interacts with the majority. Here are a few:

Why is this group marginalised in your setting? (Were they imported as slaves, were they an indigenous people who were conquored, are they a religious minority who go against the established belief system, do people see this group as a burden or a threat, etc)How long has this been going on?How easy is it to hide one's marginalised status? Can one leave the marginalised group, and if so how? 
When answering these questions, one can see how much someone's experience is a product of their specific context and identity. Even if we're writing about our own 'in group', I think it's better to err on the side of research and gathering people's stories and experiences, rather than assuming we know all the answers.