Unknowingly, we perpetuate much of the same bigotry, bias, and prejudice we are against when we misunderstand microaggressions. It’s been a hot-button topic for the last few years. Microaggressions have also grown into a topic of contention, contributing to future discord. Many looked at the prefix
micro and reduced it to “small, unimportant, and of no significant impact,” further dismissing those who experience it as “sensitive” or “PC.”
This is an unfortunate and erroneous conclusion constructed by a misunderstanding of the term. How it manifests itself in the world, and how it impacts the communities who experience them. We need to take a moment and step back from the arguments about microaggressions. To really unpack the concept, we’ll better understand its meaning, context, and how a further misunderstanding only contributes to more prejudice and bias.
What are microaggressions?
Kevin Nada, professor of psychology and author of books about microaggressions,
describes the terms as such:
“Microaggressions are the everyday, subtle, intentional — and oftentimes unintentional — interactions or behaviors that communicate some sort of bias toward historically marginalized groups. The difference between microaggressions and overt discrimination or macroaggressions, is that people who commit microaggressions might not even be aware of them.”
Some examples of microaggressions (from real-life examples):
Assuming an immigrant wouldn’t speak proper English – the assertion of “otherness” or that they are not “really” American.
Assuming a minority student attends a university through some form of affirmative action – reflects an assumption of intellectual inferiority.
Wanting to touch a Black woman’s hair – imposes inhumanity on the person; to touch them in some awe-struck way makes many people feel like an animal, a pet.
A defining factor is that microaggressions commonly are assumptions based on stereotypes, good or bad, and it’s an issue because it reduces someone’s humanity to that of a limited collection of traits or stereotypes that come from popular media (a biased media) in many cases.
The three main actions to avoid when discussing microaggressions.
After defining what microaggressions are, we need to consider how to properly handle the topic. As discussed previously, some people dismiss the concept entirely. Through either the lack of knowledge, a misunderstanding, or firmly rooted prejudice. When this situation occurs, these are the three actions to avoid:
Gaslighting: Gaslighting refers to acts of manipulation meant to make victims doubt their reality for the benefit of their perpetrators. It attempts to reduce someone’s experience to that of a figment of their imagination.
Tone policing: When people with greater power chastise and condemn how a victim of oppression expresses themselves. It attempts to control or limit how someone voices their opinion; it’s asking an abused person to be calm and
nicer when describing their abuse.
Victim blaming. It commonly occurs with instances of sexism or sexual assault/abuse/harassment. For example, if someone voices that they were sexually harassed. And another person responds that it occurred because of their makeup or outfit. A great article to read about it is
Why Do People Blame the Victim? by Very Well Mind.
Once we can take a moment to consider someone else’s perspective we open ourselves up to learning more. Even when it’s uncomfortable. We begin unpacking these heavy concepts like microaggressions. We’ll be able to improve our conversations, how we view one another, and how we treat one another.