Essay On Microaggressions

Words: 539
Pages: 3

The word microaggression is a term used to describe the insults, dismissals, and slights directed at a person or particular group of people either because of their sex, age, race, gender, and/or their sexuality. It is based any group that is marginalized by society.
There are three types of microaggressions. First, there are the deliberate actions known as microassaults, which are very similar to old fashioned racism. The other types of microaggressions are more insidious, hidden. The second type is the microinsult. For example, a non heteronormative couple comes into a restaurant to be seated. They are seated in a more undesirable place than the straight couple who might be coming in. A microinvalidation, also known as an unconscious aggression, that typically negates a person's feelings or opinions. For example a woman may try to give advice
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If women do not act as if they are pleased or grateful for these advances they can be harassed, publicly shamed, or worse. Julie Scelfo wrote in a paper in the New York Time that transgender and queer gender individuals are sometimes faced with situations that might result in a confrontation with other people, for example a non cis gender individual may have an inability to use the bathroom because the label on the door might otherwise not fit their gender identity. There are also situations where their gender appearance may cause embarrassment or they may be inadvertently outed if their birth name is used rather than their chosen name.
Other examples include: Treating someone like a second class citizen, where a group of people are made to feel invisible because they “don’t fit in”, the treatment of another person as if they are inferior to you, denial that sexism exists, and traditional gender role