Page 107 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

The Microaggression Process Model 81

attributes are overlooked and ignored, making them feel invisible. When
female students in class are called upon less frequently than their male counter-
parts, their contributions and presence are deemed less valuable and visible.
People of color are often well aware of the invisibility syndrome (Franklin,
1999, 2004) and will take countermeasures to combat this phenomenon. To
gain recognition and be noticed, one informant stated: “ You deal with that as

a Black person, there ’ s a certain real invisibility, or where White people just can ’ t
recognize your face, your distinction, something like that, unless you really impress
upon them in a relationship. ” One Black woman recalls an incident of invis-

ibility in which White women in her office were being “ ranked. ” During this
conversation, she stood next to them: “ It ’ s more like, wow, I ’ m not even seen as,
you know, not as a person, but just like not even seen, invisible. So it made me feel
like, okay, you have to do something above and beyond in order to be noticed. ”

Forced Compliance/Loss of Integrity
Being forced to think and behave in a manner antagonistic to your true beliefs
and desires makes people feel inauthentic and disingenuous. These feelings were
commonly reported by our participants of color and were described as navi-
gating two different worlds on a daily basis: the White world and their own
world. The dual navigation allowed them to survive, function, and even occa-
sionally prosper in the White world, but the cost was reported to be high.
Feelings of “ selling out, ” projecting a false self, and not being true to one ’ s

self created feelings of uneasiness and superficiality. Nearly all participants
in our study spoke about their behaviors in terms of “ forced compliance ” and

the potential loss of integrity. “ I was angry at myself for not speaking out. What a
coward I must be. ”
Conforming to White standards in the classroom, on the job, and in social
gatherings, and being concerned or fearful of potential consequences of break-
ing social norms and/or letting one ’ s true beliefs and feelings be known often
resulted in extreme emotional turmoil (feelings of cowardice, having sold out,
self - flagellation, etc.). These feelings seemed directly related to one ’ s loss of

integrity. A Black woman describes the feelings of forced compliance and loss
of integrity that occurred around an incident of “ wrapping her hair ” and the
resulting comments from her boss: “ I can ’ t remember exactly what he said, but it

was kind of like, ‘ you ’ re wearing a turban ’ or something regarding it. He didn ’ t — not
like he was saying it in a negative way, but you could still feel that hint of, like, there ’ s
some kind of negative connotation, so you just feel like, well, can I not be myself here?
And you feel like, why do you have to conform, but then it ’ s like, this is the way society is

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