Page 137 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

Microaggressive Perpetrators and Oppression: The Nature of the Beast 111

prejudices; (4) avoiding marginalized groups so they are not reminded about
the racism, sexism, and heterosexism that lies inside and outside of them;
(5) feeling impotent about changing social injustices in our society; (6) a reali-
zation that White, male, and heterosexual “ supremacy ” is a basic and integral
part of U.S. society; and (7) an awareness that no one is free from inheriting
the racial, gender, and sexual-orientation biases of this society.
Winter ’ s quote, while addressing mainly racism, is directed toward well -
intentioned Whites who are only marginally aware of their biases and their
roles in the oppression of others. The internal struggle she describes is mani-

fested cognitively (awareness vs. denial, mystification, and pretense) and
behaviorally (isolation and avoidance of marginalized groups). The internal
struggle, however, brings about strong, intense, and powerful emotional
feelings as well:
When someone pushes racism into my awareness, I feel guilty (that I could
be doing so much more); angry (I don ’ t like to feel like I ’ m wrong); defensive
(I already have two Black friends . . . . I worry more about racism than most whites
do — isn ’ t that enough?); turned off (I have other priorities in my life than guilt
about that thought); helpless (the problem is so big — what can I do?). I HATE TO
FEEL THIS WAY. That is why I minimize race issues and let them fade from my
awareness whenever possible. (Winter, 1977, p. 2)

On cognitive, behavioral, and emotional levels, little doubt exists that when
microaggressive perpetrators become increasingly aware of their biases, they
often experience debilitating emotional turmoil (guilt, fear, defensiveness)
(Bowser & Hunt, 1981; Sue, 2003), cognitive distortion and constriction
(false sense of reality) (Goodman, 2001; Spanierman & Heppner, 2004), and
behavioral avoidance or inauthentic actions that impair relationships with
marginalized individuals and/or groups (Hanna, Talley, & Guindon, 2000).
So far, we have concentrated our discussion and analysis of racial, gender,
and sexual - orientation microaggressions on the recipients, especially with
respect to their harmful impact upon people of color, women, and LGBTs.
In this chapter, however, we turn our attention to describing the social and
psychological dimensions of oppression as it relates to microaggressive per-

petrators. Specifically, we are interested in addressing several questions. First,
how and why do people become microaggressive perpetrators with oppres-
sive attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors? Second, what makes it so diffi cult for
those most empowered to become aware of their biased attitudes and behav-
iors? What mechanisms prevent them from realizing how they hurt and

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