Page 236 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

210 microaggressive impact in the workplace and employment

I ’ m furious at the men who toss condoms to each other in front of me and who
have computer graphics of naked women.

When men make off - color remarks or tell bawdy jokes at meetings, I think it ’ s
meant to put me in my place. The comments about “ how great your blouse
shows your figure off ” are meant to remind me and others of our sexual difference,

which has always meant male dominance and female subservience.

It ’ s not about flirtatiousness or even about sex. It ’ s about humiliation of women
and intimidation and resentment because we are moving into a formerly male
world. The purpose is to undercut our professionalism and credibility. (Blank &
Slipp, 1994, pp. 155 – 156)

These voices from five different women attest to the demeaning, insulting,

and humiliating sexist work environment that they must endure in their
daily transactions in many places of employment. Gender microaggressions

(sexual objectification, sexist jokes, and assumptions of inferiority) in the above
examples run the gamut from overt to subtle and intentional to uninten-
tional, but they all have a negative impact on these female employees. As
we have seen, psychological health, self - esteem, subjective well - being, and
job performance suffer from the negative overt and covert messages directed
toward women.
Workplace microaggressions are also experienced by people of color and
LGBTs in many different forms. African American employees experience
being tracked and “ ghettoized ” by being considered (assumption of infe-
rior intelligence/skills) for only certain jobs and tasks in the workplace: support
services, personnel, human resources, community relations, and “ black
products ” departments instead of top decision - making positions. LGBTs tell
stories of how “ coming out ” negatively impacted their hiring and promo-
tional opportunities at work and subjected them to ridicule and violence
(assumption of abnormality and sinfulness). There is little wonder that
women, people of color, and LGBTs continue to be among the most under-
paid, underemployed, and, for some, the most unemployed in the workforce.
Microaggressions seem to play a pronounced role in creating disparities in
employment, specifically in the recruitment, retention, and promotion of

these three groups (Hinton, 2004; Rubin, 2008; Sue, Lin, & Rivera, 2009).

With the diversification of the workforce, it seems imperative that we under-
stand the relationship between microaggressions and their impact on diverse
work groups in the workplace.

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