Page 50 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

24 taxonomy of microaggressions

biases of the society, all citizens are exposed to a social conditioning process
that imbues within them prejudices, stereotypes, and beliefs that lie outside
their level of awareness. On a conscious level they may endorse egalitarian
values, but on an unconscious level, they harbor either promajority feelings
(Dovidio et al., 2002) or antiminority feelings (Sue, 2003).
Although much has been written about contemporary forms of racism,
sexism, and heterosexism, many studies in health care, education, law, employ-
ment, mental health, and social settings indicate the difficulty of describing

and defining racial, gender, and sexual - orientation discrimination that occurs

via “ implicit bias ” ; they are difficult to identify, quantify, and rectify because
of their subtle, nebulous, and unnamed nature (Johnson, 1988; Nadal, Rivera, &
Corpus, in press; Rowe, 1990; Sue, Nadal, et al., 2008). Subtle racism, sexism,
and heterosexism remain relatively invisible and potentially harmful to the
well - being, self - esteem, and standard of living of many marginalized groups
in society. These daily common experiences of aggression may have signifi -

cantly more influence on anger, frustration, and self - esteem than traditional
overt forms of racism, sexism, and heterosexism (Sue, Capodilupo, et al.,
2007). Furthermore, their invisible nature prevents perpetrators from realizing
and confronting their own complicity in creating psychological dilemmas for
minorities and their role in creating disparities in employment, health care,
and education (Coleman, 2004; Dovidio et al., 2002; Rowe, 1990).

Racial, Gender, and Sexual-Orientation Microaggressions

In reviewing the literature on subtle and contemporary forms of bias, the term
“ microaggressions ” seems to best describe the phenomenon in its everyday
occurrence. Simply stated, microaggressions are brief, everyday exchanges
that send denigrating messages to certain individuals because of their group

membership (people of color, women, or LGBTs). The term was first coined by

Pierce in 1970 in his work with Black Americans where he defined it as “ subtle,

stunning, often automatic, and nonverbal exchanges which are ‘ put - downs ’ ”
(Pierce, Carew, Pierce - Gonzalez, & Willis, 1978, p. 66). They have also been
described as “ subtle insults (verbal, nonverbal, and/or visual) directed toward
people of color, often automatically or unconsciously ” (Solorzano, Ceja, &
Yosso, 2000).
In the world of business, the term “ microinequities ” is used to describe
the pattern of being overlooked, underrespected, and devalued because of
one ’ s race or gender (Hinton, 2004). They are often unconsciously delivered

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