Page 92 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

66 the microaggression process model

felt like I was trying to be someone who I wasn ’ t, always trying to fi t in where
I knew I didn ’ t fit. It was really hard. I really felt all alone, I thought I was the

only person in the world who felt this way . . . . I was tired of hiding it and I got
to a point where I didn ’ t care who knew. (Mallon, 1998, p. 119)

In Chapter 3 we speak about how microaggressions are a constant and contin-
uing reality for people of color, women, and LGBTs. They often appear to be
small slights that in isolation produce minimal harm to recipients. However,
being exposed to a lifetime of daily assaults, insults, disregard, and disrespect
has been shown to be extremely harmful unless mitigated in some fashion.
The effects of microaggressions may be compared to the perennial “ slow
death by a thousand cuts. ”
It is reported that Maya Angelou has likened racial microaggressions or
petty humiliations to “ small murders, ” in contrast to the blatant forms of
oppressions called “ grand executions, ” in which the lethal nature of biased
acts is obvious (Greene, 2000). Microaggressions have the lifelong insidious
effects of silencing, invalidating, and humiliating the identity and/or voices
of those who are oppressed. Although their lethality is less obvious, they
nevertheless grind down and wear out the victims.
Studies reveal that a lifetime of microaggressions takes a major toll
on the psychological functioning of marginalized groups in our society
(Constantine & Sue, 2007; Crocker & Major, 1989; Herek, Gillis, & Cogan, 2009;
Lyness & Thompson, 2000; National Academies, 2006; Pierce, 1978, 1988, 1995;
Salvatore & Shelton, 2007; Sol ó rzano et al., 2000; Steele, Spencer, & Aronson,
2002; Symanski, 2009). When speaking about the Black experience, for example,
microaggressions have been described as “ offensive mechanisms used against
blacks ” ; they are “ often innocuous ,” but the “ cumulative weight of their never -
ending burden ” may result in “ diminished mortality, augmented morbidity,
and fl attened confidence ” (Pierce, Carew, Pierce - Gonzalez, & Willis, 1978).

In the three examples above, racial, gender, and LGBT microaggressions have
exacted a tremendous and terrible psychological toll on the targets and
have potentially altered their life course. In the case of the African American
student, racial microaggressions (environmental isolation, ascription of lower
intelligence, and denial of racial reality) have led to fatigue, cynicism, anger,
and even actions to change from a science to an English major. This is a sad
state of affairs when we realize that these incidents have irreparably altered
the career path and possible quality of life for this young African American
woman.

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