Microaggressions in Everyday Life. Derald Wing Sue
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of criminal status. The theme of this microinsult appears to be race specific and relates to beliefs that a person of color is presumed to be dangerous, potentially a criminal, likely to break the law, or antisocial. Numerous examples of this apply to African American and Latinx men. Examples include a White woman who clutches her purse more tightly in the presence of Latinx persons, a White man checking for his wallet while passing a group of African Americans on the sidewalk, and a sales clerk requesting more pieces of identification to cash a check from a Black than from a White customer. Torres et al. (2010) found support for this theme in their mixed‐methods investigation among highly educated African Americans. Participants, even those with advanced educational degrees, reported enduring a range of such microaggressions from comments about their appearance (“looking like a criminal”) to harassment from law enforcement. Interestingly, our studies suggest that assumption of criminal status is seldom attributed to Asian Americans. Indeed, they are often viewed as law abiding, conforming, unlikely to rock the boat, and less prone to violence (D. W. Sue, Bucceri, Lin, Nadal, & Torino, 2007; D. W. Sue, Capodilupo, & Holder, 2008). Women may be less likely than men of color to encounter this form of microinsult (Hall & Fields, 2015).
Pathologizing cultural values/communication styles. The theme of this microinsult has two components: a belief that the cultural values/communication styles of White, male, and straight groups are normative and that those of people of color, females, and LGBTQ individuals are somehow abnormal. Examples include telling Latinx students to “leave your cultural baggage outside the classroom” and asking a Black person “Why do you have to be so loud, emotional, and animated?” In the first case, the Latinx students are being asked to assimilate and are being told that their cultural values are dysfunctional and should be given up because they will interfere with their learning. In the latter case, the style of communication by Black individuals is being pathologized because of the assumption that appropriate communication is dispassionate and objective (Kochman, 1981). But there is something more sinister and insidious in the reaction that fosters fear that Black people will become violent and out of control. This is related to the assumption of criminality just described. Relatedly, Houshmand and her colleagues (2014) found among Asian international students in Canada reports of being ridiculed for their accent, pronunciation, or language proficiency. And among a sample of multiracial individuals, Nadal, Wong et al. (2011) found support for pathologizing of their identities and experiences such that people of mixed race were assumed to be aberrant or confused.
Second‐class citizen. This microinsult contains an unconscious message that certain groups are less worthy, less important, and less deserving and are inferior beings who deserve discriminatory treatment. Torres et al. (2010) found this microinsult linked to assumptions of criminality in reports from African American participants. Although these microinsults may be conscious, most are delivered by well‐intentioned people who would never knowingly discriminate (Bonilla‐Silva, 2006). As a result, people of color, women, and LGBTQ individuals are accorded lesser treatment than White, male, and straight individuals. A lesbian woman is ignored and excluded by her female coworkers because she “is not like one of us.” Black patrons at a restaurant are seated at a smaller table near the kitchen door where waiters and waitresses constantly walk in and out. A female physician at an emergency room is mistaken by male patients as a nurse.
Sexual objectification. Sexual objectification is the process by which women are transformed into “objects” or property at the sexual disposal or benefit of men. There is a dehumanizing quality in this process because women are stripped of their humanity and the totality of their human essence (personal attributes, intelligence, emotions, hopes, etc.). Playboy and Hustler magazine pictures of nude women, topless and bottomless entertainment clubs, using scantily clad attractive female models in commercials to sell goods or services, and countless other examples communicate that women's bodies are not their own and that they exist to service the sexual fantasies and desires of men (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). The interaction of race and gender and sexual objectification can be complex (Lott, Aquith, & Doyon, 2001). Researchers in one study found, for example, that Asian American women often experienced microinsults related to exoticization (D. W. Sue, Bucceri, et al., 2007). Participants complained of continual subjugation to the roles of sexual objects, domestic servants, and exotic images such as geishas. They felt their identities were equated to that of passive companions to White men. Interestingly, some speculated that White men are often attracted to Asian American women, who are perceived as feminine and submissive, primarily as a backlash to feminist values and the feminist movement. In another study that focused on Black women's experiences with gendered racial microaggressions, Lewis, Mendenhall, Harwood, and Hunt's (2016) participants reported being sexualized, which was linked to the Jezebel stereotype of promiscuity and uncontrollable sexual desire. Even elite female athletes are targeted by the microaggression of sexual objectification. In an analysis of media sources and scholarly literature, Kaskan and Ho (2016) found a focus on female athletes' appearance and the pressure they face to fit into traditional female gender roles.
Microinvalidations
Microinvalidations are characterized by interpersonal communications (both verbal and nonverbal) that exclude, negate, or nullify the psychological thoughts, feelings, or experiential reality of certain groups, such as people of color, women, and LGBTQ individuals. In many ways, microinvalidations may represent the most damaging form of the three microaggressions because they directly and insidiously deny one’s racial, gender, or sexual‐orientation reality. As we shall see in Chapter 3, the power to impose reality upon marginalized groups represents the ultimate form of oppression. Here we provide several examples of microinvalidation themes:
Alien in one's own land. This theme involves being perceived as a perpetual foreigner in one's own country. Of all the groups toward which such microinvalidations are directed, Asian and Latinx Americans are most likely to experience them. When Asian Americans are complimented for speaking “good English” and persistently asked where they were born, the metacommunication is that “You are not American” or “You are a foreigner.” When Latinx Americans are told, “If you don't like it here, go back to Mexico,” there is an assumption that one's allegiance resides in another country. Interestingly, studies reveal that African Americans are perceived by the public as “more American” than either Asian or Latinx Americans (Devos & Banaji, 2005). Pérez Huber (2011) extended this theme to include racist nativist microaggressions (xenophobic beliefs about who belongs in the U.S.). She found that nativist microaggressions were institutionalized in K–12 education and targeted both U.S.‐born and undocumented Chicana students. Researchers in Canada uncovered a similar phenomenon among South Asian Canadian students who were perceived as “fresh off the boat” (Poolokasingham, Spanierman, Kleiman, & Houshmand, 2014).
Color, gender, and sexual‐orientation blindness. Simply stated, being color, gender, or sexual‐orientation blind is being unwilling to acknowledge or admit to seeing race, gender, or sexual orientation and oppression based on these social group identities. Racial color‐blindness is one of the most frequently delivered microinvalidations toward people of color. Statements such as “When I look at you I don't see color,” “There is only one race, the human race,” “We are all Americans,” or “We are a melting pot” contain multiple and complex hidden messages. At one level they are messages asking the receiver not to bring the topic of race into the discussion or interaction. They are also messages that indicate people of color should assimilate and acculturate. On one hand these messages are intended as defensive maneuvers not to appear racist (Apfelbaum et al., 2008) and on the other hand they serve as a denial of the racial experiences of people of color (Bonilla‐Silva, 2006). D. W. Sue (2005) posits that denial of race is really a denial of differences. The denial of differences is really a denial of power and privilege. The denial of power and privilege is really a denial of personal benefits that accrue to certain privileged groups by virtue of inequities. The denial that we profit from racism is really a denial of responsibility for our racism. Lastly, the denial of our racism is really a denial of the necessity to take action against racism. Multiple research investigations have documented targets' experiences with racial color‐blindness (see the work of Neville