Microaggressions are forms of subtle discrimination in the form of verbal, behavioral, and environmental indignities. They are often automatically and unconsciously directed at members of marginalized groups and typically take the shape of insults or invalidations related to race, gender identity, age, disability, and sexual orientation. The following text explores these dynamics through specific examples of social slights, verbal insults, and environmental exclusion. Additionally, it addresses the long-term impact of these experiences on mental health, including chronic stress, depression, and suicidal ideation.
Framing & Perspectives
Microaggressions often reveal the power dynamics, stereotypes, and prejudice that exist in our society against unprivileged groups. Since more blatant forms of discrimination are socially and legally forbidden, people may resort to microaggressions to express the same negative beliefs about a marginalized group in a more subtle and socially accepted way. Microaggressions are often expressed through snubs, dismissive looks or comments, gestures, or tones and may vary in levels of severity and awareness. Because they are present in everyday interactions they tend to be easily dismissed, regarded as innocent, or negated. Enactors of microaggressions are often well-intentioned and don’t realize that they perpetuate discriminatory messages.
Researchers (Sue et al., 2007) have identified three forms of microaggressions: microassaults, microinsults, and microinvalidations. Among these, microassaults are the most conscious and deliberate forms of microaggressions. They are designed to hurt the intended victim usually by name-calling, avoidant behavior, or overtly discriminatory actions. Examples include using outdated and offensive terms such as “colored” or “oriental”, telling racist jokes, purposefully avoiding and discouraging interracial interactions, also making catcalls when a woman passes by.
Microinsults are usually unconscious nonverbal or verbal communications that convey discriminatory beliefs, rudeness, and insensitivity, for example by demeaning someone’s heritage, racial or gender identity, disability, or sexual orientation. These insults typically manifest as subtle snubs and slights, often going unnoticed by the perpetrator but conveying a hidden insulting message to the recipient. For example, a nonverbal microinsult might occur when a White person clutches their purse while a Black person passes by. A verbal microinsult could be commenting “That’s so gay” in reference to a particular behavior or questioning a woman who has attained a high-status position by asking “How did you really get this job?”. This implies that she must have gotten it for example through affirmative action rather than her abilities.
Microinvalidations are unconscious messages that tend to dismiss the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of members of marginalized groups. A common microinvalidation often occurs when a person of color, who was born and raised in a country predominantly inhibited by White individuals, is repeatedly asked where they come from or complimented on their language skills. Additionally, comments directed at people of color such as “When I look at you I don’t see color” or “We are all humans”, even if intended in good faith, can undermine a person’s experiences related to their racial identity (example of color blindness).
Although microaggressions typically occur at an individual level, it is highlighted that microaggressions are not limited to human encounters; they can also manifest in our environments, often through social media, education curriculum, TV programs, monuments, and other offensive symbols. For example, schools and streets that are predominantly named after White heterosexual upper-class males or overcrowding of public schools in communities of color serve as examples of environmental microaggressions.
Relevance
Overt discriminatory acts are often assumed to have more detrimental effects on individuals compared to covert forms. However, research indicates that experiences of microaggressions can also significantly impact mental health. Due to their ambiguous nature, microaggressions can evoke a range of negative emotions including confusion, anger, anxiety, helplessness, hopelessness, frustration, paranoia, and fear. Because of their prevalence in everyday life, microaggressions can be experienced as a form of chronic stress, which can often lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms, such as denial, withdrawal, and substance abuse (Williams, 2020).
Research has linked experiences of microaggressions to increased stress levels (Torres et al., 2010), depressive and somatic symptoms (Huynh, 2012), lower self-esteem (Nadal et al., 2014), symptoms of post-traumatic stress (Williams et al., 2018), increased substance abuse (Clark et al., 2015), and increased suicide ideation (Hollingsworth et al., 2017), amongst others issues. Furthermore, studies have found that experiencing microaggressions in clinical settings can lead people of color to avoid seeking healthcare (Freeman & Stewart, 2018). Transgender individuals who encounter microaggressions in therapy may also experience lower satisfaction with treatment, as well as a reduced willingness to seek mental health support in the future (Morris et al., 2020). Additionally, female leaders in STEM who have encountered microaggressions in workplaces may experience self-doubt, which may lead them to leave the field altogether (Kim & Meister, 2023).
Keywords: Discrimination, Systemic Oppression, Prejudice, Stereotypes, Power Dynamics, Marginalized Groups
Connected terms: Microinterventions, Tone Policing, Xenocentrism, White Defensiveness (Mechanisms), White Fragility, White Guilt, Whitewashing, White Tears, White Silence
References
Clark, T. T., Salas-Wright, C. P., Vaughn, M. G., & Whitfield, K. E. (2015). Everyday discrimination and mood and substance use disorders: A latent profile analysis with African Americans and Caribbean Blacks. Addictive behaviors, 40, 119-125.
Freeman, L., & Stewart, H. (2018). Microaggressions in clinical medicine. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, 28(4), 411-449.
Hollingsworth, D. W., Cole, A. B., O’Keefe, V. M., Tucker, R. P., Story, C. R., & Wingate, L. R. (2017). Experiencing racial microaggressions influences suicide ideation through perceived burdensomeness in African Americans. Journal of counseling psychology, 64(1), 104.
Huynh, V. W. (2012). Ethnic microaggressions and the depressive and somatic symptoms of Latino and Asian American adolescents. Journal of youth and adolescence, 41, 831-846.
Kim, J. Y., & Meister, A. (2023). Microaggressions, interrupted: The experience and effects of gender microaggressions for women in STEM. Journal of Business Ethics, 185(3), 513-531.
Morris, E. R., Lindley, L., & Galupo, M. P. (2020). “Better issues to focus on”: Transgender microaggressions as ethical violations in therapy. The Counseling Psychologist, 48(6), 883-915.
Nadal, K. L., Wong, Y., Griffin, K. E., Davidoff, K., & Sriken, J. (2014). The adverse impact of racial microaggressions on college students’ self-esteem. Journal of College Student Development, 55(5), 461-474.
Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M., Torino, G. C., Bucceri, J. M., Holder, A., Nadal, K. L., & Esquilin, M. (2007). Racial microaggressions in everyday life: implications for clinical practice. American psychologist, 62(4), 271.
Sue, D. W., & Spanierman, L. (2020). Microaggressions in everyday life. John Wiley & Sons.
Torres, L., Driscoll, M. W., & Burrow, A. L. (2010). Racial microaggressions and psychological functioning among highly achieving African-Americans: A mixed-methods approach. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 29(10), 1074-1099.
Williams, M. T. (2020). Microaggressions: Clarification, evidence, and impact. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(1), 3-26.
Williams, M. T., Printz, D., & DeLapp, R. C. (2018). Assessing racial trauma with the Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale. Psychology of violence, 8(6), 735.
