To an Asian or Latinx person: “Why are you so quiet? We want to know what you think. Be more verbal. Speak up more”
Dismissing an individual who brings up race/culture in a work/school setting
Leave your cultural baggage outside
Second‐Class Citizen When a target group member receives differential treatment from the power group
Mistaking a Person of Color for a service worker
People of color are servants to White Americans; they couldn't possibly occupy high‐status positions
Mistaking a female doctor for a nurse
Women occupy nurturing roles
Having a taxi cab pass a Person of Color and pick up a White passenger
You are likely to cause trouble and/or travel to a dangerous neighborhood
Ignoring a Person of Color at a store counter and giving attention to the White customer behind them
White Americans are more valued customers than People of Color
Not inviting a lesbian woman out with a group of female friends because they think she will be bored if they talk to men
You don't belong
Traditional Gender Role Prejudicing and Stereotyping When expectations of traditional roles or stereotypes are conveyed
A male professor asking a female student working on a chemistry assignment, “What do you need to work on this for anyway?”
Women are less capable in math and science
Asking a woman her age and, upon hearing she is 31, looking quickly at her ring finger
Women should be married during child‐bearing ages because that is their primary purpose
Assuming a woman is a lesbian because she does not put a lot of effort into her appearance
Lesbians do not care about being attractive to others
Sexual Objectification When women are treated like objects at men's disposal
A male stranger putting his hands on a woman's hips or on the swell of her back as he passes her
Your body is not yours
Whistling at and catcalling a woman as she walks down the street
Your body/appearance is for men's enjoyment and pleasure
Using the term “gay” to describe a fellow student who is socially ostracized at school
Gay people are weird and different
Assumption of Abnormality When it is implied that there is something wrong with being LGBTQ
Two men holding hands in public receiving stares from strangers
You should keep your displays of affection private because they are offensive
“Did something terrible happen to you in your childhood?” to a transgender person
Your choices must be the result of a trauma and not your authentic identity
Helplessnessa When people frantically try to help people with disabilities (PWDs)
Helping someone with a disability on to a bus or train, even when they need no help
You can't do anything by yourself because you have a disability
People feeling they need to rescue someone from their disability
Having a disability is a catastrophe
Denial of Personal Identityb When any aspect of a person's identity other than disability is ignored or denied
“I can't believe you are married!”
Your life is not normal or like mine; the only thing I see when I look at you is your disability
Exoticization When an LGBTQ person, woman of color, or member of a religious minority is treated as a foreign object for the pleasure/entertainment of others
“I've always wanted an Asian girlfriend! They wait hand and foot on their men”
Asian American women are submissive and meant to serve the physical needs of men
“Tell me some of your wild sex stories!” to an LGBTQ person
Your privacy is not valued; you should entertain with stories
Asking a Muslim person incessant questions about his or her diet, dress, and relationships
Your privacy is not valued; you should educate me about your cultural practices, which are strange and different
Assumption of One's Own Religion as Normalc
Saying “Merry Christmas” as a universal greeting
Your religious beliefs are not important; everyone should celebrate Christmas
Acknowledging only Christian holidays in work and school
Your religious holidays need to be celebrated on your time; they are unimportant
a Adapted from Sue, Bucceri et al. (2007).
b Themes and examples are taken from Keller and Galgay (2010).
c Themes and examples are taken from Nadal, Issa, et al. (2010).
THE DYNAMICS AND DILEMMAS OF MICROAGGRESSIONS
The study of microaggressions presents “a complex scientific challenge because it deals with both explicit and implicit bias; explores the lived realities of marginalized groups in our society; frames microaggressive dynamics as an interaction between perpetrator, target, and the external environment; pushes powerful emotional buttons in the actors; and is difficult to separate from the sociopolitical dimensions of oppression, power, and privilege” (Sue, 2017, p. 171). Not only does the subtle and insidious nature of racial microaggressions render them outside the level of awareness of their perpetrators, but recipients also find their ambiguity difficult to handle. Victims are placed in an unenviable position of questioning not only the perpetrators, but themselves as well (e.g., “Did I misread what happened?”). Victims often replay an incident over and over again to try to understand its meaning.
Yet, despite attribution ambiguity, microaggressions significantly shape experiences and environments. Researchers have consistently identified microaggressions as creating a hostile and invalidating campus climate (Yosso, Smith, Ceja, & Solorzano, 2009; Young & Anderson, 2019), even referring to them as “toxic rain” that corrodes the educational experience of students of color (Suarez‐Orozco et al., 2015).” The cumulative effect of microaggressions has been shown to impede learning by depleting cognitive and psychological resources (Smith, Hung, & Franklin, 2011; Watkins, Labarrie, & Appio, 2010), resulting in a phenomenon labeled “racial battle fatigue” (Martin, 2019). In work that looks extensively at Black males’ experiences at PWIs, Harper (2013, p. 189) refers to this same concept as “onlyness,”
