microaggression

[sun rise]

I started a thread a bit ago on a real-world example of microaggression. That triggered me to think some more about this. That led me to remember a phrase we used to use "put down". And I found this web site that appears to have died a couple of years ago but which has some good examples of how this affects not only blacks, but also women and minorities and even beyond that to people in general.

power, privilege, and everyday life. -

Some examples:
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"Can You Hear Me"

The “joking” reaction of various friends, coworkers and bosses when I tell them that I’m hearing-impaired and used to have to wear aids. They then tell me “it’s not like it’s a big deal or anything, it’s not like you’re actually deaf”. Makes me feel like my problems don’t matter.

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• At the office. Three Jamaican men with dreadlocks are in a meeting in a conference room. The "comedian" white coworker walks by and sticks his head in::
  
  
• COMEDIAN:: What are you guys, some kind of a club?
  
  
• ATTENDEE:: Yeah, that's it, we're a club.
  
  
• (everyone else rolls their eyes)

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"You're too pretty to be gay"

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"You talk like a white girl."

I have been told this many times because I use ‘big’ words when I am talking casually. I am a Black girl.
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[Brickjectivity]

I started a thread a bit ago on a real-world example of microaggression. That triggered me to think some more about this. That led me to remember a phrase we used to use "put down". And I found this web site that appears to have died a couple of years ago but which has some good examples of how this affects not only blacks, but also women and minorities and even beyond that to people in general.

power, privilege, and everyday life. -

Some examples:
-----------------------------------------------------

"Can You Hear Me"

The “joking” reaction of various friends, coworkers and bosses when I tell them that I’m hearing-impaired and used to have to wear aids. They then tell me “it’s not like it’s a big deal or anything, it’s not like you’re actually deaf”. Makes me feel like my problems don’t matter.

-----------------------------------------------------

• At the office. Three Jamaican men with dreadlocks are in a meeting in a conference room. The "comedian" white coworker walks by and sticks his head in::
  
  
• COMEDIAN:: What are you guys, some kind of a club?
  
  
• ATTENDEE:: Yeah, that's it, we're a club.
  
  
• (everyone else rolls their eyes)

-----------------------------------------------------

"You're too pretty to be gay"

-----------------------------------------------------
"You talk like a white girl."

I have been told this many times because I use ‘big’ words when I am talking casually. I am a Black girl.
-----------------------------------------------------

I think that the general idea is to be nice to people, but its possible to raise the bar so high that people feel constantly constrained not to say anything. Humor relieves stress, and some people have a lot of stress. Its not always that they want to be cruel or aggressive. Why label it aggression when it may be incompetence or foolishness?

Have you ever been in a situation in which you weren't sure how to behave?

 

[sun rise]

Have you ever been in a situation in which you weren't sure how to behave?

And I've said and done some utterly stupid things.

But when it gets to the point that many people are using a put down referencing something about a person, it passes from the realm of individual action to a group problem.

 

[Brickjectivity]

And I've said and done some utterly stupid things.

But when it gets to the point that many people are using a put down referencing something about a person, it passes from the realm of individual action to a group problem.

Yes. I'm not sure that aggression should be the assumption. Lack of concern, yes. Micronegligence sounds more accurate, or perhaps its macronegligence since its about many people.

 

[Revoltingest]

And I've said and done some utterly stupid things.

But when it gets to the point that many people are using a put down referencing something about a person, it passes from the realm of individual action to a group problem.

It sounds like "microaggression" is just a newly fashionable term for incivility.
How does it differ?

 

[sun rise]

It sounds like "microaggression" is just a newly fashionable term for incivility.
How does it differ?

I don't think it does. Microaggression, put downs, incivility are all to me synonyms or close synonyms for the same thing.

 

[Revoltingest]

I don't think it does. Microaggression, put downs, incivility are all to me synonyms or close synonyms for the same thing.

That is an entirely unexpected answer.
Kudos for being surprising.