‘’Microaggressions are brief everyday
indignities that are verbal, behavioral or environmental, that they may be
intentional or unintentionally communicated to women, to people of color, to
gay/lesbians that have an insulting message behind them that often time causes
severe psychological distress and harm’’ (‘’Microaggression in Everyday Life’’). An example of microaggression which I have detected
this week would be when I was in the grocery store with my seven year old
daughter. We were standing in line to
checkout and my daughter said, ‘’mommy can I have this?’’. The elderly woman behind me said, ‘’honey
your parents must be very disappointed in you, but she sure is pretty’’ while
looking at me daughter and then me. This
woman in the store assumed I was a teenage age pregnancy due to my physical appearance
looking younger than 29. This example of
microaggression is unintentional and invisible nature of microaggressions due
to the fact that the elderly woman probably considers herself a good, moral,
decent individual. The elderly woman did
not think she was being offensive in her comments, but rather making an
incident in nature comment. I understood
that the elderly woman did not mean any harm, but I was offended that she group
with teenage girls. I also felt disrespected
because my husband and I planned our daughter like responsible adults at the
age of 21.
Concluding
this assignment, I feel I have more empathy for those who experience
discrimination, prejudice, and stereotypes in their lifetime due to the fact
that some people do not mean to offend others, but lack to social skills to
express their thoughts/feeling appropriately.
Reference
‘’Microaggression
in Everyday Life’’
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