The Culturally Diverse

br CHAPTER 5 - RACIAL , GENDER , AND SEXUAL ORIENTION MICRO AGGRESSIONS

The three types of micro aggression are racial micro aggression , gender micro aggression , and sexual orientation micro aggression . Racial micro aggression consists of subtle insults which can be verbal , nonverbal , or visual directed towards people of color , often automatically or unconsciously . It is a subtle form of racism . Racial micro aggression can take a number of different forms including : nullifying racial-cultural issues , making stereo-typical assumptions , and cultural insensitivity . They also play a role in unfairness in the legal system as they

can influence the decisions of juries Gender micro aggression is related to acts that perpetuate stereotypical gender roles . An example of this could be a male faculty member asking his male colleagues to help him work out a glitch in a piece of equipment in his laboratory but not asking his female colleagues making the notion that a woman 's mechanical aptitude is inferior to that of a man 's . These gender micro aggressions include devaluing , minimizing , belittling , and demeaning comments about women and women associated activities Sexual orientation micro aggression is associated with actions that maintain stereotypes about homosexuals . An example of this would be assuming that all homosexual males personify women with high-pitched voices and manicured nails and that all lesbians have manly characteristics that signify that they are gay The dynamics of micro aggression are the forces that tend to produce activity and change in racial , gender , and sexuality incidents . The dynamics behind micro aggression also tend to send messages towards people . An example of this could be when an white person asks an Asian American or Latino American to teach them words in their native language . This sends the message that they aren 't American and a foreigner . Another example would be a white person stating that an African American is very articulate . The actual message it sends is that it is unusual for someone of color to be intelligent There are four dilemmas that we face during micro aggression . The first is the clash of racial realities where white Americans tend to think that racism is on the decline and that African Americans are doing better in life than 30 or 40 years ago . On the reverse side , blacks view whites as racially insensitive . The second dilemma is the invisibility of unintentional expressions of bias . This refers to the issue that in most cases racial biases are invisible and the wrongdoer is unaware of any injustice . The third is the perceived minimal harm of racial micro aggressions . This conveys the fact that when an individual is confronted with their micro aggressive acts the perpetrator usually believes that the victim has overreacted or is being overly sensitive The last dilemma is the Catch 22 of responding to micro aggressions The victim is usually perplexed about how to react whether it be deciding to do nothing or confronting the perpetrator Sometimes , micro aggression can manifest in counseling . Under Denial of Individual Racism , a common response by Whites...