Are you able to recognize microagressions?

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Jayo
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30 Jul 2021, 12:59 pm

More of a Millennial term, not so much used by Gen-Xers such as myself...but that whole term of "microaggression" kind of struck a chord with me in thinking back to my younger adult days, in the 90s. I can recall in my mind's eye getting derisive looks, or rather when two peers would make derisive looks at each other like "wtf?? I think this guy's two cans short of a six-pack" or the like. Or I'd be just incidentally walking in the direction of a group of students who knew me at college/uni and one of them (usually female) would cast an anxious glance towards me, and they'd all quickly look at each other and at me, then walk away :x

And of course those times in past workplaces where, despite being reasonably capable (in some ways more than others), I was ignored or given "grunt work" - guess I was supposed to "take the hint" that I was persona non grata there due to innocently breaking some unwritten protocol but I stayed regardless.

It's uncanny, but from my own experience (and likely others here) we've built up the socio-emotional intuition to tell with some regularity when someone is subtly hostile towards you, but we don't intuitively integrate the other signs of someone's mind-state (which, arguably, led up to the point of them presenting as subtly hostile towards you).

When I read an article on microaggressions faced by Aspies (ASD/HFA to use the current term), I could relate to pretty much all of these, pasted below. And when I think back to my young adult days, I'm glad I didn't react like some toxic NT males would have to these microaggressions, or I might have ended up in hospital or in jail given the number of times such microaggressions occurred 8O Or, I've no doubt that even if I got very verbally indignant (without physical contact), I would've been shouted down by "the group" and asked to leave in a more hostile manner, as if my sentiments didn't matter. While they have a certain proverb in Japan that "the nail that stands up is quickly hammered down", IME that applies to pretty much every Western country too 8O
I definitely needed to build a thick skin and muster the willpower to continuously improve based on trial and error!!

THE PASSAGE:
Non-verbal cues of microaggression directed toward individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions can include:

1. Facial expressions (i.e. staring, smirking, eye rolling, dismay)

2. Hand gestures (i.e. pointing, dismissive waves, obscene gestures)

3. Body posture (i.e. turning ones back on or looking away from an individual as they speak)

4. Avoidance (i.e. moving away from someone after they have joined a group)

5. Exclusion from events (i.e. lack of reasonable accommodations for individuals with conditions at social events, not extending invitations to social event to individuals with impairments)

6. Lack of opportunity for professional growth in work settings (i.e. being excluded from conferences and workshops needed for advancement, placing workers with a condition in dead end jobs, failure to provide reasonable accommodations to individual related with visible conditions)



Harry Haller
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31 Jul 2021, 12:26 pm

Sure, but they never have the intended effect.
-- Which seems to annoy people, which is in turn amusing.



funeralxempire
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31 Jul 2021, 1:33 pm

Sometimes, but usually I'm better equipped to notice when they're aimed at others than myself.


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starkid
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01 Aug 2021, 1:26 am

Yes I can.

Not all the things you've listed seem aggressive. "Aggression" is the key part of microaggressions: microaggressions are basically just passive-aggressive behavior. For example:

Jayo wrote:
Or I'd be just incidentally walking in the direction of a group of students who knew me at college/uni and one of them (usually female) would cast an anxious glance towards me, and they'd all quickly look at each other and at me, then walk away

That seems like a manifestation of fear or discomfort, not a microaggression.



Jayo
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01 Aug 2021, 9:26 am

starkid wrote:
Yes I can.

Not all the things you've listed seem aggressive. "Aggression" is the key part of microaggressions: microaggressions are basically just passive-aggressive behavior. For example:

Jayo wrote:
Or I'd be just incidentally walking in the direction of a group of students who knew me at college/uni and one of them (usually female) would cast an anxious glance towards me, and they'd all quickly look at each other and at me, then walk away

That seems like a manifestation of fear or discomfort, not a microaggression.


Yeah, that sort of fear I could never quite understand... maybe they were conjuring up some absurd archetype of the crazed loner with that empty look who suddenly goes on a rampage or something. But then, you gotta wonder how afraid of you they really are, when some of them insist on being more openly derisive towards you with veiled put-downs and smirks and such - I mean, would you really wanna piss someone off who might react that way???
My post-secondary experience was in the 90s, before Columbine occurred, and I NEVER harboured such thoughts - yet there might have been some danger they sensed anyways, absent anything in the news that had yet to come.



CockneyRebel
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01 Aug 2021, 12:20 pm

I'm able to recognize when people are using microagressions on me and I resent them for doing such things to me. My mum uses a lot of the eye-rolling.


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ASPartOfMe
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01 Aug 2021, 6:50 pm

No. Often I miss the hostility or see hostility that is not there. Especially with stuff not obvious, like microaggressions, or subtle praise.


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starkid
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01 Aug 2021, 8:00 pm

Jayo wrote:
starkid wrote:

Jayo wrote:
Or I'd be just incidentally walking in the direction of a group of students who knew me at college/uni and one of them (usually female) would cast an anxious glance towards me, and they'd all quickly look at each other and at me, then walk away

That seems like a manifestation of fear or discomfort, not a microaggression.


Yeah, that sort of fear I could never quite understand... maybe they were conjuring up some absurd archetype of the crazed loner with that empty look who suddenly goes on a rampage or something.

It's common and healthy (in terms of survival instincts) for females to be afraid of males. But I don't have many details about the circumstances you were in, so I can't accurately guess what was going on.



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02 Aug 2021, 3:38 am

No. There have been several occasions in my life where people have 'exploded' at me in anger - or so it seems to me. I've been told, by my partner and others, that the signs I was annoying or upsetting these people were there, I just didn't see it.

I'm never sure how much of this is down to not really looking at people, avoiding eye contact etc. Maybe if I was looking I would see these things.


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