You Know How A Dripping Faucet At Night Can Wear You Down?

That drip, drip, drip can just get on your nerves, well microaggressions can do the same thing. Those little digs like misgendering you or using your old name or derogatory comments can wear you down over time. Buzzfeed has an article about racial microagression,

Photographer Kiyun asked her friends at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus to “write down an instance of racial microaggression they have faced.”

The term “microaggression” was used by Columbia professor Derald Sue to refer to “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color.” Sue borrowed the term from psychiatrist Dr. Chester Pierce who coined the term in the ’70s.

Some of the ones that they listed were…

“No where are you really from?”
“What are you”?
“So what do you guys speak in Japan? Asian?”
“You don’t act like a normal black person ya’ know?”
“Just because I’m Mexican that doesn’t mean I should automatically be the 1^st choice for ‘Dora the Explorer’ in the high school skit.”

These are just some of the racial microaggressions that they faced every day and we face our own microaggressions every day. I am sure we can come up with our own list like “Have you had your surgery yet?” or “Sir, how can I help you sir?”

It is not outright aggression like calling you a “faggot” but more like a pin prick but it is done over and over and over, it can break you down.