Microaggressions
American universities have been taken over by a "safety culture." Psychologists disagree on what its long-term consequences will be.
By Jarek Gryz
A woman and a man walk into a car dealership intending to buy a car. Though the car is for her, the salesman addresses himself almost exclusively to him from the very start.
A little boy is walking with his father in the park. Coming toward them is a pair of men holding
A woman is riding a train when a Black man sits down beside her. She shifts her purse to her other side.
Each of us has witnessed or experienced similar situations. Stereotypes organize our lives, and no one can fully free themselves from them. We manifest them often unconsciously, through gestures, words, or facial expressions. Perhaps none of the people in these stories would consider themselves a misogynist, a homophobe, or a racist, and all of them would claim that there was no bad intent behind their behavior. But that doesn't change the fact that each of the people on the receiving end of their actions might have felt offended. This is precisely what a microaggression is.
