Practicing Awareness of Microagressions

This week we have learned about microaggressions.  Micoaggressions, according to Dr. Sue are indignities that occur every day that may be intentional or unintentional and they can be verbal, behavioral or environmental (Laureate Education, 2011). I have a two examples of microaggression that I would like to share.  The first one happened at Target the other day when I was shopping.  Target has a sale on their Del Monte canned vegetables.  This is the time of year I usually stock up on them because they are always the best price around the holiday season, therefore, I was purchasing a large quantity.  The sales person who was working in the area where the vegetables were located said to me, “Gee you are wiping me out!”  My response was “You have plenty more on the shelf over there and a lot up by the registers”.  This employee would not leave well enough alone and he proceeded to make another comment when he saw me checking out.  He said, “You must be buying them for a food drive, right” I responded, “No!” He then said, “No! I guess you are just a family that likes vegetables, lots and lots of vegetables!” At this point, I began ignoring him and continued checking out.  I probably could have ceased the comments by explaining why I was buying so many cans of vegetables, however, I felt that I did not owe him an explanation and the fact that he kept making comments became a little annoying.  I also wonder if it would have been my husband shopping, would the same comment have been made. 

The second comment that I would like to share has happened to me many times over the years, but, more frequently when my children were younger.  When I would go to the store and all five of my children were with me, most of the time someone would say are they all yours or they are not all yours are they?  When I would tell them that they were, they usually would follow up with Wow! You look way too young to have so many children.  This first part of the comment always made me feel like people were thinking down on me for having so many kids.  The second part of the comment did not bother me as I am happy that I look younger than I am to others. 

I believe that both of these situations demonstrated microinsults.  Observing and specifically looking for microaggressions made me realize how easy people tend to discriminate, develop prejudice and or stereotypes against others.  Unfortunately, more often than not, people do not even realize they are hurting the other person.  I am quite positive the man in target was just frustrated as he had an open spot on his shelf that he was going to have to restock.  He probably was not even considering how he was making me feel.  This assignment has made me realize that it is important for me to make sure that I think about what I am going to say, before I say it.  This will help to make sure that my words are not hurtful to others.   

Reference

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Microaggressions in everyday life [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu