Have you ever wanted to insult people in a way that makes it impossible for them to call you out on it? Are backhanded compliments too direct for you? I have just the thing for you. It’s called a microaggression. You may be wondering; “Gee willikers! What makes something a microaggression? Why is it micro and not regular-sized or macro?” Well, allow me to explain.
Read more: Microaggressions for Dummies (First Edition)A microaggression is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group (such as a racial minority)”. This technique is usually used to demonstrate a person’s place in a sociological hierarchy without outright speaking about it.
This can happen in many different ways for many different people. I will now provide a couple of examples I have witnessed.
During one of the meetings for a hobby group, the members were discussing cosplay. One of the people mentions that they saw a person whose gender they were unable to assume. Because of this, they chose to say, “I couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl so I just called it an it.” I would consider this a microaggression because their language implied that when a person does not conform to the gender norms engraved into their mind, this person would no longer consider the gender non-conforming person to be a human being. This is obviously bad because we are dehumanizing living human beings for very arbitrary reasons, and alienating trans people who hear ideas or statements such as this.
Another example would be from a friend. They were walking to school and someone, out of nowhere, began to touch their hair. This is unusual because the person had seen hair that was different from theirs, and decided to touch it without asking. The friend found this experience to be similar to that of an exotic animal in a petting zoo. It was also dehumanizing and uncomfortable. 😦
Unruly Bodies 
I really like the formatting of your post; it is really creative. The examples really make it easy for the reader to follow with your main argument. One note I would make is I would specifically point out how men are known for their microaggressions. Controlling women in a very strict way is how they get away with it. I also disagree with the point you made with micro aggressions being lowkey. I think it outright marginalizes people and everyone knows about it.
Hello! Thanks!!
As far as formatting goes in the future I want to try to make points through gnome-society metaphors because I think that would be fun.
I didn’t really want to call out a specific group of people because I felt like it was a slippery slope to alienating a majority of readers, and when you alienate, people it makes it harder for them to listen to your point.
I was also panicking trying to finish before midnight because I had procrastinated really hard, but I will try to make points clearer in the future.
I think the majority of people are aware of microaggressions, but on a smaller scale they don’t really perceive what they do or what others do to be a microaggression, and bringing light to that would ideally lead to societal change.
Again thank you for the critique 🙂
I like how you put the definition of what microaggression is instead of assuming g the reader already knows. It really helps people understand what you’re talking about. The examples you made also helped support the definition greatly and give a better understanding to the reader just exactly what microaggression is. I understand what you mean about microaggression being lowkey. Even though everyone knows about it not many people will stand up against those who use it because the person could just lie and say you are ministering them; even though you know the truth. When they responded like that and you have no evidence to back up what you’re saying then you look like the bad guy/fool which is unfair.