Preface xi
Section One: Psychological Manifestation and Dynamics of Microaggressions
Chapter One Microaggressions as Toxic Rain: Here, There, and Everywhere! 3
What Are Microaggressions? 7
Racial Microaggressions 9
The Invisibility and Nebulous Nature of Everyday Racism 12
Gender Microaggressions 16
Sexual?Orientation Microaggressions 19
Misunderstanding Microaggressions 20
Stop Making Mountains Out of Molehills! 20
Everything’s a Microaggression in This Climate of Political Correctness 20
Your Analysis is Flawed 21
Microaggressions, Marginality, and Harmful Impact 23
The Way Forward: Making the “Invisible” Visible 26
Chapter Two Taxonomy of Microaggressions 31
Conscious and Deliberate Bigotry versus Unconscious and Unintentional Bias 33
The Changing Face of Racism, Sexism, and Heterosexism 34
Microaggressions 36
Environmental Macroaggressions 37
Forms of Microaggressions 41
Microassaults 41
Microinsults and Microinvalidations: Common Themes 48
Microinsults 49
Microinvalidations 52
The Way Forward: Defining, Recognizing, and Deconstructing Hidden Messages in Microaggressions 55
Chapter Three The Psychological Dilemmas and Dynamics of Microaggressions 59
Clash of Racial Realities : “You Are Just Being Hypersensitive and Misreading the Situation!” 62
Invisibility of Unintentional Biases: “I’m Not a Racist!” 67
Perceived Minimal Harm of Microaggressions : “Don’t Make a Mountain Out of a Molehill!” 70
The Catch?22 of Responding to Microaggressions : “You’re Damned if You Do and Damned if You Don’t!” 73
The Way Forward: Dealing with Psychological Dilemmas 79
Section Two: Microaggressive Impact on Targets and Perpetrators
Chapter Four The Microaggression Process Model: The Internal Struggle of Targets 85
Tracing the Impact of Microaggressions 88
Phase One—The Potential Microaggressive Incident or Event 88
Phase Two—Initial Assessment and Questioning of the Incident 96
Phase Three—Reaction Processes 97
Phase Four—Interpretation and Meaning 103
Phase Five—Consequences and Impact 106
The Microaggression Process Model: Recap 110
The Way Forward: Strength through Adversity 112
Chapter Five Microaggressive Stress: Impact on Physical and Psychological Well?Being 115
Biological Stressors: A Roadmap to Understanding Microaggressive Harm 117
Psychological and Social Stressors 119
Microaggressions and Daily Hassles 120
Impact of Everyday Hassles 121
The Life?Change Model of Stress 122
The Transactional Model of Stress 123
Situating Stress in the Macro?Context of Oppression 124
The Harmful Effects of Microaggressive Stress 127
Physical Health Effects of Microaggressive Stressors 127
Psychological Health Effects of Microaggressive Stressors 129
Strength through Adversity 140
The Way Forward: Responding Strategically and Resisting Microaggressions 140
Chapter Six Microaggressive Perpetrators: Who, What, When, How, and Why? 145
Who Are Microaggressive Perpetrators? 147
How and Why Do Individuals Perpetrate Microaggressions? 149
Using the Tools: Creating and Maintaining Dominance 149
Power to Impose a Biased Reality 151
What Makes It So Difficult for Perpetrators to Recognize Their Privilege? 153
Layer One—Fear of Appearing Biased 154
Layer Two—Fear of Recognizing One’s Complicity in Oppression 155
Layer Three—Fear of Acknowledging One’s Privilege 156
Layer Four—Fear of Taking Personal Responsibility to End Oppression 158
What Are the Costs of Microaggressions to Perpetrators? 160
Cognitive Costs of Oppression 161
Emotional Costs of Oppression 162
Behavioral Costs of Oppression 164
Spiritual and Moral Costs of Oppression 165
The Way Forward: The Ethical Mandate 166
Section Three: Interrogating Microaggressions: On Research, Teaching, and Counseling
Chapter Seven Researching Microaggressions: Show Me the Evidence! 171
In Their Own Words: Qualitative Investigation of Microaggressions 173
Purposive Samples 178
Focus Groups 178
Individual Interviews 180
Other Data Sources 180
Trustworthiness 182
Do Findings Generalize? Quantitative Investigation of Microaggressions 182
Measuring Microaggressions 183
Quantitative Research Designs 189
Summary 191
The Way Forward: Future Research Directions 192
Chapter Eight Teaching about Microaggressions 199
Faculty Narratives: Facing Challenges in the Classroom 201
Challenges Faculty Members of Color Face 202
Challenges White Faculty Members Face 205
Encountering Microaggressions in the Classroom 207
Navigating Microaggressions: What Can Educators Do? 209
Microaggressions Pedagogy: How to Teach about Microaggressions 213
The Way Forward: General Strategies for Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race 216
Chapter Nine Microaggressions in Counseling and Psychotherapy 223
Underutilization of Mental Health Services 225
Premature Termination and Quality of Mental Health Care 226
Multicultural Counseling Competence 227
Manifestations of Racial Microaggressions in Counseling and Psychotherapy 228
Microaggressions Influence Counseling Process and Outcomes 237
Innovative Research Approaches 240
The Way Forward: Microaggressions Implications for Practice and Research 241
Section Four: Disarming Microaggressions and Macroaggressions
Chapter Ten Microintervention Strategies for Disarming Microaggressions and Macroaggressions 249
Microaggressions and Macroaggressions 251
The Need to Take Action: Targets, Allies, and Bystanders 252
Targets 253
Allies 254
Bystanders 256
Responding to Microaggressions and Macroaggressions 257
Microinterventions 258
Strategic Goal: Make the “Invisible” Visible 261
Strategic Goal: Disarm the Microaggression 269
Strategic Goal: Educate the Perpetrator 271
Strategic Goal: Seek External Intervention or Support 273
Microinterventions and Macroaggressions 275
Context Matters 277
The Way Forward: Microinterventions and the New Research Frontier 278
References 281
Author Index 321
Subject Index 337
