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Microaggression Essay

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Violence and discrimination have a significant impact on the lives and health of transgendered people, but they are not the only forms of prejudice experienced by this community. Defined as subtle and often unintentional forms of discrimination, microaggressions can be just as damaging and are often much more difficult to detect (Galupo, 2014). Rather than the obvious forms of mistreatment such as hate crimes or physical abuse, microaggressions include actions such as the use of slurs, stereotyping, exoticization, condemnation, objectification, misgendering, and numerous other behaviors that insinuate that a transgender person is not welcome or accepted based on their identity (Galupo, 2014). It is not necessarily the singular experience of a …show more content…

It was found that transgendered people react in a variety of ways, including feelings of being misunderstood, anger, betrayal, and hopelessness. Many assumed their aggressor to be ignorant and insensitive, and though some attempted to educate them, others chose not to stand up for themselves due to fear of retaliation or physical harm. Microaggressions came from numerous different sources and had varying impacts depending on the context of the situation and the relationship one had to the person performing them. Many participants described avoiding medical care and other services to due fear of such incidents, which can have a lasting impact on their health and wellbeing. Incidents involving family members or intimate partners tended to have a worse impact and were more difficult to cope with (Davis, 2014). Though this study provided evidence that microaggressions occur frequently and can be incredibly problematic for the transgender community, it did so with an incredibly small sample size of nine participants and without taking the intersectionality of race or age into

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