3 page autobiographical sketch

Paige Massey

A person has just started a world travel experience, and here they land in Japan where they will be spending a night with a welcoming host family. Everything is fantastic the guest speaks a small bit of Japanese and is able to communicate with them. The guest is invited to a family dinner in their house. As the meal begins the entire family is enjoying the food so much that it is increasing the guest’s biggest pet peeve, slurping the food. Little does the guest know that their pet peeve is a sign of appreciation in the country of Japan. The guest is not participating in the slurping as they were taught that slurping was an activity that was looked down upon by Americans. This is an example of a social faux pas in the country of Japan. Personally a social faux pas that really turns me off is hacking and spitting in public areas. It just creates the heebe jeebes because I was taught social ettique. Can words breach the idea of social ettique, or is it just considered social faux pas?

A social faux pas can be confused with microaggressions. Microaggressions are defined as acts of mostly non physical aggression -- they are common place verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities that can be intentional or unintentional and communicate derogatory slights. Racial microaggressions suggests that people of color endure physical and physiological distress (Robinson-Wood et al., 2018). These microaggressions occur across many different identities such as skin color, body size, mental ability, age, and social class. When a person fits into multiple identities that overlap such as being gay and black, can experience more microaggressions versus a person who is white and gay. There are a lot of words that describe microaggressions, but what actually is an example of microaggressions?

If you have ever walked through Target wearing khakis and a red shirt and automatically being asked to help a customer, you have experienced a microaggression. You were assumed to be in a service role just because of the clothes you were wearing. According to Byrd, some examples of microaggressions include being stared at in the dining hall, asking an Asian person “you must be good at math, can you help me with this problem?”, or when someone merely crosses a street to avoid a person of color (Byrd, 2018). People are not necessarily conscious of these actions. It can be a taught attribute; like crossing the road to avoid a person of color, the person’s parent could have been thinking they are protecting the child from a potentially scary situation like a mugging. The child then learned that they should avoid any colored person on the street. The unconscious nature of humans can lead to some hurtful actions.

Microaggressions can cause a toll on a person’s mind. It can take a lot of thinking to try and make sense of the interpersonal interactions. This characteristic is known as attributional ambiguity. The expenditure of cognitive effort associated with attributional ambiguity may promote defense thinking and limit a person from fully engaging in their social environment (Lilly et al., 2018). Microaggressions are considered a chronic stressor which can be more psychologically harmful than more overt forms of racism. Upon a survey of 6540 transgender and gender nonconforming individuals in multiple areas of the whole United states, it was found that discrimination was pervasive. Black respondents had a worse time than the white transgenders (Robinson-Wood et al., 2018).

What methods can help the people that are targeted by discrimination? According to Robinson-Wood, some people have found many methods that work. Valuing relationships is important, and it is important to explain and neutralize these microaggressive acts. Educating people by bringing attention to the offensiveness of the microaggression, there could be a change in the microaggression. Some of the participants in the study wanted to know about the social environment before entering it so they could mentally prepare themselves -- known as armored resistance. The best method to dealing with microaggressions is optimal resistance. It empowered participants with clarity about the systemic nature of microaggressions, supported goal attainment, and provided a sense of entitlement while nurturing flexibility and complexity in thinking and behavior (Robinson-Wood et al., 2018).

I personally used to be on the receiving end of the stick for microaggressions. I used to be morbidly obese. There were many times where my large breasts became the social point of the conversation. It did bother me to be considered fat, and the reality was true. I managed to use the optimal resistance method and change my lifestyle into more healthy ways. This is not the case with all overweight people, and the psychological effects cause a deeper depression. I like to call attention when I hear microaggressions in the gym that are targeted towards a larger person working out. I believe people should be supportive versus trying to destroy self confidence. Social faux pas may create a slightly unpleasant environment but it passes. Microaggressions can have a lasting effect on a person. Be conscious of what you are going to say before saying it.

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