Microaggressions: The everyday slights and insults that
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minoritized people endure and dominant people don’t notice or concern themselves with.
Internalized dominance manifests in our daily actions through what psychologist Derald Wing Sue (2010) termed microaggressions. By definition, microaggressions are everyday slights, insults, and insensitivities from dominant group members to minoritized members. These messages are expressed through statements and actions that remind the minoritized person of their lesser status. Examples of microaggressions are asking a multiracial person, “What are you?”, telling an older woman, “I bet you were beautiful when you were young,” and telling a person of Color, “I don’t see you as Black.”