{"id":4096,"date":"2024-02-12T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/?p=4096"},"modified":"2024-02-18T14:34:43","modified_gmt":"2024-02-18T19:34:43","slug":"microaggressions-small-but-a-big-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/2024\/02\/12\/microaggressions-small-but-a-big-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Microaggressions- Small, but a Big Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This past Wednesday, February 7th<\/sup>, SUNY Cortland held an informational session on microaggressions as part of the Wellness Wednesdays series. This was held in the Student Life Center lobby and was facilitated by Lauren Herman Scagnelli \u201912, M \u201914, a health educator and Katrina Hodge, the assistant director of multicultural life and diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aim of the event was to provide students with some basics about microaggressions. In doing so, they are also discussing the negative impact of microaggressions and ways to combat them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are Microaggressions?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It is defined as a comment or action that unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group. What makes them particularly insidious is their seemingly benign nature. At face value, they at times seem like harmless comments when in fact they perpetuate harmful stereotypes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does a Microaggression Look like?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Example #1: A white person says to a black person \u201cI love your hair, it\u2019s so unique; can I touch it?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why it is problematic:<\/strong> It is a racially charged microaggression that perpetuates the idea that black people\u2019s hair is different and not the norm. Black people, women in particular, have often grown up being teased for their hair as well as being told their hair looks unprofessional. Touching their hair reinforces the idea that they are a commodity and invalidates their experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to say instead:<\/span> \u201cYou look nice today\u201d or \u201cYour hair looks great\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Example #2: A straight person tells a gay person \u201cOh, you\u2019re gay? Well, you don\u2019t sound gay.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why it is problematic:<\/strong> It perpetuates the harmful stereotype that all gay people sound a certain way. Gay people, particularly gay men, have been bullied and harassed for the way they speak. Telling them they don\u2019t sound gay reinforces the idea that sounding a certain way is bad or weird. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to say instead:<\/span> Nothing, do not make these comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Example #3: A Latinx person tells a white person that they are from Queens and the white person responds \u201cBut, where are you really from?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why it is problematic: <\/strong>It suggests that the Latinx person cannot possibly be an American, that they had to come from another country. Latinx people have long had to endure discrimination and calls for them to \u201cgo back to Mexico.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to say instead<\/span>: \u201cIt\u2019s cool that you\u2019re from Queens, I\u2019m from\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This list is only the tip of the iceberg, there are countless examples. Those not in minority groups must recognize the harm microaggressions cause to minorities. They compound over time affecting both their physical and mental health; Katrina Hodges describes it as \u201cdeath by a thousand cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

it is known as death by a thousand cuts<\/p>\nKatrina Hodge<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

We must “be intentional about educating our campus community and think twice about what you say”<\/em> says Katrina Hodge. There is also the responsibility of each student to call out microaggressions when they witness them and to try to understand the impact by putting themselves in the shoes of others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wellness Wednesdays has been a part of Cortland since 1991. Lauren Scagnelli describes it as an opportunity for students to “learn different content and skills related to their health so they can ideally make better health decisions.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep an eye out for upcoming Wellness Wednesday activities in the Daily Digest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past Wednesday, February 7th, SUNY Cortland held an informational session on microaggressions as part of the Wellness Wednesdays series. This was held in the Student Life Center lobby and was facilitated by Lauren Herman Scagnelli \u201912, M \u201914, a health educator and Katrina Hodge, the assistant director of multicultural life and diversity. The aim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":342,"featured_media":4125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured-news-article","category-news","entry"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/02\/IMG_2066-scaled-e1707704082223.jpeg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/02\/IMG_2066-scaled-e1707704082223.jpeg","author_info":{"display_name":"David Alexander","author_link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/author\/david-alexander\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/342"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}