Sunday, November 22, 2015

Awareness of Microaggressions


Reflecting on this past week it is difficult to detect what micro aggressions I may observe. I feel micro aggressions have become part of society and until I learned more about it is then I realized little things and small comments people make that now I realize have a bigger impact. A micro aggression I face a lot has to do with my age; being in a supervisor position at a young age I tend to get little remarks from colleagues such as “ before your time” or “ in 20 years I’ve been doing this” to in a way put me down and lose confidence in decisions. When people makes these comments it upsets me and makes me feel I need to do something to counteract the fact that I am young. This observation helped me to understand that discrimination happens in all sizes and that there is a stereotype that a young person does not know more than someone older than them. I feel that even people the same age know different thing through their experiences and it does not mean one person knows more than the other and I feel that is the same with age. We all bring something to the table and should not put each other down for it.

2 comments:

  1. Alysse,
    I understand where you are coming from, even though I am not in a supervisor position or anything I think about the possibility of being in a leadership position at my age of 24 and wonder how those that are older than me would feel if I were in that position and I am very sure that it makes you feel belittled when those that are older make those smart comments. I believe that everything happens for a reason and if you were meant to be in that position and do it well then I call it a blessing.

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  2. Alysse, I did not think of age when it comes to microaggression, but I can absolutely relate. I am in a similar position myself and recieve the same type of comments. One in particular that really bothers me is when others tell me I am only optimistic because I am "so young". I hope to maintain my optimistic attitude my whole life!

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