Microaggressions: The everyday nuisances that get swept under the carpet

I arrived to my job interview 15 minutes early, resume in hand. I could hear the manager in the other room still interviewing the applicant before me. He asked her about the experiences she had using Microsoft and what her greatest strengths were.

Easy. I made it a habit for myself to over prepare answers and practice handshakes the night before an interview. Soon after, I walked in and introduced myself. His first question caught me off guard, “How come you don’t have an accent?”

I should probably explain that I wear a headscarf and am a visible Muslim Canadian woman. I had been used to getting questioned about my identity in the past, but never did I think it would stand in the way of a great job opportunity.

I wish it had ended there, but the questions about my scarf and background kept coming. He questioned me about my birthplace, despite the fact that I was born in Canada, and about the reason behind me wearing the headscarf.

I waited eagerly for any questions about my past work experiences and qualifications, but he was far more interested in how I could be “smart” and still wear a headscarf, as he put it; as if fluency and excellence were beyond the intellectual reach of people who dressed like me.

How come he hadn’t questioned the intellect of the interviewee before me, I thought. How come they weren’t asked about where “they were really from?”

The case I described above is a social issue known today as a microaggression, a term coined back in the 70s’ by Harvard psychiatrist, Chester Pierce.

Microaggressions are statements or behaviours that do not necessarily reflect malicious intent but despite this, can be insulting.

I don’t think the interviewer intended to hurt my feelings or make me feel “othered." However, it was the impact of his words that mattered more than his intent.

The same impact that can promote feelings of inferiority and insecurity with those experiencing the subtle insult.

Asima Iqbal, a third-year psychology student at Ryerson, explains that it’s when the insensitive comments start to pile up, that it really begins to affect her own perception of herself.

“So many people make different remarks about my background, and they think it's crazy when I tell them I'm from Canada,” she says. “It makes me feel self-conscious because other people don’t need access to that information to respect me.”

The term was originally used to describe subtle degradations towards people of colour, but has since broadened and now includes other attributes of marginalized groups like sexuality, body type, religion, class and education.

Some popular shows like Dear White People and This Is Us are shining light on the everyday impacts of microaggressions throughout our lives, especially among students.

A number of Ryerson University students shared their own experiences facing microaggressions:

The views presented in this article do not represent the views of Journalists for Human Rights