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Essay / The Effects of Microaggression on Bisexual Women
Table of ContentsIntroductionMicroaggressionResearchDay one calculationsDay two – five calculationsFindingsDiscussionConclusionIntroductionEvery day, minorities face discrimination and prejudice that deteriorates their mental health. Certain groups like bisexual women are particularly vulnerable to these confrontations called microaggressions, characterized by verbal attacks and harassment. Whether implicit or explicit, these comments have catastrophic effects on the victim's level of depression and suicidality. The term microaggression itself was first used to explain the impact of derogatory racist actions that black people experience on a regular basis. Today, microaggression has expanded to include the acute and chronic effects of oppression of racial and social groups in various contexts (Constantine and Sue 2007). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayMicroaggressionSue et al's (2007) research further explored the concept of microaggression by separating it into three forms: microaggressions, microinsults, and microinvalidations. To begin, microaggressions are characterized as “racially instigated” oral and non-oral attacks deliberately aimed at antagonizing the victim. The recent popularization of the use of racial slurs on social media has effectively deemed microaggressions as normal behavior. Moving forward, the next form of microaggression is microinvalidation. This behavior is characterized by conscious and unconscious modes of ostracism or denial of setbacks to which the victim is regularly exposed. Examples of microinvalidation are present in conversations involving colorblind statements that invalidate the recipient's existence as a racial or ethnic minority. The person dominating the conversation may also attempt to deny blame by attempting to minimize the victim's situation by using statements such as "I didn't mean it like that" to further disavow the minority. Finally, the third element known as micro-invalidation, involves the use of verbal and non-verbal actions to subtly conceal the truly humiliating messages addressed to the victim. A common use of micro-invalidation is to assume that minority groups such as African-Canadians receive athletic scholarships in order to attend prestigious post-secondary institutions. This message devalues the academic abilities of African-Canadians while emphasizing their athletic qualities. These comments may be seen as a compliment from the instigator, but the hidden meaning is degrading and invalidating. These three situations in total fall into the category of the ambiguous nature of microaggression. Their comments all imply some degree of alienation from not being sufficiently “African-Canadian” because they do not fit the characteristics of the national character. An experimental study on microaggression ambiguity by Tao et al used four different levels of ambiguity: control (no microaggression), highly ambiguous microaggression, ambiguous microaggression, and overt microaggression to examine how certain forms of racial microaggressions, microinvalidation, are perceived by white and ethnic participants. The results concluded that both groups can equally detect microaggressions, supporting the theory that “the onus of highlighting these cultural ruptures” does not place on the victim of microaggressions. (Tao, 2014) Tao's study proves that bothparties in the conversation are aware of even the most ambiguous comments from the dominant. ResearchThe current research project carried out by the University of Miami, Dalhousie University and Mount Holyoke College explains women's experiences with microaggressions, microaggressions. affirmations, and how these two experiences correlate with intense feelings of depression and suicidal thoughts. (Schwarx, 2007). At the same time, the research methodology (a system of methods a researcher can use to collect data to answer a question) used a significant amount of data collected from participants' journal entries. Using this method, the study clearly showed correlations between mental health and bisexual microaffirmations and microaggressions. Nevertheless, it is important to note that due to the subjectivity of mental health, along with various other factors such as community influences and internalized stigmas, may explain different outcomes between individuals. The research project's hypothesis predicted daily exposure to microaggressions (the dependent variable), will increase levels of depression and suicidal thoughts (the independent variable), which will subsequently decrease levels of happiness. (Salim, Robinson, & Flanders, 2019) In contrast, the study also hypothesized that frequent experiences of microaffirmations would lead to decreased levels of depression and suicidal thoughts, which in turn would elevate happiness levels. The project theorized factors such as general social support, sense of belonging to the LGBT community, and a degree of self-esteem to correlate negatively with depressive and suicidal thoughts and correlate positively with intense emotions of happiness . Day One Calculations To begin the study, participants were asked to identify their gender identity and their “race,” ethnicity, or cultural identity for demographic form. In addition to this, five tests, including the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Scale, LGBT Community Connectedness Scale and other tables, were used to collect different data to support the study and provide sufficient evidence to overcome ethical limits. Arguably, practicing good research ethics is perhaps the most important step in the process. This includes establishing respect for researchers and researchers, particularly regarding the right to privacy, understanding of the study, and their ability to opt out of the research. Day Two to Five Calculations Starting on day two, two scales were used to identify microaggressions as well as microaffirmations. . The first assessment, known as the Bisexual Microaggression Scale for Women, included 38 comments to measure threats to a woman's bisexual identity and other negative assertions toward her sexuality. Scale items ranged from “Someone said they didn't understand bisexuals” to “Someone made sexual advances toward me when I told them I was bi.” (Flanders, LeBerton, and Robinson, 2018) Candidates were then asked to rank the items from one to five to indicate the applicability of the comment. The second exam was the Bisexual Microaffirmation Scale for Women, which assessed certain events revealing women's bisexual identity. Similar to the first test, the scale consisted of 16 entries ranging from "someone easily understood bisexuality" to "someone presented a challenge to biphobia when she saw it", which also had scalescorresponding 5 points to answer each question. Additionally, three questionnaires were used from the second to the fifth day to assess depression (the same test was used from the first day), suicidality and happiness to add the statistical analysis. ResultsThe results of the Bisexual Microaggression Scale concluded that the average microaggression score for the research project was 1.26. out of 5 while the Bisexual Microaffirmation Scale scored 1.88 among participants. It was noted that the most regularly reported microaggressions were "A bisexual character on a show was not labeled as bisexual", while the most frequently encountered microstatement was "someone provided emotional social support". (Salim, Robinson, & Flanders, 2019) The first model the researchers examined was the association between the study's predictors and thoughts of depression. A two-level predictor was used in the resulting data set to identify the degree of depression among bisexual women. The first level being daily experiences of microaggressions and microaffirmations and the second level using “self-esteem, social support, connectivity to the LGT community, internalized binegativity” (Salim, Robinson, & Flanders, 2019) as well as first day depression scores. The results suggest that at level one, only microaggressions were related to depression, implying that microaffirmations had little effect on depression outcomes. At level two, self-esteem and depression scores on day one were found to be a significant predictor of depression. This implies that low levels of self-esteem and predetermined depression are attributed to grim feelings on the part of the individuals in the study. Moving forward, feelings of suicidality were examined to determine the correlation between study predictors and suicidality while using the same two-level predictors as the depression model. The scores concluded that at level one, only microaggressions were linked to suicidality, while level two suggested that first-day depression, transgender status, and racialized identity were notable for predicting the degree of suicidality. This finding explains that those who identified as trans, non-binary, or people of color may have significant suicidality scores among participants who do not identify as such. Similarly, there was a minor relationship between other determining factors such as microaffirmations and connection to the LGBT community with their correlation with suicidality. The final model examined in the research project was happiness and without speculation, only microaggressions were correlated with the candidates' happiness level. for level one, but only self-esteem played a role in affecting happiness scores for level two. Analogous to the previous two models, no relationships between microaffirmations or other elements were found to contribute to happiness. DiscussionThe results of all three models support the study's hypothesis that "microaggressions are negatively associated with mental health and well-being." Evidence from research methodology suggests that regular exposure to microaggressions correlates with increased scores for depression and suicidal feelings and decreased scores for happiness. On top of that, substantial support from daily diary studies proves that microaggressions are linked to stress, anxiety, and well-being. sexual minority groups. Furthermore, the research results..