The William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation held an “Everyday Activism: Interrupting Micro-Aggressions & Stereotype Threat,” discussion on Monday afternoon.
Jennifer Stollman, Academic Director of the Winter Institute, hosted the discussion.
Stollman presented various discussion topics in regards to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Asexual community.
Stollman focused on the subject of micro-aggressions, which she describes as unintentional aggression, often coming from a gut response and implicit bias that are used to convey inferiority, difference and are meant to marginalize people.
Stollman said micro-aggressions tend to come from people who consider themselves to be fairly liberal and socially progressive about these issues.
“The funniest thing about micro-aggressions is that we don’t realize we are doing them,” Stollman said.
Audience members then presented their own ideas of what they believed to be micro-aggressions.
“That’s so gay”, “Who wears the pants in the relationship?” and “you’re so butch” were all used as examples.
Audience members claimed that heterosexuals act differently towards members of the LGBTQIA community as if they are “contagious.”
Stollman urged people to be more reflective about their anxieties around LGBTQIA members. She said the number one way to stop inequity is for people to control and watch their speech to avoid injuring others.
“It is about how we watch our everyday conversations and value and respect each other,” Stollman said. “That is really important to me.”
Ashley Ingram, employee of Lafayette High School and The Boys and Girls Club of Oxford, attended Monday’s discussion.
“I don’t believe this conversation is had enough in the South,” Ingram said.“I think the conversation needs to be had everywhere and more often.”
Stollman asked all audience members to’ stand up and interrupt’ if they witness a micro-aggression happening on campus.
“You’re not a bad person because you’ve done a micro-aggression,” Stollman said.
Stollman expressed that members of society are already shamed about pleasure, so when society members are presented with different sexualities and orientations, our shame continues to be layered.
“The more we talk about it, the more likely we are to feel prepared to do something about it when we catch ourselves or even our friends and family making micro-aggressions,” said Daniel Doyle, 2008 Ole Miss graduate.
Doyle said he believes that the more we talk about it the more we will start to normalize that micro-aggression is something that everyone does, but this still will not make it okay.
