“It’s Not in Your Head”: Gaslighting, ‘Splaining, Victim Blaming, and Other Harmful Reactions to Microaggressions

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 1024-1036
Author(s):  
Veronica E. Johnson ◽  
Kevin L. Nadal ◽  
D. R. Gina Sissoko ◽  
Rukiya King
Keyword(s):  
Popular Media ◽  
Victim Blaming ◽  
Dominant Group ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Psychological Literature ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
Psychological Harm

Secondary microaggressions refer to the ways in which people of historically dominant groups negate the realities of people of marginalized groups. Gaslighting describes the act of manipulating others to doubt themselves or question their own sanity; people confronted for committing microaggressions deny the existence of their biases, often convincing the targets of microaggressions to question their own perceptions. ‘Splaining (derived from mansplaining/Whitesplaining) is an act in which a person of a dominant group speaks for or provides rationale to people of marginalized groups about topics related to oppression or inequity. Victim blaming refers to assigning fault to people who experience violence or wrongdoing and is used as a tool to discredit people of marginalized groups who speak out against microaggressions or any injustices. Finally, abandonment and neglect refer to a bystander’s failure to address or acknowledge microaggressions. Although these terms are commonly known among marginalized communities (and frequently used in popular media), there is a dearth in academic literature that substantiates these phenomena and relates them to microaggressions. The purpose of this article is to review these concepts in the psychological literature and to demonstrate the psychological harm caused by these behaviors on interpersonal and systemic levels.

Democratic Decentralizaton and Socio-Political Inclusion of Marginalized Communities: A Study of Musahar Community in Madhubani District of Bihar, India

2021 ◽  
pp. 2455328X2110424
Author(s):  
Ashish Jha
Keyword(s):  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Constitutional Amendment ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
The Social ◽  
Democratic Decentralization ◽  
Political Inclusion ◽  
Bihar State ◽  
Panchayati Raj

Democratic decentralization is the process of devolving the state’s roles and resources from the centre to the lower-level elected officials to encourage greater direct participation of people in governance. The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act (1993), which gave the constitutional mandate to the Panchayati Raj Institutions in India, is considered as an opportunity for historically marginalized groups like women, Dalits (Scheduled Caste) and others to actively engage in the grassroot governance as members of local government institutions. Further, gram panchayats have been mandated for formulating their own annual development plan for economic development and social justice in their area. Although in these 25 years, since the enactment of the Act, various measures have been introduced through Panchayati Raj Institutions for increasing people’s participation and effective implementation of developmental programmes, but there is a little or no evidences—either the theoretical or the empirical, which can give a hint on its performance on social and political inclusion of marginalized communities. Against this backdrop, this empirical research paper attempts to explore the linkages between the democratic decentralization and socio-political inclusion of marginalized, by focussing on the Musahar community in Bihar state of India, using primary data collected from the field. The researchers argue that decentralization has ameliorated the social inclusion to some extent but shows very dismal rate of political inclusion of the Musahar Community.

scholarly journals “Nothing About Us Without Us”: Reading Protests against Oppressive Knowledge Production as Guidelines for Solidarity Research

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dilara Yarbrough
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Relevant Research ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Sex Worker ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
Ethical Policy ◽  
Production Practice ◽  
Academic Researchers

Drawing from my analysis of sex worker and homeless protests as well as my experience doing ethnographic research with people experiencing homelessness and people in the sex trade, I put forth recommendations for ethical, policy-relevant research with groups of people who experience routine, normalized violence, and who are frequently silenced and misrepresented by academics and policy makers. This article analyzes protests against what activists identify as oppressive knowledge production by “outsiders” who are not sex workers or homeless. Protest events against research “about us without us” occurred between 2012 and 2015, and targeted academic researchers and policymakers. I draw lessons from marginalized groups’ protests against knowledge production by outsider “experts” to present three problems with traditional poverty research: pathologization, paternalism, and extractive exotification. I use my observations of protests and service provision to develop guidelines for solidarity research, a knowledge production practice that prioritizes the needs and perspectives of marginalized communities.

scholarly journals Normative Interfaces: Affordances, Gender, and Race in Facebook

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630511771790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela M. Cirucci
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
User Interface ◽  
Young Adult ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Gender And Race ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Network Site ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
Made In

This study investigates social network site affordances and their implications for perceptions of marginalized communities. I employ Facebook as a case study and speak with young adult users to comprehend how socially marginalized groups are perceived through Facebook’s affordances. In particular, I consider: How familiar are users with Facebook’s tools and functionalities? How are issues of gender and race represented through the site’s interface? How do users conceive of gender and race? The findings suggest that gender is perceived as a more important identifier than race and that Facebook is post-racial, because of the user interface choices made. In addition, my participants view Facebook as an official social space that should include “authentic” identities; although Facebook has shaped authentic to mean accurate. I conclude that while the construction of affordances is a negotiation between user, interface, and designer, the designers have the most power because they have created the spaces in ways that will most benefit Facebook. In addition, users who are more situated in the socio-cultural majority have no desire to enact agency within Facebook’s structure because they are accustomed to forms and official documents that are well suited to fit their identification needs.

scholarly journals Third-Order Epistemic Exclusion in Professional Philosophy

Symposion ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-138
Author(s):  
Zahra Thani ◽  
Derek Anderson ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Dominant Group ◽  
Third Order ◽  
Epistemic Agency ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
Academic Philosophy

Third-order exclusion is a form of epistemic oppression in which the epistemic lifeway of a dominant group disrupts the epistemic agency of members of marginalized groups. In this paper we apply situated perspectives in order to argue that philosophy as a discipline imposes third-order exclusions on members of marginalized groups who are interested in participating in philosophy. We examine a number of specific aspects of the epistemic lifeway embodied by academic philosophy and show how this produces inaccessibility to the discipline. In addition to critiquing the discipline and its methods we also use this discussion to elaborate on third-order exclusion itself. We conclude by proposing an intersectional pedagogy as a step toward creating a more accessible discipline.

scholarly journals Access, Engagement, and Community Connections

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katina Pollock
Keyword(s):  
Student Engagement ◽  
Access To Education ◽  
Public Education System ◽  
School Communities ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
Building Community ◽  
Community Access ◽  
Gain Access

This paper explores access to, and engagement of, marginalized communities in the public education system. It begins by interrogating the meaning of access and engagement in education from a social justice position, and then turns to challenges that practitioners experience as they attempt to help marginalized groups gain access to education. Possibilities are suggested for overcoming and addressing such challenges. The article then reconceptualizes student engagement in a way that challenges educators to rethink how they currently understand student engagement, followed by a discussion about how to connect with school communities as a way to encourage student and community access and engagement in education. Lastly, strategies for building community relationships are presented.

The bones are the same: an exploratory analysis of authentic communication with LGBTQ publics

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-117
Author(s):  
Erica L. Ciszek ◽  
Kate Pounders
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Exploratory Analysis ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
Authentic Communication ◽  
Equity And Inclusion ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe purpose of this work is to identify the components of authentic communication with LGBTQ publics and to examine if there is a difference in what constitutes authentic communication for LGBTQ publics compared to other publics.Design/methodology/approachWe conducted in-depth interviews with professionals who both identify as LGBTQ and are instrumental in developing content targeted to this public.FindingsAuthenticity is synonymous regardless of the target public; however, differences emerge in the manifestation of authenticity with historically marginalized groups, like LGBTQ publics.Practical implicationsPractitioners working with historically marginalized communities need to make sure they are walking the walk, not just talking the talk.Social implicationsAuthentic communication arises from an organization's broader holistic commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion.Originality/valueThe insights derived by our participants are unique, as they are perspectives traditionally “written out” of research.

Fixed Nodes of Transience: Narratives of Homelessness and Emergency Department Use

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
pp. 1183-1195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross McCallum ◽  
Maria I. Medved ◽  
Diane Hiebert-Murphy ◽  
Jino Distasio ◽  
Jitender Sareen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Emergency Department Use ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Inappropriate Use ◽  
Semistructured Interviews

Discourse in popular media, public policy, and academic literature contends that people who are homeless frequently make inappropriate use of hospital emergency department (ED) services. Although researchers have investigated the ED experiences of people who are homeless, no previous studies have examined how this population understands the role of the ED in their health care and in their day-to-day lives. In the present study, 16 individuals participated in semistructured interviews regarding their ED experiences, and narrative analysis was applied to their responses. Within the context of narratives of disempowerment and discrimination, participants viewed the ED in differing ways, but they generally interpreted it as a public, accessible space where they could exert agency. ED narratives were also paradoxical, depicting it as a fixed place for transient care, or a place where they were isolated yet felt a sense of belonging. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

scholarly journals Problematizing the Educational Messaging on Sex Trafficking in the US “End-demand” Movement: The (Mis)Representation of Victims and Anti-Sex Work Rhetoric

Affilia ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 088610992110588
Author(s):  
Ran Hu
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
The Us

This study adopts a critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach to problematize the representation of victims in the online educational messaging on sex trafficking promoted in the US “end-demand” movement. The websites of 20 US anti-trafficking groups are analyzed. While these website-based messages are positioned to educate the public about sex trafficking, they are predominately framed toward problematizing sex work and essentializing women with racialized and marginalized identities in sex work, with no discursive recognition of intersectional structural inequalities (e.g., racism, sexism, poverty, homo/transphobia) that lead to trafficking. These ideologically charged messages, when presented as “facts,” further the anti-sex work sentiment among the public, powerfully (re)produce and sustain the public (mis)perception equating “anti-sex trafficking” with “anti-sex work,” and legitimize the carceral feminist anti-trafficking practice that primarily criminalizes, censors, and oppresses the agency, behaviors, and needs of structurally marginalized communities. This paper calls attention to how injustice may be (re)produced in the way trafficking is represented and how representational injustice may translate into material consequences, further subjecting already marginalized groups to criminalization and surveillance. Through incorporating representational justice into our conceptualization of racial and social justice, we may (re)build an anti-trafficking framework that is structurally competent, rights-inclusive, and centered on humanization.

scholarly journals The Role of Community Support and Social Networks Among Marginalized Groups in Later Life

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 40-41
Author(s):  
Samuel Van Vleet
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Community Support ◽  
Later Life ◽  
The United States ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
Final Sample ◽  
Regression Techniques ◽  
Race Ethnicity

Abstract As the aging population in the United States continues to grow, so does the need for advancement and critical research to better understand later life experiences. The presence of cumulative disadvantages among racial minorities can often lead to later life health disparities. The goal of this study is to assess the role that social networks and community support play in later life health for marginalized communities. Data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study were analyzed using general linear regression techniques. This allowed for better understanding into the relationships between community support, social networks, race/ethnicity and self-reported health. The final sample included 3,857 participants aged 65 and older. After controlling for other variables, community support and social networks had statistically significant positive relationship with later life health. Race/ethnicity was the strongest predictor of worse later life health. The results of this study show the importance of later life social support for predicting health scores. White participants not only maintained higher health scores as compared to Black and Hispanic participants, but they also reported higher levels of social networks and community support. Findings from this study help build upon the literature regarding community support and social networks in later life.

An ethical conundrum: the estimation of event attendance

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-199
Author(s):  
Vern Biaett
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Accurate Estimation ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Situational Ethics ◽  
Corporate Social

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine issues of ethical corporate social responsibility related to the estimation of event attendance, scrutinize the philosophy of situational ethics as justification for reporting inflated figures and present a potential solution to the dilemma. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual approach is applied. First, the importance of attendance as a primary evaluation variable for economic, social and environmental impact studies, as well as for event stakeholder return on investment in general, is clarified. A brief review follows on the subject of event attendance estimation as reported in both popular and academic literature, before moving into a content analysis of this literature to investigate if there are existing concerns of ethical corporate social responsibility. Findings Attendance at events as reported by popular media remains controversial. Methods for arriving at accurate figures have been investigated and reported upon in academic literature, but there remains no consensus on how to best estimate event crowd size. Inflated attendance numbers reported are too often justified by situational ethics, a non-logical philosophy that has been previously debunked. A content analysis of popular media and academic literature revealed a lack of concern for ethical corporate social responsibility when it comes to the accurate estimation of event attendance. Practical implications The failure to accept ethical corporate social responsibility when estimating attendance harms event stakeholders and leads to misleading and unreliable impact data. Originality/value This subject has not been previously addressed and is important to advancing the professionalism of event management.

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