Say it ain’t so, Joe… What women can do about ‘microaggressions’.

Like most women, I have my opinion about the Joe Biden ‘scandal’. It’s just my opinion, though. There is no absolute truth; there are only feelings. My purpose isn’t to debate what he did, rather to explore how women can more effectively respond to such ‘microaggressions’.

Microaggression. It’s a relatively new term, originally coined in 1970. Psychologist Derald Wing Sue defines microaggressions as “brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to certain individuals because of their group membership”. The persons making the comments may be otherwise well-intentioned and unaware of the potential reaction to their words. (Wikipedia)

We live in a culture that now encourages speaking up and speaking out. This is a good thing. Nothing can change until it is brought into the light, and gender stereotypes need to change.

I purposely wrote, ‘Nothing can change’ instead of ‘Nothing changes.’ Identifying the problem and verbalizing it is necessary to create a solution. But it generally isn’t the solution.

All the speaking out and consciousness-raising is just the first step. And to those who believe that talking about it and trying to change attitudes that go back millennia, in a few decades (let alone in a year or two), are living in a well-meaning…