Topic 1 Introduction

Nowadays, most people have either experienced or witnessed some kind of micro-aggressive behaviour, which made both them and the other people around them feel uncomfortable, awkward and, in many cases, unsure whether they should react or not. The psychological dilemmas the present for both recipients and perpetrators and the internal and interpersonal dynamics have been an understudied phenomenon.

People who have been victimised by micro-aggressive behaviour have felt even worse by other people’s comments towards micro-aggression, like for example, ‘Get over it’ or ‘I am sure she didn’t mean it this way’. Such comments are in fact micro-aggressive, even aggressive, themselves. They show, for example, colour blindness, questioning of judgement, denial of disability or personal identity, which fall in the category of micro-aggression, thus creating a vicious circle and make victims of micro-aggression question themselves, their experiences and their emotions, as well as their beliefs, values and ideas, and lead to low self-esteem, self-confidence and self-value.