Topic 3 Biological, Psychological and Social Stressors
Micro-aggression can be found in every aspect of everyday life and is usually hidden in ‘simple’ words or phrases that can in fact be really stressful and difficult to handle. Some examples of micro-aggressive stressors are the following:
- ‘So, you have never drunk alcohol in your life? Like, never?’ (biological and social stress, especially if the person decides to try alcohol to fit in a social group)
- ‘When you say you are a vegetarian/ vegan, you mean that you do not even eat eggs/ cheese? How can you live without them?’ (in general, assuming that a person who doesn’t drink or eat something specific is automatically problematic is an example of severe micro-aggression and can act like a biological, psychological and social stressor)
- (To a female of a Persian origin) ‘So, I assume that your favourite Disney princess is Jasmin?’ or ‘Come on, do some belly-dancing for me’ (biological and psychological stress)
- (To a person from Africa) ‘Do you have cars in your country, or do you ride horses/ camels?’ (social stress)
- Automatically assuming that a person born in Africa or Asia and living in Europe is a refugee (psychological and social stress)
- Security guards at the airport being suspicious towards a bearded person of Arabic origin, asking too many questions, assuming they are a terrorist (biological and psychological stress)
As mentioned above, constant exposure to such micro-aggressive comments can result in a host of mental health concerns including things like increased anxiety and symptoms of depression.
