Looking at a woman’s ring finger.
Saying, “There is only one race, the human race.”
Believing “the most qualified person should get the job.”
And, of all horrors, being forced to check either “male” or “female” on ordinary forms.
All behaviors that are just unacceptable, according to a posting on the Academic Affairs page of the University of California’s website for its Santa Cruz branch.
It’s on “Recognizing Microaggressions and the Messages they Send.”
For example, asking someone who is Asian American or Latino American for help in their native language tells them, “You are not a true American.”
The “human race” comment denies “the significance of a person of color’s racial/ethnic experience and history.”
If a white man or woman “clutches his/her purse or checks wallet as a black or Latino person approaches” it tells others “You are going to steal/you are poor, you do not belong,” according to the school.
The “most qualified person”?
That tells others, “People of color are given extra unfair benefits because of their race” and “the playing field is even so if women cannot make it, the problem is with them.”
If a female doctor is mistaken for a nurse, it says, “women occupy nurturing positions.”
Being forced to choose “male” or “female” on a form means, “LGBT categories are not recognized.”
In a commentary at DCClothesline, Paul Joseph Watson explained that such language, “everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership,” is wrong.
Looking at a woman’s ring finger implies that she should be married, the document suggests.
