Sexual Orientation Microaggressions in South Africa

Abstract

Discrimination against LGBTQ1 people in South Africa has shifted from overt hate crimes to covert microaggressions. Microaggression is a term used in psychology to describe casual discrimination against socially marginalised groups, and they occur in three forms: microassaults, microinsults and microinvalidations. Microassaults include verbal and non-verbal discriminatory behaviours. Microinsults include actions or statements which demean a person's identity, and microinvalidations negate the thoughts, feelings or lived experiences of a certain people. Microaggressions have detrimental impacts on lives of people experiencing them and on their interpersonal relationships. The chapter presents a focus on microaggression theory together with microaggression experiences of South African Indian LGBTQ1 people, who have been under-researched. Reference is made to interview extracts from research studies focusing on South African Indian LGBTQ1 people and from e-zine articles focusing on the experiences of South African Indian LGBTQ1 people.

An exploratory survey of the lived experiences of lesbian, gay, and bisexual South Africans of Indian descent: towards intersectional insights

“…Nair’s (2020) qualitative research with five LGBT+ South Africans of Indian descent also found that participants struggled to deal with heteronormative family expectations and community expectations, despite diverse coming out experiences. Dayal’s (2020) qualitative research with four gay men found similar themes of frustration about hetero-cis-normative gender expectations and heterosexist language use, negative coming out experiences, fears of shaming one’s family or community, reconciling religion and sexual orientation, and the pressure to lead a double life.…”

“…The related Practice Guidelines for Psychology Professionals Working with Sexually and Gender Diverse People (McLachlan et al, 2019) also recommend more nuanced, intersectional understandings of the lives of LGBT+ people in South Africa. There is a growing recognition within South African psychology about the multiple forms of discrimination against queer people, and the intersecting variables of minority stress that impact upon LGBT+ identity, health, and well-being (Dayal, 2020; Shefer, 2019; Zway & Boonzaier, 2015).…”

“…Some qualitative postgraduate studies with small samples have begun to emerge in anthropology (Moonsammy, 2009) and psychology (Dave, 2011; Dayal, 2020; Nair, 2020; Sukhdeo, 2021), but at the time of this specific research (between June 2017 and July 2020), Dave (2011) was the only South African study available in psychology. However, despite offering useful insights, it was an unpublished Honours degree project with understandable limitations.…”