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Impact of Microaggressions on Invisibility

Psychologist and Boston College professor Dr. Anderson J. Franklin coined the term "invisibility syndrome" which he describes as an "'inner struggle with the feeling that one's talents, abilities, personality, and worth are not values or even recognized because of prejudice and racism.'" Invisibility syndrome links hyperexposure to racism and prejudice to the manifestation of these slights and describes the resulting altered perception of self. Moreover, Franklin asserts that feelings of invisibility emanate from incessant experiences with prejudice "while attempting to maintain a healthy racial identity in a predominantly European American society." Franklin's invisibility syndrome presents a dichotomous self-development of which there exists a self "defined by social prejudice" alongside the individual self. Sociologist W.E.B. DuBois provides another articulation of this identity dichotomy in the framework of his dual or double consciousness. This phenomenon posits that those who experience oppression develop a split persona of a "genuine self" and an "oppressed self" where "the former represents healthy drives, needs, and cognition," and the latter serves as a mirror to "the realities of societal stereotypes and prejudices" and "must somehow suppress self-efficacy in order to adapt to the demands of oppression." With invisibility syndrome comes the inherent quest for visibility or "to become a respected person of value in society." This ideal becomes increasingly difficult to achieve by individuals experiencing dual consciousness as DuBois deems it a "sense of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity."

According to Franklin, and to individuals who experience them, microaggressions contribute to the duality of self and to invisibility syndrome in that they "have an additive effect over time, shaping one's view of self in the world." Franklin also suggests that these covert slights "act as status reminders by their implicit suggestion of unworthiness, and have a leveling effect on the recipient." Similarly, Simba Runyowa of The Atlantic states that microaggressions fuel alienation, or in Franklin's terms, invisibility, by magnifying "cultural differences in ways that put the recipient's non-conformity into sharp relief." In this respect, microaggressions typically elicit apprehension that the recipient either confirms running stereotypes of his or her culture, or that the person is unfit or unworthy to belong to a setting dominated by a majority group.

Microaggressions are deceptively subtle but carry enough weight to "force the individual into a mold structured by stereotypes and the negative associations attached to them." Degrees of vigilance to the racial and ethnic prejudices experienced from microaggressions vary, but "the burden of constant vigilance" facilitates the gradual deterioration of an individual's psyche. The "need for a dual consciousness to satisfy social ends" and the continuous alienation not only from oneself but from his or her environment significantly decrease self-worth and can lead to self-destructive disorders.