Читать книгу Microaggressions in Everyday Life - Derald Wing Sue - Страница 26

In 2016, the media released a recorded conversation from 2005 with television personality Billy Bush and Donald J. Trump, in which Trump made lewd remarks about women: “I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her … I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And, when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab’em by the pussy. You can do anything.” When called out by Anderson Cooper during a presidential debate, Trump apologized and said this was “locker room talk,” implying that all men speak this way behind closed doors. Actor Scott Baio jumped to Trump's defense: “I like Trump because Trump is not a politician. He talks like a guy. And, ladies out there this is what guys talk about when you are not around. So if you are offended by it, ‘Grow up!’ … This is the way the world works.”

Do Examples 2.1 to 2.4 indicate that Maher and Barr are racists, Pacquiao is heterosexist (antigay), and Trump and Baio are sexist? Do these public figures recognize their use of blatantly inflammatory language? These outbursts were roundly condemned by the public, and a debate ensued over whether their language was a true reflection of personal bigotry; in Example 2.1 blamed it on the “banter of a live moment,”. In Example 2.2 Barr explained that she was on a sedative and just being an “idiot,” in Example 2.3 Pacquiao justified it on his literal interpretation of Leviticus in the Bible, and in Example 2.4 and Baio both explained it away as men's “locker room talk.”

Are these individuals bigots, skilled in disguising their biases (Apfelbaum, Sommers, & Norton, 2008), or are they generally decent people unaware of the racism, heterosexism, and misogyny they harbor until they lost control (Conley, Calhoun, Evett, & Devine, 2001; D. W. Sue, Lin, Torino, Capodilupo, & Rivera, 2009)? More important, are any of us capable of such outbursts? Have we ourselves ever lost control and used racial epithets? What about telling or laughing at racist, heterosexist, or misogynistic jokes? If so, does it make us bigots?

Scholars suggest that it is nearly impossible for any of us not to inherit the racial, gender, and sexual‐orientation biases of our forebears (Baker & Fishbein, 1998; Banaji & Greenwald, 1995; Barret & Logan, 2002; Dovidio, Gaertner, Kawakami, & Hodson, 2002; Feagin, 2013; Fiske & Stevens, 1993; D. W. Sue, 2003). Such prejudices, however, may exist consciously, unconsciously, or on the margins of consciousness (Nelson, 2006; Ponterotto, Utsey, & Pedersen, 2006; D. W. Sue, 2003). One could make a strong argument, for example, that Maher, Barr, Pacquiao, Trump, and Baio (a) are aware of their biases but are generally successful in concealing them, (b) are only minimally aware, or (c) are completely unaware until their outbursts. To understand racism means to realize that our prejudices, stereotypes, and biases exist on a continuum of conscious awareness (Trepagnier, 2010). The avowed racist, for example, will use racial epithets freely, will consciously believe in the inferiority of persons of color, and will deliberately discriminate. Those who are less aware, however, are likely to unintentionally behave in subtle discriminatory patterns against people of color, women, and LGBTQ individuals outside their level of conscious awareness.