Self-Identity Microaggressions

Abstract This chapter provides an overview and analysis of self-identity microaggressions. Self-identity microaggressions occur when healthcare professionals (or others) undermine or fail to recognize the marginalized identities of patients and the realities of their lived experiences as people with those identities or who are embodied in nonnormative ways (such as on the basis of being trans or nonbinary, or on the basis of their body size). Though often subtle to the ones committing them, self-identity microaggressions treat patients as less than fully human. As a result, recipients might internalize their marginalized status, which can result in a variety of harms to their health and general well-being. The chapter examines case studies of trans, nonbinary, and fat patients who have had aspects of their identities and embodied realities undermined, dismissed, or erased. As with epistemic and emotional microaggressions, self-identity microaggressions in medical contexts can cause serious short- and long-term harms; therefore, they ought to be understood, recognized, and avoided as much as possible by healthcare professionals.