Derald Wing Sue and colleagues first described three forms of microaggressions:
Microassaults are overt forms of discrimination in which actors deliberately behave in discriminatory ways, but do not intend to offend someone or may think that their actions are not noticed or harmful.4 These types of experiences are similar to the “old-fashioned” discrimination that existed in earlier times, but different in that people may not openly proclaim their biases. For example, when someone says “That’s so gay!” to connote that something is weird, the person is aware of the words that they choose; however, they may not realize that using such language is considered homophobic and can offend LGBT people. Similarly, when a comedian makes a racial joke or uses racial slurs, she or he intended to say the offensive comment, but would often end with “I was just joking” as a way of denying prejudice.
Microinsults are statements or behaviors in which individuals unintentionally or unconsciously communicate discriminatory messages to members of target groups. For example, a person might tell an Asian American that she or he “speaks good English” as a compliment. However, in reality, such a statement can be offensive to Asian Americans, implying that Asian persons do not speak clearly. Instances like these can be especially upsetting to Asian Americans who do not speak any other language besides English, or whose families have been in the US for three or more generations.
Microinvalidations are verbal statements that deny, negate, or undermine the realities of members of various target groups. For example, when a white person tells a person of color that racism does not exist, she or he is invalidating and denying the person of color’s racial reality. Similarly, when someone tells a woman that she is “being too sensitive,” or that an LGBT person “should stop complaining,” they invalidate the reality of discrimination in these people’s lives.
"When a person thinks of micro-aggression, they’re primarily thinking about the perpetrator: I did a minor sort of thing. But from the standpoint of the victim, if those things are happening to them 10, 20, 30 times in a day, then it operates very differently than the term actually connotes. It operates more as a form of abuse. Now, if you have, let’s say, 50 different [perpetrators], each of those people isn’t necessarily being abusive. But as a collective, they’re being abusive."
from https://www.washingtonian.com/2019/10/23/iibram-kendi-how-to-be-an-antiracist/
A game demonstrating how it feels to suffer microaggressions and acculturative stress day after day.