LGBT+

People from the LGBT+ community regularly experience deliberate or unintended microaggressions and microinsults. These may be perceived as small daily occurrences, but their impact is significant; recognising and countering these is important.

Sexuality

Sexuality is commonly thought of as either; opposite sex (heterosexual), same sex (homosexual) or both (bisexual), but these three sexualities don't fully represent the diversity of sexualities. On this page you will be able to explore how to recognise and counteract sexuality-based microaggressions.

Microassaults

These are explicit derogatory comments or actions, for example:  

  • Hate speech  
  • ‘f****t’, ‘dyke’  
  • Avoidant behaviour  
  • Moving away   
  • Leaving out of group discussions  
  • Laughing and pointing  
  • Negative representations of queer people
  • Saying that Gay men are predatory
  • Queer women are seen as sex objects by others
  • Bisexuals and bisexuality are seen as either invisible or fickle

 

Student Quotes:

There’s what I call a ‘weird curiosity’ because of the association with sex, some people feel entitled to ask about really intimate details of relationships that they would never do to heterosexuals. It’s really offensive.

There’s this thing where it’s sexy to be a lesbian or bi woman, but to be a gay man is disgusting. I get so fed up of it.

 

Microinsults

These are a variety of subtle snubs, conveying a hidden insult.  People can sometimes assume that they have an entitlement to facts about the private life and relationship details of queer sexualities.

  •  “You don’t sound/look gay”
  • “It can’t be real sex unless it’s with the ‘opposite’ sex”  
  • “Being bisexual is greedy, you just want the best of both worlds”  
  • “How did you turn gay?”  
  • “Why are your making life hard for yourself?”  
  • “Which one of you is the ‘guy’?”  
  • “Why do you have to flaunt it?”
  • “You can do want you want, but I don’t approve of it”
  • “How can you be queer if you’ve never had sex with a member of the same sex?”
  • “Oh – do I have to worry about you fancying me now?”

 

Student Quotes:

Once I tell people I’m not entirely straight, some of my female friends worry I’m going to fall in love with them.  Just because I’m attracted to my own gender doesn’t mean that I will be attracted to them.

People talk about it as if it’s a self-harming choice when really the harm comes from the outside, from people trying to discourage me, not from myself.

 

Microinvalidations

These are characterised by communications that negate or nullify the thoughts, feelings or experiential reality of queer sexualities.  They can be spoken from benign intentions but can be experienced as invalidating or humiliating.

  • “You’re being oversensitive”
  • “You’re just confused” 
  • “It’s just a phase”
  • “I'm not homophobic, but...”  

Student Quote:

I've experienced idea of denying femininity in women who love women and denying masculinity in men who love men - it's almost like or like you can't be a proper man or proper woman, if you're attracted to the same gender.

 

You can find more resources to help you support diversity and inclusion in the What Can I Do? section and in Counteracting Microagressions.


Many of these attitudes are rooted in unconscious misogyny and the stereotypical ideals of ‘maleness’ and ‘femaleness’.  Despite many of these being historical, some still strongly influence the views of individuals. For example: 

  • Many religions have views of homosexuality that give rise to the idea of it being ‘immoral’.  
  • Medical and psychological disciplines, in the past have given rise to the idea that any sexuality other than heterosexuality is ‘abnormal’, ‘aberrant’ or ‘deviant’, or even a sign they are ‘sick’.    
  • Other longstanding views are that people might be ‘confused’,  ‘in a phase’ or mistakenly understand sexuality as a ‘lifestyle choice’.  
  • Male homosexuality was a criminal offence, subject to life imprisonment in parts of the UK until 1981. However, in many countries, male and female homosexuality still incurs a death penalty today.
  • Homosexuality is frequently linked to paedophilia which gives rise to the erroneous idea of gay men being ‘predatory’.  
  • Media portrayals of queer individuals or groups have often misrepresented and caricatured them. This has given rise to stereotypical ideas about appearance, behaviour and culture.
  • All of this makes the lived experience of queer people complicated as they do not know what kinds of ideas might be influencing any person they encounter. They might therefore be cautious and reserved at first until they feel confident to express themselves freely. University might be a place where many young people can embrace their sexual identity, but equally a place that feels unsafe.

Quotes from students:

When you receive a lot of weird comments about who you are and who you are is something that you can in any way shape or form hide, it sort of encourages you to hide that and go back in the closet and don't really tell people about these things at all. You start being really careful about how you refer to your partners and what you say to people, sort of self-policing.

I’m a very liberal and religious, and when [queer] people find out, they can’t imagine how the two things can co-exist, and many of my religious friends are very negative towards me about my more liberal views. So it feels like I being asked to give up one part of myself, but I can't, so it’s really hard to feel supported in both my communities.

 


University Resources

Further Reading

  • Sapphistries: A global history of love between women – Leila J. Rupp 
  • A Gay History of Britain: Love and sex between men since the Middle Ages – Matt Cook 
  • The Bi-ble: Essays and Narratives About Bisexuality – Ellen Desmond and Lauren Nickodemus 

References

  • Allen L, Cowie L & Fenaughty J (2020): Safe but not safe: LGBT+ students’ experiences of a university campus, Higher Education Research & Development, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2019.1706453 
  • Formby E (2015). #FreshersToFinals : From freshers’ week to finals: Understanding LGBT+ perspectives on, and experiences of, higher education. Project Report. Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University. 
  • Keenan, M. (2018) Education: Extending Research in LGBT+ Student Experiences.  Research Report: Nottingham Trent University.

 


Trans and/or non-Binary

People from the trans and/or non-binary communities regularly experience deliberate or unintended microaggressions and microinsults.

This resource is intended to help you to:  

  • Understand and identify the most common trans and non-binary microaggressions
  • Learn some practical ways to counteract microaggressions and create an inclusive environment for all students

Microaggressions

  • Offensive terms, e.g. “Tr***y”  
  • Deadnaming - using a person's birth or former name without consent
  • Misgendering - consistently and actively using someones incorrect pronouns
  • Asking highly sensitive questions about a trans person's anatomy or personal details
  • Avoidant behaviour such a moving away from trans people or leaving trans people out of groups
  • Divisive posters, stickers, leaflets, particularly in toilets

Student Quotes

People feel entitled to ask questions that are really intimate that they'd never ask a cis person.  Because you've been honest about being trans, they then think that they've been invited into some sort of sexual or personal discussion.

There's this weird idea of touching people's parts and 'checking' that I think is quite common for trans people.Very often when I tell people I'm a trans man they reach for my chest and say, "What have you got there?" Or reaching between people's legs and all that stuff.

Microinsults

These are often based on ignorance of what trans identity is and entails. Examples include: 

  • “Can’t you just be a butch lesbian?”
  • “Why are you making life so hard for yourself?”
  • “Anorexic people also think their body is wrong and we don't let them starve themselves, why should you be allowed to mutilate your body?"
  • “You’re just dressing for effect.”
  • “How is it different to getting a boob job?”

Microinvalidations

Negate or nullify the thoughts, feelings or lived reality of Trans and non-Binary people, by questioning their experience, gender identity and the process of transition.

  • “I don’t get how you can feel like a man AND a woman”
  • “I also wanted to be a boy when I was a child.”
  • “You think this will make you happy, but it won’t.”
  • “I don’t understand why you don’t just love yourself?”

Student Quotes

The reason I'm taking testosterone is because it makes me feel better about myself and not because it makes other people feel better about me.  It's not for them it's for my health and my wellbeing and my happiness.

  A lot of cis people see transition, typically medical transition, as the problem, or the thing that is causing the hard times and it's like, "oh you know it's because you are taking testosterone you feel bad".  No, this is the solution, and this is the path that I'm walking to get away from the bad feelings.  

Counteracting discrimination:  you can find resources to help you support diversity and inclusion in the What Can I Do? section and in Counteracting Microaggressions.


There are many resources available to help you find out more about being trans or non-binary, the discrimination and the hurdles they can face.

Some common terms you may come across

Trans: umbrella term for a range of gender identities where a person’s gender identity differs from the sex registered for them at birth.

Transition: refers to both social (e.g. name, pronouns, clothing) and/or medical (e.g. hormones, surgeries) transition of an individual to affirm their gender identity (where this is different from their sex registered at birth).

Non-Binary:  Non-Binary people do not define their gender in a ‘Binary’ (male/female; man/woman) way.  

Gender Dysphoria:  When a person feels that some or all of their body is not 'right'. Not all trans people will experience dysphoria, but many will to some degree.

Transphobia:  This is the hatred, fear, mistrust of or prejudice against trans and gender non-conforming people. This leads to discrimination and exclusion.   

Cisgender:  A person whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex.


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