Abstract
The present study explores the experiences of sixteen second generation Chicanas with racial and gender based microaggressions at Sacramento State. Microaggressions are subtle, covert, and often unconscious forms of discrimination that demean and/or invalidate an individual’s identity or lived experiences because of their position within a marginalized community. The study identifies the types of microaggressions experienced, reactions to these, coping mechanisms developed, and the effects microaggressions have on the participant’s identity. Intersectional and multi-racial feminist frameworks are utilized to provide an analysis. By means of in-depth, one-on-one, semi-structured interviews, three forms of microaggressions were uncovered: environmental microaggressions, microinsults, and microinvalidations. Through these microaggressions, discriminatory ideologies that negate and invalidate the lived experiences of these Chicana participants are reproduced at an interpersonal level. However, these microaggressions provide the participants further understanding of their situated lives in multiple narratives and marginality and fuel to become agents of change.