Microaggressions towards lesbian and transgender women: Biased information gathering when working alongside gender and sexual minorities

• Published in: Journal of clinical psychology Vol. 77; no. 9; pp. 2027 - 2040
• Main Authors: Anzani, Annalisa, Sacchi, Simona, Prunas, Antonio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley Periodicals Inc 01.09.2021; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: cisgenderism; Gays & lesbians; Gender identity; heterosexism; LGBT health; Microaggressions; Minority & ethnic groups; minority stress; Regular; Transgender persons; Women; minority stress; LGBT health; cisgenderism; microaggressions; heterosexism
• ISSN: 0021-9762; 1097-4679
• DOI: 10.1002/jclp.23140

Objective Microaggressions, a concept originally introduced for ethnic minorities, represent subtle day‐to‐day discrimination, damaging the psychological health and well‐being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals as well. This study aimed to assess whether microaggressions occur in psychotherapists’ assessments of clients who identify as either lesbian or transgender woman when compared with those identifying as heterosexual woman. Methods The study included a sample of 135 licensed psychotherapists (110 cisgender women and 25 cisgender men). Participants were presented with an audio file of a woman introducing herself during her first therapy session. Three versions were presented: a transgender, a lesbian, and a heterosexual client. Participants were asked to assess the clinical relevance of 10 questions defined as neutral (N = 5) and microaggressive (N = 5), used to determine a clinical impression of the client. A repeated measure analysis of variance was conducted to understand the likelihood of clients of different gender identity and sexual orientation receiving microaggressions. Results Participants were more prone to consider microaggressive questions relevant where the client identified as either lesbian or transgender. Conclusions The findings highlighted a bias against lesbian and trans women in evaluating the relevance and usefulness of clinical information while making a psychological assessment of a case.