"Do My Locs Offend You?" Black Women's Experiencing of Gendered Racial Microaggressions in the Academy

• In Event: 34.068 - At the Crossroad of Gender and Race: Marginalization, Minoritization, and Microaggressions

Abstract

Using an intersectionality framework, this paper examines the gendered racial experiences of Black women in the higher education workplace and the coping strategies they elected when faced with the psychological distress that accompanied the race-related and gendered racism they experienced. We found that our participants experienced a variety of gendered racial microaggressions: feeling silenced and marginalized, pathologizing cultural values, and being subjected to controlling images and stereotypes, and employed both adaptive coping strategies (e.g., establishing personal and professional networks, setting boundaries, confronting gendered racism) and maladaptive coping strategies (e.g., working harder, using avoidance techniques).

Authors

• Oriana T. Johnson, Duke University

• Whitney N. McCoy, Duke University

• Callie Womble Edwards, North Carolina State University

• Angela M White, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University