Counterstorytelling Queer Women of Color's Experiences of Undergraduate STEM Education as a White, Cis-Heteropatriarchal Space

• In Event: Identities in Context: Understanding How Context Influences Adolescents' and Emerging Adults' Functioning

Abstract

Queer of color intersectionality refers to how interlocking systems of racism and cis-heterosexism shape unique oppression and resistance among queer people of color (Crenshaw, 1991; Kumashiro, 2001). There is a void of queer of color research in undergraduate STEM, a space that has been documented as racialized (McGee, 2016) and heteronormatively masculine (Cech & Waidzunas, 2011). Such research is critical to inform pedagogical practices in STEM where queer of color humanities are deemed irrelevant and markers of incompetence. This paper fills this void by detailing the experiences of four cis-gender, queer women of color (QWOC) in STEM at large, private, and historically white research university in the southeastern U.S.
The study adopted counter-storytelling (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002), a critical race methodology that centers racially minoritized people’s experiences to inform the dismantling of oppressive educational structures. Counter-stories were developed using various data sources, including STEM autobiographies, individual and group interviews, and student journaling of affirming or disaffirming STEM educational events. A framework of STEM as a white, cis-heteropatriarchal space (Author, forthcoming) guided a cross-case analysis of the counter-stories.
Our findings consist of three themes to characterize ideological, institutional, and relational dimensions of the QWOC’s intersectionality of experiences. We present an illustrative example for each theme. Ideologically, QWOC described how technical aspects of STEM professional knowledge were valued over social aspects, resulting in queer of color erasure. Tia (Black, bisexual and questioning homosexuality) saw her queer of color identity driving her goals of improving Black and queer communities as a civil engineer. However, she described the major as a “very cis White man thing” with a pedagogical valuing of technical issues where “no one ever incorporates a humanity of people.” Tia saw this culture causing engineering faculty to lack sensitivity for her mental health concerns rooted in her oppression as a queer Black woman.
Institutionally, QWOC addressed how the lack of diversity in STEM made access to queer-affirming peers and faculty critical to their persistence. Katherine (Black, bisexual) experienced impostor syndrome as one of the only Black women in computer science (CS) with men exuding confidence that made her question her ability. Solidarity with other undergraduate QWOC outside of the classroom carved space for her to process gendered oppression in STEM. Katherine described a sense of sisterhood with three other QWOC who she met at an overnight hackathon trip, during which she was able to be her authentic self and felt uncensored when “rant[ing] about how guys in [her] CS classes can be really sexist and annoying.”
Relationally, QWOC strategically embodied their identities to navigate being fetishized by straight, White men in their majors. Francesca (Latinx, bisexual) received racialized, misogynistic comments from men that made her feel sexualized, such as “Latinas are really hot, and I want their moms to make me tacos.” To cope with this fetishization, Francesca described “go[ing] for as asexual as possible” in her dress and wearing the “engineering uniform” (T-shirt and hoodie) while leveraging her bisexuality to ensure continued support from men in computer science study groups.

Authors

• Luis Antonio Leyva, Vanderbilt University

• Virginia Elizabeth King, University of Georgia

• Brittany Leslie Marshall, Rutgers University

• Taylor McNeill, Vanderbilt University