Misogynoir: Exploring Lived Experiences of Gendered Racism and Impacts on Identity for Black Women Professional Counselors
Abstract
Black Women are an extremely unique, yet oppressed population in America. A factor that makes Black Women distinctive, yet also so targeted, is that they experience two specific forms of oppression due to the intertwinement of their race and their gender, while also being plagued with a social construct that often categorizes Black Women negatively. An extensive amount of research has placed emphasis on understanding the degrading and prejudicial experiences that Black Women have had to deal with because of the intersection of those two specific identities, commonly known as gendered racism, to better understand how they cope with their experiences. However, in recent years, the ideas of intersectionality and gendered racism have been further developed into concepts such as misogynoir to highlight the unique experiences that Black Women face, different than those issues that other populations who experience gendered racism may have. Subsequently, although explorations regarding Black Womens’ experiences have previously occurred, the currently available literature is missing valuable information and research on Black Women as Professional Counselors and their experiences with gendered racism and identity formation, specifically based on misogynoir. Participants identifying as Black Women Professional Counselors (BWPC) were recruited to discuss their lived experiences with misogynoir. Using Critical Race Theory (Crenshaw, Gotanda, Peller, & Thomas, 1995; Haskins & Singh, 2015) as an umbrella, this phenomenological qualitative study was conducted via semi-structured interview. A variety of 10 participants with varying ages, African Ancestry, sexual orientations, licensure types, employment settings and years practicing participated in this study. Findings indicate that all participants experienced some type of misogynoir experience.
Subject Area
Mental health|Counseling Psychology|Psychology|Womens studies|Black studies
Recommended Citation
Davis, Ashley Janée, "Misogynoir: Exploring Lived Experiences of Gendered Racism and Impacts on Identity for Black Women Professional Counselors" (2023). ETD Collection for Pace University. AAI30490041.
https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/dissertations/AAI30490041
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