Volume 1, Number 4 (April 9, 2024)

I like the clarity of both options, particularly their signalling of mutually exclusive, non-intersecting groups. Neither is perfect, though. The first option excludes transgender and gender expansive people. Also, some may object to the term “of color” either because it’s too reminiscent of “colored” or excludes people whose “street race” does not clock them as being “of color” but who nevertheless are to ethnic discrimination. Got better options? I’d love to hear them.  Drop me a note at info@intersectionalitytraining.org, Subject line: Better option.

All right y’all, I gotta go. I hear some banana bread calling me.

Cheers,

Lisa Bowleg, PhD, MA
Founder & President
Intersectionality Training Institute

Get to Know These Intersectionally-Specific Terms:
Gendered Racism & Misogynoir

Gendered racism, the term coined by sociologist Professor Philomena Essed in her 1991 book Understanding Everyday Racism: An Interdisciplinary Theory (Sage) describes how racism and sexism “narrowly intertwine and combine under certain conditions, into one hybrid phenomenon” in the lives of Black women (p. 31). Essed defines gendered racism as: “the racial oppression of Black women as structured by racist and ethnicity perceptions of gender roles” (p. 31). Misogynoir, a term coined by Moya Bailey in 2008, describes “the anti-Black racist misogyny that Black women experience” (Bailey & Trudy, 2018, p. 762).

Although the term gendered racism is often used to describe Black women’s intersectional exposure to racism and sexism, Essed (1991) considers the term to be broad enough to encompass men. She argues:

“Note that not only Black women but also Black men are confronted with racism structured by racist constructions of gender role, notable examples being the absent father stereotype or the myth of the Black rapist.” (p. 31).

Essed’s argument is sound, but I’m a stickler for linguistic precision. Aligned with intersectionality’s attention to “specific and particular” concerns, I favor more intersectionally-specific gendered language to distinguish the particularities of Black women’s experiences and exposure to gendered racism, from those of Black men, and those of Black transgender and gender expansive people.

Clearly, there are similarities in racism that Black people experience.  But an umbrella term like gendered racism obscures the intersectionally-distinct gendered experiences that Black women, Black men, and Black transgender and gender expansive people. Take the latter group, for example, a recurrent finding in surveys such as the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey Report on the Experiences of Black Respondents (James et al., 2015) that compared with their other racial/ethnic group counterparts, Black transgender people are substantially more likely to report living in poverty, homelessness, living with HIV, mistreatment from health care providers, and to be less likely to call police for help if needed.

Revisiting the theme from this issue’s Musings and Marginalia, we need more intersectionally-specific language.  But what should these terms be?  Within the humanities, authors are answering the call with terms such as anti-Black misandry (Johnson, 2022; Smith et al., 2020); anti-Black transmisogyny in the case of Black transgender women (Krell, 2017), and anti-Black transmisandry in the case of Black transgender men and transmasculine people.  But as with the term misogynoir, these have not yet made inroads into the social and behavioral sciences literature.

I found a compelling rationale for intersectional neologisms in a 2023 New York Times Magazine article about racial and sexual power dynamics in intimate relationships.  Ornal Guralnik (2023), a couples therapist and author of the article summed up the importance of emerging terms such as “White fragility” this way: “Language tends to evolve to better accommodate experiences of the dominant social group, leaving other experiences obscured from collective understanding, and thus silently perpetuating bias and harm.  When these gaps are filled by new concepts, social change can follow” (p. 39). Intersectional neologisms are needed to center and illuminate the experiences of historically marginalized intersectionally-specific groups who are often rendered “intersectionally invisible” in research, interventions, policy, and media and public attention.

References

• Bailey, M., & Trudy. (2018). On misogynoir: citation, erasure, and plagiarism. Feminist Media Studies, 18(4), 762-768. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2018.1447395
• Crenshaw, K. W. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory, and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum(1), 139-167. http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8
• Essed, P. (1991). Understanding everyday racism: An interdisciplinary theory. Sage.
• Guralnik, O. (2023, May 21). Domestic disturbance. New York Times Magazine, 37-41.
• Krell, E. C. (2017). Is transmisogyny killing trans women of color?: Black trans feminisms and the exigencies of White femininity. Transgender Studies Quarterly, 4(2), 226-242. https://doi.org/10.1215/23289252-3815033
• James, S. E., Brown, C., & Wilson, I. (2017). 2015 U.S. Transgender survey: Report on the experiences of Black respondents. National Center for Transgender Equality, Black Trans Advocacy and National Black Justice Coalition. https://www.transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTSBlackRespondentsReport-Nov17.pdf
• Johnson, T. H. (2022). Is anti-Black misandry the new racism? Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships, 8(4), 77-107. https://doi.org/10.1353/bsr.2022.0006
• Smith, W. A., David, R., & Stanton, G. S. (2020). Racial battle fatigue: The long-term effects of racial microaggressions on African American boys and men. In R. Majors, K. Carberry, & T. S. Ransaw (Eds.), The International Handbook of Black Community Mental Health (pp. 83-92). Emerald. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83909-964-920201006

“Being a Good Steward of Intersectionality is To Do Intersectionality Courageously with my Whole Self”

An Interview with Bryce Takenaka, Doctoral Candidate, Yale University School of Public Health

Congratulations on teaching your first intersectionality lecture to MPH students at Yale.  What’s the backstory? 

BT: I am a teaching fellow (TF) for ‘Biomedical Justice: Public Health Critiques and Praxis’, a course instructed by Dr. Chelsey Carter, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Yale School of Public Health. As a doctoral student, Dr. Carter and I worked together to explore ways to enhance my pedagogical training. While I have held other teaching fellowships, I felt I was lacking in experience in independently leading lectures and facilitating class discussion, and so we decided I would lead the main lecture of a class.

Tell us about the course, and your planning about what you’d focus on in your lecture. 

BT: Dr. Carter’s ‘Biomedical Justice: Public Health Critiques and Praxis’ course centers interdisciplinary critiques on power and privilege within the analysis of biomedicine in public health education, research, and practice. Students are encouraged and challenged to grapple with multiple perspectives, critical theories, and sources of evidence to formulate arguments about health justice-related topics. As a former student of the course and now TF, this has been a unique and rich space for MPH students to expose themselves to transdisciplinary scholarship and applications rooted in Black feminism and decolonial thought, where they can carry with them in their own callings in tackling health injustices.

The theme of the week for my lecture was embodied inequality and social determinants of health. The objective of the readings and discussion was to get students to think about how inequality gets “under the skin,” as well as trouble the meanings of contemporary public health frameworks, like the social determinants of health.

 As I delved into the readings, I noticed a common theme: all of the authors examined the interlocking of multilevel manifestations of power, privilege, and oppression within various geographic contexts. Given that embodied inequalities are complex and dependent on a multitude of intersecting relations to power, it prompted me to introduce intersectionality as one (of many) critical lenses. Bringing an intersectional analysis helped provoke even further discussion about how the systemic and structural arrangements of social determinants of health contribute to the oppression and privilege experienced by different groups discussed in the readings. 

What was the most important thing about intersectionality that you wanted the students to know about?

 BT: Mindful that this may have been the first-time students were exposed to intersectionality, I wanted to reinforce its analytical rigor toward thinking of power, privilege, and oppression, not just on multiple identities, a common narrative that flattens its Black feminist roots. Therefore, I relentlessly grounded various perspectives of intersectionality from the Combahee River Collective, Dr. Patricia Hill Collins, and of course, Dr. Lisa Bowleg.

What part of the lecture were you most excited to deliver?

BT: I was probably the most excited about how students were formulating connections from the readings and even conceptualizing their own experiences to understanding intersectionality and embodied inequalities. This also happened even before we got into the intersectionality portion of the lecture, so it was serendipitous conversation.

In general, how’d it go? 

BT: It was my first time leading an in-person lecture, so I was extremely anxious but also excited. Overall, it was such a wonderful experience, and I am so grateful to Dr. Carter and the students for allowing me to grow in this area.

How did the students react to your lecture? What types of questions about intersectionality did they have? Any ah-ha moments?

BT: I think it was well-received as a starting point on their journey through intersectional scholarship and a different avenue within Black feminist praxis. There were many ‘ah-ha’ moments where students not only were recognizing that they were already thinking about these topics intersectionally, but also evolved the conversation into fruitful extensions between each other’s reflections based on the readings and their own experiences.

Were there any parts about intersectionality that stumped the students or that they had a hard time grasping?  

BT: This lecture only allowed itself a high-level overview of intersectionality. Also, since intersectionality is comprised of components that are often less tangible and difficult to identify than some of the mainstream health behavior and environment theories, it challenged folks to work against some of the positivist conceptualizations of health we are often taught in some, if not most MPH courses and instead, re-imagine embodied health inequalities.

Would you like to be featured in The C³?  We’d love to hear from you.  Please email us at info@intersectionalitytraining.com, subject line: C3 and let us know what you’ve been up to intersectionality-wise, and we’ll be in touch. 
We thank you in advance for your support.

Heads Up: New NIH NOSI About Forthcoming Intersectionality Funding Opportunities

On March 20, 2024, The National Institute of Health issued a NOSI (Notice of Special Interest) declaring its intention to publish a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) to better understand “…The Intersection of Social Inequities to Optimize Health and Reduce Health Disparities.” The NOSI describes NIH’s intention to examine the pathways and mechanisms through which Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) and related biological, psychological, and behavioral factors shape health and health inequities at intersections such as racial/ethnic group, socioeconomic status, sexual minority status, and ability.   An actual FOA should follow soon, and so if you’ve been thinking about preparing an intersectionality-related grant application, it’s time to start writing.

The Netherlands Research Integrity Network launched its new podcast, Research Integrity Matters. The topic of the inaugural episode: “Intersectional Inequalities in Science” with Dr. Cassidy Sugimoto.

Position Announcements

• The Pauli Murray Center for History and Justice has issued a call for applications for its Proud Shoes Fellowship, an October 2024 book workshop and writing retreat for scholars developing their first full academic book manuscript in history, social justice, politics, law, race, gender, and sexuality studies or related fields.  Deadline for applications is May 31, 2024.
• The Eli Coleman Institute for Sexual and Gender Health at the University of Minnesota is hiring a Director of Research (Tenured Faculty), and will soon add other positions. For more information, and to apply, visit: UM Research Director Position.
• Robinson and Glick are seeking a postdoctoral scholar for their HIV prevention focused collaboration team! They are seeking someone to lead multiple parts of the data analysis and manuscript development processes for multiple HIV/STI prevention research projects. To note: ideal candidates will hold a doctoral degree in Public Health, Social Sciences, or a related field; have excellent writing and communication skills; be able to lead quantitative data analysis; have experience working in a diverse environment; be driven by a desire to impact change via public health research and practice; and have a sense of humor!! For more information and to apply, visit: LSU Health Career Opportunities

Intersectionality All Over the News

I’m pretty much on media blackout these days, but I’ve been tiptoeing back in of late (super quick glance at headlines).  Here are two intersectionality-related pieces that caught my eye.

• Curious invocation of intersectionality, but I’ll take it. Explaining his need to find a new co-host for his “righteous and Ratchet podcast,” in an article published in the March 27, 2024 issue of The Washington Post, the comedian KevONStage described his to find a  Black woman comedian  (eventually, Angel Laketa Moore) this way: “I had just learned about intersectionality and how, as Black men, we often benefit not only because of Black women but at the expense of Black women,” he recalls. “So I had been working on doing my part to undo some of that.”
• Beyoncé and her new Cowboy Carter album has been all over the news, as you surely know. An insightful March 26, 2024 New York Times article, “Will Country Welcome Beyoncé? That’s the Wrong Question” by Jon Caramanica made the single-axis fallacy, the phenomenon by which racialized status and gender are positioned as distinct and mutually exclusive rather than interlocking.  The sentence that caught my attention: “Beyoncé is Black, and a woman, two groups that contemporary Nashville has consistently marginalized and shortchanged. And no amount of built-in celebrity appears to be able to undo that.”

Got something that you’d like to see featured in This, That & The Other? We’d like to know about it.  Please email us at info@intersectionalitytraining.com, subject line: TTTO.  Please let us know what you’ve heard about, read, or seen intersectionality-wise, attach a copy or link, and we may feature it in This, That & The Other.  And of course, we will give you credit for the find.  Thank you in advance.

We’ve integrated the resources from the chat to align with the discussion at the Salon.  Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Likely voicing the frustrations of many salonistes, Abrams answered the question about what she had been grappling with by noting her “exhaustion” with the theorizing about intersectionality and that she longed to see more of the “doing” of intersectionality ; namely, more attention to praxis and application of the framework to policy, interventions, coursework, and the like.
• Abrams also lamented the current invocation of intersectionality in ways that were far removed from its original roots in Black feminism as a tool for liberation, noting that it is increasingly being co-opted by majority groups talking about their “intersectional experiences.” While every individual does indeed have an intersectional experience or an intersectional identity, not all individuals exist at the intersection of multiple systems of oppression. She said she relished a return to intersectionality’s Black feminist roots and focus on liberation.
  • Combahee River Collective. (1977). The Combahee River Collective statement. In B. Smith (Ed.), Home girls: A Black feminist anthology (pp. 272-282). New York: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press.

• Asked whether the main argument in her 2020 article that there virtually no guidelines to assist researchers who wanted to incorporate intersectionality into their qualitative work, Abrams noted that it was largely still the case. The collective offered the following points for why incorporating intersectionality into qualitative literature remains an uphill battle:
  • Intersectionality is complex. This means that authors should be prepared to argue and educate reviewers and editors about intersectionality and justify your methods.
  • Journals serve as gatekeepers. Most social and behavioral science journals were designed for quantitative research and have developed word count limits to accommodate those articles. Qualitative work by design needs more room for “thick description” about methods, as well as space to include rich quotes and interpretations. As such, qualitative work often exceeds word count limits of journals that claim they welcome qualitative work, but in reality, are not.
    • Esposito, J., & Evans-Winters, V. (2022). Introduction to intersectional qualitative research. Sage.
    • Evans-Winters, V. E. (2019). Black feminism in qualitative inquiry: A mosaic for writing our daughter’s body. Routledge.

• Lisa highlighted another important point in Abram’s article: the how of intersectionality; namely, the distinction between using intersectionality as a theoretical framework vs. a methodological one. Abrams noted that if the former, intersectionality can shape many different questions to pose of the data or show up in the discussion. If as a methodological framework, then it will shape the research questions that influence every aspect of the study’s design.
• Natalie introduced the concept of “research karma,” the notion that you should participate in other people’s studies with the hope the energy you invest will come back to you when it’s your time recruit people to participate in your studies.
• Asked about her decision to transition from tenure-track professor to academic entrepreneur, Abrams explained that she was dizzied by all that professors are expected to do simultaneously (e.g., direct a research team, writing papers, write grants, collect data, teach), and so learned more about the trajectory from senior mentors, and then became a resource for many other academics. She described her company, Thrive Institutes for Professional Development, as a “packaging of her career coaching into a faculty program” that combines her love for exotic travel.  Next up, Thrive will host a global health learning intensive in Cuba. Whereas many global health international trips prioritize “teaching, correcting, and training” Abrams said the goal of this trip is for travelers to learn. We’ll share information about it here and on our website as soon as it goes live.
• We revisited the topic about how researchers can design and ask questions that elicit narratives about structure and interlocking systems of oppression. Lisa advocated for researchers to become intersectionally structurally competent to facilitate the measurement and analysis of structure in qualitative research.  Salonistes shared recommendations such as asking participants about a typical day, asking specific questions about structures such as transportation (e.g., “Tell me how you typically get to your doctor’s office?”) and knowing how to identify structure in the narrative of someone who recounts, as Dr. Abrams gave in an example, a participant who described missing a doctor’s appointment because it was raining and she did not want to take her baby out in the rain.
  • Bowleg, L. (2023). Beyond intersectional identities: Ten intersectional structural competencies for critical health equity research. In J. C. Nash & S. Pinto (Eds.), Routledge Companion to Intersectionalities (pp. 101-116). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003128656-12