As a Hispanic White woman, I can recall multiple times where I have not been “Hispanic” enough for White people and Hispanic people. One time in particular, in the sixth grade I was shown a picture of a darker Hispanic person and was told that if I was actually Hispanic I would look like them. I thought of my experience when I read the study Applying intersectionality to explore the relations between gendered racism and health among Black women by Lewis et al. Looking back on it now, I could not imagine how I would feel if gender had played a role in that experience as well. That being said, gendered racism is “ …the simultaneous experience (intersectionality) of both racism and sexism” (Lewis et al., p.476). An example item that demonstrated gendered racism in the study was “Someone has made a sexually inappropriate comment about my butt, hips, or thighs” , which is a point-blank example of gendered racism. Prior to reading this study, I had no idea that gendered racism is enacted through gendered racial microaggressions and how those experiences impact health and coping mechanisms. I now know that gendered racism functions in lived experience and research.
Overall, the main findings of the study found that when using disengagement coping strategies(avoiding/not talking about gendered racist experiences) it will have the strongest effect when identity centrality is low and weakens as identity centrality increases. This makes the salience of having a strong gendered racial identity centrality a protective factor as an individual will be less likely to go through negative health effects after being in a gendered racist interaction. I reflected on my own experiences as to why my identity could possibly protect me from having negative health effects after experiencing a gendered racist transgression, and as a Hispanic white woman I am proud of my identity, so I did not feel physically ill after but very emotionally charged. As much as there was guilt for not being “Hispanic” enough for strangers or people I didn’t know very well, there was pride in getting to be Hispanic enough for my family and friends. Counter-socialization actually reaffirmed me of my identity because my close friends and family were always there to pick me up and remind me why being Hispanic is wonderful and beautiful. I hope my takeaway from this study can help anyone else who may not feel “enough” in their own experiences within their race/ethnicity as well as their gender, as you are always enough. However, there is still work that needs to be done for mental health professionals to be able to address the harms of gendered racist experiences done onto Black women as well as Hispanic/Latino women. How can mental health professionals address the harms of racism onto the physical health of others in a positive way? What are strategies mental health professionals can lean on in their sessions to address negative mental and physical outcomes from gendered racism?
Hi Sofia, thank you for this post. I find that gendered racism can also be found in Latinx communities. I can understand why people may use disengagement coping strategies to avoid confrontation since speaking out about these lived experiences can be intimidating. As an Afro-Latina myself, I find that this topic is not talked about enough in our communities. Once again, thank you for sharing your personal experiences and informing me about the discrimination that can occur for Black and Hispanic women in particular because of gendered racism.