scholarly journals Is Physical Activity a Buffer? Gendered Racial Microaggressions and Anxiety Among African American Women

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 122-143
Author(s):  
LaTrice N. Wright ◽  
Jioni A. Lewis

The purpose of this study was to explore the relations between gendered racism (i.e., the simultaneous experience of racism and sexism) and anxiety among African American women. The study also tested the moderating role of physical activity in the link between gendered racism and anxiety. It was hypothesized that a subtle form of gendered racism (i.e., gendered racial microaggressions) would significantly predict anxious arousal. We also hypothesized that physical activity would buffer the relations between gendered racial microaggressions and anxiety. Participants were 249 African American women residing in the United States, who completed an online survey. Results from hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that a greater frequency and stress appraisal of gendered racial microaggressions significantly predicted greater anxious arousal. Results also suggested that physical activity did not buffer the association between gendered racial microaggressions and anxiety. This study has implications for highlighting the importance of exploring variables that might serve to buffer African American women against the stress of gendered racism experienced in their everyday lives.

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela G. Bowen ◽  
Yvonne D. Eaves ◽  
David E. Vance ◽  
Linda D. Moneyham

African American women are more likely to be classified as overweight or obese than European American women and little is known about this phenomenon. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the lived experiences of overweight and obese African American older women living in the southern regions of the United States. Semistructured, audiotaped interviews were conducted to elicit narratives from nine participants. Interview data were transcribed verbatim and then coded and analyzed using Colaizzi’s phenomenological analysis framework. Three major categories emerged: impact of health conditions, incongruent perceptions, and the desire for independence. The focus of culturally appropriate interventions aimed at increasing physical activity for this group should incorporate activities that will help them remain independent, because weight loss is not a primary motivator.


Genealogy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Evelyn Newman Phillips ◽  
Wangari Gichiru

Through the lens of structural violence, Black feminism and critical family history, this paper explores how societal structures informed by white supremacy shaped the lives of three generations of rural African American women in a family in Florida during the middle to the late twentieth century. Specifically, this study investigates how disparate funding, segregation, desegregation, poverty and post-desegregation policies shaped and limited the achievement trajectories among these women. Further, an oral historical examination of their lives reveals the strategies they employed despite their under-resourced and sometimes alienating schooling. The paper highlights the experiences of the Newman family, descendants of captive Africans in the United States that produced three college-educated daughters and a granddaughter despite structural barriers that threatened their progress. Using oral history interviews, archival resources and first-person accounts, this family’s story reveals a genealogy of educational achievement, barriers and agency despite racial and gendered limitations in a Southern town. The findings imply that their schooling mirrors many of the barriers that other Blacks face. However, this study shows that community investment in African American children, plus teachers that affirm students, and programs such as Upward Bound, help to advance Black students in marginalized communities. Further, these women’s lives suggest that school curriculums need to be anti-racist and public policies that affirm each person regardless of the color of their skin. A simple solution that requires the structural violence of whiteness be eliminated from the schooling spheres.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donna J. Biederman ◽  
Valerie K. Sabol ◽  
Julie Thompson ◽  
Quiana Duncan ◽  
Katherine C. Pereira

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (7) ◽  
pp. 644-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faye Z. Belgrave ◽  
Sarah J. Javier ◽  
Deborah Butler ◽  
Chelsie Dunn ◽  
Joann Richardson ◽  
...  

While older African American women (e.g., aged 50 years and older) comprise only 11% of the female population in the United States, they account for 50% of HIV diagnoses among women in this age group. Unique sociocultural factors, including a lack of HIV knowledge and stigma, contribute to HIV risk among older African American women. The goal of this qualitative study was to obtain a nuanced perspective from older African American women about HIV knowledge and experiences with HIV using the framework of intersectionality theory. Focus groups were conducted with 35 African American women who were 50 years and older, nonpartnered, and heterosexual. Women were asked what they knew about HIV and if they thought older women were at risk for HIV. A thematic analysis using NVivo 11 yielded two central themes and three subthemes: HIV knowledge, including experiential knowledge, superficial knowledge, and no knowledge, and stigma around HIV in the Black church. Implications for developing HIV prevention programs and testing messages are discussed.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernice Kennedy ◽  
Chalice Rhodes (Former Jenkins)

Abstract Historically, during slavery, the international slave trade promoted normalization of violence against African American women. During slavery, African American women endured inhuman conditions because of the majority race views of them as being over-sexualized, physically strong, and immoral. This perception of the African American women as being highly sexual and more sexual than white women results in slave owner justifying their sexual violation and degrading of the African American women. The stereotypical representations of African American women as strong, controlling, dangerous, fearless, and invulnerable may interfere with the African American women receiving the needed services for domestic violence in the community. The Strong Black Women Archetype has been dated back to slavery describing their coping mechanism in dealing with oppression by developing a strong, less traditionally female role. The authors developed a model: The Multidimensional Perspectives of Factors Contributing to Domestic Violence of African American Women in the United States. This model depicts historically, the factors contributing to domestic violence of African American women in the United States. Also, this model addressed the African American women subscribing to the Strong Black Women Archetype to cope with domestic violence. Despite the increase in domestic violence in African American women, they focused more on the issue of racism instead of sexism in America. African American women have experienced the two obstacles of racism and sexism in America. However, African American women and men believe racism is more critical than sexism. Therefore, domestic violence in the African American population may remain silent because of cultural loyalty. However, the voice of silence of African American females is gradually changing with the upcoming generations.


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