Black Women and Girls & #MeToo: Rape, Cultural Betrayal, & Healing

Steeped in Shame: An Exploration of Family Sexual Socialization Among Black College Women

“…In particular, family members communicated explicit messages to the young women on covering their bodies to make sure that boys and men did not “get the wrong idea,” as well as other safety strategies (i.e., don’t walk alone at night, don’t go to a man’s room by yourself, and change your shorts into pants when company comes over) that focused on the women’s behaviors. To adequately address and reduce the negative impact of sexual violence against Black girls and women, we must reject narratives that place the onus of responsibility on potential survivors rather than perpetrators (Gómez & Gobin, 2019; Simmons, 2019).…”

“…However, the implications of the historical, cultural, social, and political realities of the racialized sexual violence specific to Black girls and women must be considered. For example, five women expressed the belief that Black women’s experiences of sexual assault and rape are not taken as seriously as White women’s, highlighting their awareness that local and national responses to sexual violence often occur in highly racialized ways (i.e., for a discussion on how this point was reflected in the #MeToo movement, see Gómez & Gobin, 2019; Taylor, 2019). Black girls and women “are always already mis/read as sexually illicit, hyper, animalistic, immoral, and more…which has everything to do with rape-ability” (Lomax, 2018, p. 55).…”

“This is My Girl”: How Men’s Desires Obscure Women’s Sexual Aggression Experiences in Public Drinking Settings

“…In the wake of students' lawsuits over campus failures to provide the gender equitable educational environment guaranteed under Title IX in the United States (Dauber and Warner 2019) and international outcry against sexual harassment and assault in the #MeToo era (Gómez and Gobin 2020), institutions are publicly grappling with high levels of men's sexual aggression in unprecedented ways. In doing so, they examine questions scholars have investigated for decades: what makes people willing to report, speak up about, or work to combat sexual misconduct?…”

Nursing work is justice work: Rethinking justice and promoting healing in survivors of gender‐based violence

“…Particularly when violence is perpetrated by Black men against Black women and girls (Gómez, 2016;Gómez & Gobin, 2020), utilization of the criminal justice system becomes more complicated as issues of internalized prejudice, racial trauma, and structural racism emerge (Gómez & Gobin, 2020). The pressure on Black women and girls to protect their families and communities (Beauboeuf-Lafontant, 2009), paired with the fact that Black girls are often viewed as "less innocent," and "more promiscuous and knowledgeable about sex" (Epstein, Blake, & González, 2017) have led to Black survivors being disproportionately not believed, discouraging many to come forward (Decker et al, 2019).…”