Centralizing the voices of queer womxn of color in counseling

Abstract

This participatory action research study explored queer womxn of color's (QWoC) experiences of microaggressions in counseling. Due to the multifaceted and complex experiences of QWoC, this study was informed by intersectionality theory and utilized photovoice methodology to explore QWoC's experiences of microaggressions in counseling. The seven QWoC who participated in this study provided portrayals of their experience of microaggressions in counseling. Five major themes were prominent in their photographs and narratives: (a) counseling as a tool of oppression, (b) impact of oppression in counseling, (c) strategies for survival, (d) healing for QWoC, and (e) the power of sharing mi historia. Overall, co-researchers provided insight into their experiences of oppression in counseling, while highlighting clinical and research practices that may be healing and liberatory for QWoC. Additionally, implications and conclusions drawn from the experiences of co-researchers provide recommendations for counselors working with QWoC. K E Y W O R D S intersectionality, liberatory clinical practices, microaggressions in counseling, participatory action research, queer womxn of colorLesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning (LGBTQ) people experience mental health issues, which can be exacerbated by overt and covert discrimination (e.g., hate crimes, microaggressions), minority stress, and a lack of understanding, among other factors (Casey et al., 2019;Weber, Collins, Robinson-Wood, Zeko-Underwood & Poindexter, 2018). Minority stress is the sum of the additional stressors LGBTQ people experience from ongoing oppression in the form of discrimination, stigmatization, and harassment due to their sexual identity, gender identity, and/or gender expression (Meyer, 2003;Meyer, 2012). Experiences of oppression can occur across institutional, systemic, and interpersonal domains (Casey et al., 2019;Meyer, 2012). Other factors that may contribute to LGBTQ people's increased risk of mental health issues include: feelings of isolation, shame, guilt, internalized homophobia, biphobia, or transphobia; history of traumatic events such as physical, emotional, or sexual child abuse; and familial rejection and lack of social support

Nonbinary Black womxn gender identity: Blackness between and beyond the binary.

“…Black womxn identities refer to people of African diasporic descent (e.g., African, African American, Afro-Indigenous; Kerr, 2019) typically residing within the United States, with the embodied sociocultural experience of Black womanhood (Khan, 2017). Its usage signifies the prioritization of SGM individuals (e.g., trans*, gender expansive, nonbinary, femme, and queer) in an otherwise cisheteronormative construction of what and who constitutes a “woman,” thereby challenging white, binary, colonial identity politics within empirical discourse (Kerney et al, 2023; Lassiter, et al, 2023; Reyes et al, 2022). Existing at the intersections of multiple markers of marginalization (e.g., race, gender, sexuality), Black womxn experience the compounding effects of oppression and privilege (Bowleg, 2012).…”