Racial and Sexual Minority Scholar Positionality: Advancing Health Status and Life Opportunity Among Sexual Minority Men of Color

Abstract

Black and Latino sexual minority men (BLSMM) scholars are well positioned to draw on their unique perspectives and expertise to address the health status and life opportunities (HSLO) of BLSMM. Increasingly, research related to the positionality of scholars of color suggests that the scholar’s stance in relation to the community being researched has important implications for the research. Despite growing recognition of the importance of scholar positionality, limited attention has been paid to the relationship between scholar-of-color positionality and improving HSLO trajectories of BLSMM. Furthermore, extant literature fails to specify the mechanisms by which scholar-of-color positionality can improve HSLO among BLSMM. This article seeks to fill this gap in research by arguing that an inadequate consideration of scholar positionality in health and life opportunity research has important implications for the HSLO of BLSMM. A multilevel, mediational model addressing factors at the micro-level (i.e., intrapersonal resources)—BLSMM scholars’ personal commitments to BLSMM communities, cultural knowledge and expertise, and shared life experiences; meso-level (i.e., scholar and affected community interactions)—historical membership, mutual interdependency and trust, and community and organizational gatekeeping; and macro-level (i.e., national policies and priorities regarding BLSMM)—national priorities regarding the health and social welfare of BLSMM, allocation of BLSMM research and program funding, societal sentiment, and national investment in the workforce development of BLSMM scholars and clinicians are detailed. In conclusion, we identify recommendations and strategies for advancing scientific, programmatic, and policy efforts, aimed at improving HSLO among communities of BLSMM.

Sexual orientation and gender diversity research manuscript writing guide.

“…It may limit one’s understanding of nuance, of the implications of the study or the findings for the community—and may lead to asking questions that are not of actual interest/use to the community—and that may even harm the community (Lett et al, 2022). Conversely, being an insider (emic) may bring strengths (e.g., commitment to the community, insights based on lived experiences, cultural knowledge) and also challenges (e.g., one’s own experiences creating blind spots; mental and physical health impacts of doing research among groups that are marginalized—as well as threats to safety; Keene & Guilamo-Ramos, 2021; Veldhuis, 2022). Being reflexive about our identities and experiences and how those impact research are important irrespective of whether we have emic or etic perspectives.…”

“…Grzanka and Moradi (2021) encourage researchers to craft reflexivity statements that do not merely list sociocultural identities that—in-and-of-themselves—do not convey information about how structural inequalities have informed the research project. Rather, these statements are more informative if they describe the researchers’ relationships with the populations of focus in the research as well as the relational dynamics among the research team itself, how positionalities impacted the research, and how these perspectives and differences—and their impacts—were managed during the research process (Gemignani, 2017; Grzanka & Moradi, 2021; Keene & Guilamo-Ramos, 2021; Manohar et al, 2017; Secules et al, 2021; Takacs, 2003). It is important, however, to balance this with the research team’s needs.…”

To Whom It May Affirm: Considerations for Advancing LGBTQIA+ Equity in Research

“…To begin prioritizing CBPR and decentering our own worldviews, it is critical to be self-reflexive and address researcher positionality-in other words, to consider how the various aspects of a researcher's identity might influence their power in relation to the research partners, participants, and processes (Muhammad et al, 2015). Researchers have noted that, although understudied, recognizing the nuances of positionality could produce significant positive and meaningful research outcomes (Keene & Guilamo-Ramos, 2021). For instance, Keene and Guilamo-Ramos (2021) note that Black and Latine sexual minority scholars might have a multilevel nuanced positionality (e.g., cultural knowledge and expertise, mutual trust with the community) that can better inform the research they conduct with this population relative to someone who is not a member of that community.…”

Doubly Marginalized: Addressing the Minority Stressors Experienced by LGBTQ+ Researchers Who Do LGBTQ+ Research

“…This research needs to be intersectional to understand the potentially compounding and disproportionate career and personal impacts of multiple sources of oppression (Bowleg, 2008; Bowleg et al., 2003; Crenshaw, 1991; Griffin et al., 2011 J. C. Harris et al., 2021; Keene & Guilamo-Ramos, 2021; Nadal, 2019; Pérez Huber & Solorzano, 2015; Thacker & Barrio Minton, 2021; Vaccaro et al., 2021; Vaccaro & Koob, 2019). We also need to understand whether there are impacts related to the double marginalization of us and our research on getting tenure-track jobs, promotion and tenure, leadership positions, and commensurate pay.…”

“…To help readers evaluate my own positionality (Davis & Khonach, 2020; Keene & Guilamo-Ramos, 2021; Secules et al., 2021) in this discussion, I note that I am a cisgender white queer woman and an early career researcher focusing on queer women’s relationships. At the time of writing this article, I was on the academic job market and not yet in a tenure-track position.…”