Rape and Racial Appraisals

Abstract

Using Black women's responses to same-race sexual assault, I demonstrate how scholars can use interpersonal violence to understand social processes and develop conceptual models. Specifically, I extend the concept of racial appraisal by shifting the focus from how indirect victims (e.g., family and friends) use race to appraise a traumatic event to how survivors themselves deploy race in the aftermath of rape. Relying on 111 interviews with Black women survivors in four cities, I analyze how race, gender, and class intersect and contour interpretations of sexual assault. I argue that African Americans in this study use racially inscribed cultural signifiers to root their understandings of rape within a racist social structure (i.e., a racial appraisal)-which they also perceive as sexist and, for some, classist-that encourages their silence about same-race sexual assault. African and Caribbean immigrants, however, often avoid the language of social structure in their rape accounts and use cultural references to distance themselves from African Americans. Last, I discuss the implications of my findings for Black feminist0intersectional theory.

Post-Sexual Assault Decision Making: Centering Black Women’s Experiences

“…The Jezebel stereotype, for example, falsely depicts Black women as sexually promiscuous and immoral women who tempted men (Collins, 2000;hooks, 1981). When Black women internalize racialized rape myths, they may not view themselves as worthy of support and may be less likely to seek help after being sexually victimized (Long et al, 2007;McGuffey, 2013;Nelson et al, 2016). For example, in McGuffey's (2013) qualitative assessment of whether and how racism, classism, and sexism intersect to shape Black women rape survivors' understanding of their rape, they discovered that Black Promiscuity, which characterizes the Jezebel image, influenced some survivors' decisions not to report to authorities.…”

“…Black victims endure rape myths and stereotypes regarding Blackness and femaleness, which focus less on their behavior and more on their identity (Crenshaw, 1991). Controlling images of Black sexuality provide a “racialized toolkit” for Black women and social actors to understand their victimizations and how to—or not to—respond (McGuffey, 2013).…”

“…Black women have also historically been associated with strength and resilience. Stereotypes such as the Sapphire, the Strong Black Woman (SBW; also referred to as Black Superwoman; McGuffey, 2013), and the Angry Black Woman (ABW) promote expectations of aggression, violence, self-reliance, and perseverance, which can make it more difficult for Black women to come forward to seek support (Anyikwa, 2015; Lacey et al, 2020; Nelson et al, 2016; 2020; Potter, 2008). Evidence of the SBW image was prevalent among the majority of Black women in Nelson and colleagues’ (2016) study.…”

Organizational Bias in Gender-Based Violence Research

“…People who choose not to report their experiences to formal organizations may understand violence differently than do people who report. A study of Black sexual violence victims who did not seek help from social service providers, for example, noted that participants framed violence in terms of historical racial marginalization rather than in terms of interpersonal dynamics, psychological pathology, or toxic masculinity (McGuffey 2013). Similarly, for many Indigenous women, sexual violence parallels colonial intrusion.…”

The Role of Intimate Relationship Status, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Doing Fieldwork among Sexual–Racial Minority Refugees: An Intersectional Methodology*

“…Since the 1970s, constructivism and critical research paradigms have given rise to developments in qualitative sociological research that, often through feminist methodologies, explore the impacts of gender, class, race, and ethnicity in conducting research, building trust and rapport, and gaining insider access to potential participants (Berger ; Naples ; Creswell ; [1998]; Oakley ; [1981]; Fonow and Cook ; Beoku‐Betts ). More recently, feminist scholars have called for the expansion and incorporation of sexuality, nationality, age, and other relevant categories in methodological analyses and research design particularly in working with vulnerable populations (Armstrong, Gleckman‐Krut, and Johnson ; McGuffey ; Collins ; also see Ferrell's () call for criminological research to consider the role of these factors and their meanings in fieldwork). This ever‐expanding inclusion of interconnected categories of difference complicates the methodological challenges of understanding the interactions between these factors throughout the research process, fieldwork in particular.…”