As a Self-Identified Black Lesbian Succeeding Within the Realm of Academia, I Continue
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Jones 1
Toniesha Jones
04/28/10 Use of an Intersectional Framework to Understand Coping Among Black Lesbian College Students
As a self-identified welfare class Black lesbian succeeding within the realm of academia,
I continue to face adversity due to the collision of my intersecting economic, racial, gender, and sexual statuses. The feminist research community has long recognized intersectionality, cultural stigmatization, and discrimination as factors in the creation and maintenance of social marginalization of Black lesbians.1 However, most feminist intersectional perspectives have grossly neglected the influence of social status in the lives of this multiply marginalized group of subjects. This study is a call for feminist theorists to pay more attention to social status as an agent for resisting and coping with culturally constructed categories of discrimination. I intend to use the narratives of Black lesbians who currently attend or have attend one of four strategically selected colleges in order to unveil the relationship between social status and other dimensions of collegiate Black lesbian identity. With this study I hope to expand feminist scholarship on intersectionality.
Early research analyzing the experiences faced by Black lesbians is limited. However, available research suggests that Black lesbians endure cumulative distress due to their intersecting identities.2 Evaluating the scholarly discourses on the psychological and emotional
1 Lisa Bowleg, “When Black + Lesbian + Woman ≠ Black Lesbian Woman: The Methodological Challenges of Qualitative and Quantitative Intersectionality Research”. Sex roles (2008); see also Dawn M. Szymanski and Arpana Gupta, “Examining the Relationship Between Multiple Internalized Oppressions and African American Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Questioning Persons Self-Esteem and Psychological Distress.” Journal of Counseling Psychology 56 (2009); Elizabeth R. Cole, “Intersectionality and Research in Psychology.” American Psychologist 64 (2009). 2 Valerie Purdie-Vaughns and Richard P. Eibach, “Intersectional Invisibility: The Distinctive Advantages and Disadvantages of Multiple Subordinate Groups.” Sex Roles (2008): 378. Jones 2 stress faced by Black lesbians is essential in this study. The psychological effects produced by the intersectionality of race and perceived deviant sexual orientations are brutal. Studies indicate that minority individuals who have same-sex sexual attractions, who have had sexual or romantic relationships with someone of the same sex, or who identify as lesbian, have a heightened risk of internalizing their oppression; this inward act of mentally absorbing their repression results in an increased risk of lower self-esteem and psychological disorders.3
Minority LGBT individuals are more likely to experience emotionally distressing symptoms that enhance their risk of suicide.4 The average number of depressive thoughts experienced by LGBT individuals is nearly double the amount of that experienced by heterosexuals.5 Research indicates that merely being a person of color heightens the risk of and association between poverty and poor health.6 These studies indicate that minority LGBT individuals are more likely than heterosexuals to experience symptoms such as loneliness and mental fatigue.7
Most social researchers inquiring on collegiate Black lesbian identity approach visible and well established LGBT communities to find their subjects, and thereby their studies ignore the voices of those who remain hidden within the shadows of uncertainty when it comes to exposing their sexual identity. Several feminist researchers such as Lisa Bowleg and Patricia Hill
3 Dawn M. Szymanski and Arpana Gupta, “Examining the Relationship Between Multiple Internalized Oppressions and African American Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Questioning Persons Self-Esteem and Psychological Distress,” 56. 4 Joanna Almeida, Deborah Azrael, Heather L. Corliss et. al, “Emotional Distress Among LGBT Youth: The Influence of Perceived Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation”. Youth Adolescence (2009): 1001. 5 Ibid. 6 C. R. Kessler and W. H. Neighbors, “ A New Perspective on the Relationship Between Race, Social Class, and Psychological Distress.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 27 (1986): 107. 7 Joanna Almeida, Deborah Azrael, Heather L. Corliss et. al, “Emotional Distress Among LGBT Youth: The Influence of Perceived Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation,”1002. Jones 3
Collins have attempted to understand Black lesbians through deconstructing and conceptualizing simultaneously interacting power dynamics of class, race, gender and sexuality. Intersectionality researchers continue to examine several cultural condemnations that hinder the acceptance of
Black lesbians within their racial communities. However, the vast majority of research that surrounds the conceptualization of collegiate Black lesbian identity has overlooked the impact of social status in shaping the experiences and coping strategies of these women.
Drawing upon interviews with collegiate Black lesbians, I will examine the relationship between social status and collegiate Black lesbian identity more thoroughly. My thesis will attend to the intertwining of the narratives given by the participants with intent to empower their voices. I am interested in the power of emotion beneath their word choice, sentence arrangement, and other details hidden within their sexual biographies.
Literature Review
In brief, this study is an attempt to understand the relationship social status and Black lesbian identity in the context of academia. Specifically, this study seeks to explore whether non- heterosexual Black college women from various economic backgrounds simultaneously use class and self-esteem as agents for resisting cultural oppressions. With this study I hope to uncover what it means for a Black women, in college, to establish an identity along the LGBT spectrum. I will pay close attention to how family income has manifested in the lives of my participants.
Although the history of research and feminist scholarship on Black lesbians is limited, the sources available are vital to our understanding of women’s sexuality. In this literature review, I will bring together various literatures discussing intersectionality with the intent to provide the reader with a summary of research through which I will base my methodology. Jones 4
Comprehending Intersectionality
Intersectionality—the process in which multiple facets of identity interact and combine with social structures to influence social realities— was coined in 1989 by Kimberle Crenshaw and is of extreme importance for studies of collegiate Black lesbian identity.8 Psychologist
Elizabeth Cole describes intersectionality as an essential analytical tool for studying, understanding, and responding to how multiple categories of social group membership (e.g., race, gender, class, sexuality) contribute to individual experiences of oppression and privilege.9
Critical analysis of the intersection of multiple identities helps expose the accruing marginalization and discrimination faced by individuals as a result of the combination of their identities.10
The intersectionality movement gained prominence in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, and was sparked by historical instances such as the civil rights, antiracism, disability rights, and environmental movements.11 Minority female activists and other intellectual participants in these movements began to publicly contest the circulating homogenous image of women.12 According to Janis V. Sanchez-Hucles and Donald D. Davis, “women of color were overlooked in the initial discussions of feminism”.13The origins of the intersectionality framework grew from the
8 I Janis V. Sanchez-Hucles and Donald D. Davis, “Women and Women of Color in Leadership: Complexity, Identity, and Intersectionality.” American Psychologist 65 (2010): 6. See also Kimberle Crenshaw, Mapping The Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color (New York: Routledge, 1994); Stephanie A. Shields, “Gender: An Intersectional Perspective.” Sex Roles 59 (2008); Cole, “Intersectionality and Research in Psychology,” (2009). 9 Elizabeth R. Cole, “Coalitions as a Model for Intersectionality: From Practice to Theory.” Sex Roles 59 (2008): 2. 10Sanchez-Hucles and Davis, “Women and Women of Color in Leadership: Complexity, Identity, and Intersectionality,” 6. 11 Ibid., 5. 12 Ibid. 13 Ibid. See Also; Shields, “Gender: An Intersectional Perspective,” 301-311. Jones 5 responses of Black feminists who felt that their realities vastly differed from those of White feminist, able-bodied, middle-class, heterosexual women.14
Bell Hooks and Patricia Hill Collins were of the first to address the racial exclusion of
Black women as a political issue, within their initial discussions of Black feminism.15 In 2000,
Collins introduced the concept of “matrix domination” to refer to various oppressive systems, such as laws and the economy, that contribute to the exclusion of Black women.16 Her observations of the interaction between systems of domination and minority identities reveal the dynamic political essence of intersectionality.17 Political Intersectionality, as termed by
Crenshaw, emphasizes the intersectional subordination minority women may face as a result of being stuck between conflicting political agendas.18
Research indicates that political intersectionality has always influenced the experiences of Black women.19 Valerie Purdie-Vaughns and Richard Eibach discuss a major historical consequence of political intersectionality in the past with their assertion that, “the intersection between race and gender marginalized Black women’s historical contributions.”20
According to Hooks, the societal tensions caused by the interactions between race and gender historically distinguished Black women from members of other subordinate social
14 Ibid. 15 Bell Hooks, Talking back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black (Cambridge: South End Press, 1989), 7. 16 Patricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist Though: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment (Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1990), 221. 17 Collins, Black Feminist Though: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, 299. 18 Crenshaw, Mapping The Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color, 286. 19 Collins, Black Feminist Though: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, 221. 20 Purdie-Vaughns and Eibach, “Intersectional Invisibility: The Distinctive Advantages and Disadvantages of Multiple Subordinate Groups,” 384. Jones 6 groups.21 Elaborating on this distinction Hooks asserts, “No other group in America has had their identity socialized out of existence as have Black women…”22
The majority of scholarly discourse on intersectionality indicates that multiple aspects of identity mutually construct and influence one another— being welfare class influences one’s lived experiences as a Black American, and being a Black
American influences one’s lived experiences as welfare class.23 The combination of economic and racial disparities has long been recognized as a pervasive limitation of modern society.24
Within the U.S, studies indicate that Black Americans are more likely to face structural adversity in regards to their socioeconomic status (e.g., poverty rates, education, employment) than their white counterparts.25 In 2003, the U.S census reported the median earnings of full-time, year- round workers: White men’s earnings were $41,211 compared to Black men’s earnings of
$32,241. On average women of color receive the lowest income, with Black women earning
$26,965.26 The structure of class in America has a different affect on Black lesbians than it does on gay men. Class disproportionately affects Black lesbians because they are expected to maintain food and security despite only having access to a two-woman salary household of $9000 less than Black heterosexuals.27On the contrary, gay men are continually granted access to the group with the highest salary due to their male status. 28
21 Hooks, Talking back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black, 7. 22 Ibid. 23 Sanchez-Hucles and Davis, “Women and Women of Color in Leadership: Complexity, Identity, and Intersectionality,” 6. 24 Ibid. 25 D. R. Williams and C. Collins, “Socioeconomic and Racial Differences in Health: Patterns and Explanations.” Annual Review of Sociology 21 (1995): 350. 26 U.S. Bureau of the Census. (2000). “Projected State Populations, by Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin: 1995–2025.” http://www.census.gov/population/ projections/state/stpjrace.txt. 27 Bowleg, “When Black + Lesbian + Woman ≠ Black Lesbian Woman: The Methodological Challenges of Qualitative and Quantitative Intersectionality Research,” 313. 28 Williams and Collins, “Socioeconomic and Racial Differences in Health: Patterns and Explanations,” 350. Jones 7
Evaluating class is central to Black lesbians because this group is located at the bottom of the labor force.29 Currently, there exist no laws to protect Black lesbians from workplace discrimination.30 Consequently, collegiate Black lesbians have an increased risk of suffering from lower wages, income and security upon graduating.31 Although social class has a material basis it is not to be solely defined by a property or collection, rather its performance.32
For Pierre Bourdieu, the material basis of class, culture and power are interdependent, and neither is secondary to the other.33 He refers to this multidimensional understanding of class as habitus. Bourdieu’s conceptualization of habitus implies that socioeconomic status entails both symbolic and cultural forms in addition to economic inequality.34 Bourdieu’s theory of habitus describes the influence of structural and socioeconomic locations in the development of an individual’s behaviors and interests.35 This versatile theory also suggests that structural socioeconomic location is why individuals to choose to situate themselves in similar social groups and communities.36 Research on socioeconomic status indicates that social class is a way of being, communicating, and expressing oneself in the world in a manner that is often linked with socioeconomic location.37 According to Giddens, evaluating the economic location of collegiate Black lesbians may be essential because of the impact class may have on daily decisions and choices, from “what to wear, what to eat, … [to]
29 Ibid. 30 Shields, “Gender: An Intersectional Perspective,” 306. 31 Purdie-Vaughns and Eibach, “Intersectional Invisibility: The Distinctive Advantages and Disadvantages of Multiple Subordinate Groups,” 379. 32 C. M. Scharff, “Doing Class: A Discursive and Ethnomethodological Approach.” Critical Discourse Studies 5 (2008): 332. 33 Caroline Oliver and Karen O’ Reilly, “A Bourdieusian Analysis of Class and Migration: Individualizing the Process.” Sage 44 (2010): 50. 34 Ibid. 35 Ibid., 51. 36 Ibid. 37 Carrie Yodanis, “A Place in Town: Doing Class in a Coffee Shop.” Journal of Ethnography 35 (2006): 341. Jones 8 whom to meet with later in the evening”.38 In 1941, Warner and Lunt were of the first to proclaim that classes are entrenched in social interaction.39 Within their study of Yankee City, they uncovered six social classes that arouse from behaviors and interactions that they called symbolic behavior.40 According to Carrie Yodanis, symbolic behavior referenced, “taste in home decoration, reading material, magazine subscriptions, attendance at the local movie theatre, and organization membership.”41 In1976, Elijah Anderson found that class is embedded in culture and is often reinforced by interaction, including how “people defer to one another, are deferred to, ally themselves with certain others, and help prop up the identity of valued members of the respective crowds.”42 According to Anderson, it is individual reinforcement of class through behavior and interactions that create systems of social status, rank and difference. 43
In 2002, Sarah Fenstermaker and Candace West introduced a theory of difference that discusses the consequences of performing class.44
According to Fenstermaker and West, the performance of class “… consists of creating differences among members of different sex categories, different race categories and different classes—differences that are hardly “natural”. Once created, these differences are said to reaffirm the “essential” distinctiveness of categorical identities and the institutional arrangements they support.”45 This theory reinforces earlier notions of differences by suggesting that differences created among members of varying class categories often contribute to the
38 A. Giddens, The Modernity and Self- Identity: Self and Self in Society in the Late Modern Age (Cambridge: Polity, 1991), 81. 39 Lloyd W. Warner, and Paul S. Lunt, The Social Life of a Modern Community (New Haven: Yale Press, 1942). 40 Warner and Lunt, The Social Life of a Modern Community. 41 Yodanis, “A Place in Town: Doing Class in a Coffee Shop,” 342. 42 Elijah Anderson, A Place on the Corner (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976). 43 Ibid. 44 Sarah Fenstermaker and Candace West, Doing Gender, Doing Difference: Inequality, Power, and Institutional Change (New York: Routledge, 2002), 144. 45 Ibid. Jones 9 naturalization and normalization of organizing social life based on social categories.46
In 2006, Yodanis expanded previous theories on the normalization of class-based differences with her study of nine women doing class in a coffee shop over the course of a summer.47 Paying close attention to their performance of class, behavior and interaction, Yodanis’s conceptualizes the patterns in the segregation and conversation between the different groups of women.48 Contrary to Bourdieu,
Yodanis argues that symbolic behaviors are not a direct result of an individual’s socioeconomic structural position, she suggests “instead, individuals ascribe different tastes, values, and behaviors to socioeconomic positions and then act accordingly to these tastes, values, and behaviors” then choose to interact with those who are similar and to disassociate from those who are different.49 As a result, she concludes, class categories are continually being established, normalized and maintained through interaction and behavior mutability.50
Intersectional Invisibility of Black +Woman + Lesbian
Research indicates that Black women continue to remain inferior to other minority groups due to their multiple minority status and various systems of hierarchy, power, and oppression often associated with their race, class, and gender.51 According to Isis Settles, the unique intersection between race and gender construct an exclusive set of obstacles for Black women, due to tensions caused by being Black being a woman and being in college.52 In her study,
46 Ibid. 47 Yodanis, “A Place in Town: Doing Class in a Coffee Shop,” 341. 48 Ibid. 49 Ibid., 342. 50 Ibid., 344. 51 Aida Hurtado, “Relating to Privilege: Seduction and Rejection in the Subordination of White Women and Women of Color,” Signs 14 (1989): 833. 52 Isis H. Settles, “Use of an Intersectional Framework to Understand Black Women’s Racial and Gender Identities.” Sex Roles 54 (2006): 2. Jones 10
Settles interviewed eighty-nine Black women. She relied on an intersectional framework to critically examine and discuss the integration of their racial and gender identities.53 Her qualitative analysis indicated that her participants valued their intersected Black+woman identity more than their individual identities as a woman and a Black person.54
Collegiate Black lesbian identity is not easy to conceptualize because of the interactions between races, gender and sexuality. Some researchers believe that this is due to intersectional invisibility.55 “Intersectional invisibility” is a phrase termed by researchers Valerie Purdie-
Vaughns and Richard Eibach within their intersectional study of race, sexuality and gender. This term exemplifies the lack of a cultural space experienced by individuals who have multiple subordinate identities. Feminist Adrienne Rich addresses the intersectional invisibility of Black lesbians within her essay Compulsory Heterosexuality in which she explains, “For a Black woman-already twice an outsider to assume yet another hated identity is problematic indeed.”56According to Purdie-Vaughns and Eibach, individuals experience intersectional invisibility when they find it hard to establish themselves within the prototypes of their respective subordinate groups.57 For example, a collegiate Black lesbian woman is said to be experiencing intersectional invisibility if she feels she does not simultaneously fit into the Black,
LGTQ and Woman subcultures.
Evaluating literature on collegiate subcultures is essential to understanding the choice of methodology I will employ in my study. In 1960, researchers Martin Trow and Burton
53 Ibid. 54 Ibid. 55 Purdie-Vaughns and Eibach, “Intersectional Invisibility: The Distinctive Advantages and Disadvantages of Multiple Subordinate Groups,” 377. 56 Adrienne Rich, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.” Signs 4 (1980): 657. 57 Purdie-Vaughns and Eibach, “Intersectional Invisibility: The Distinctive Advantages and Disadvantages of Multiple Subordinate Groups,” 381. Jones 11
R. Clark were of the first to theorize student subcultures in college.58 Within their study, Trow and Clark evaluated two variables “the degree students are involved with ideas” and “the extent to which students identity”.59 Trow and Clark uncovered and analyzed four college subcultures.60
Academic subculture was the first noticed, and it encompasses students who are concerned with ideas and identity with the nature of their colleges; Collegiate subculture encompasses students who are not concerned with ideas produced by the school, but do identify with the nature of their college; Inconformist subculture encompasses students who are concerned with ideas produced by the school, but do not identify with the nature of their college; Consumer-vocational subculture is comprised of students who are neither concerned with the ideas produced by their school nor with the nature of their college.61
In 1969, researcher Lionel Lewis sought to explore the diversity of the individuals who could be defined by one of the four collegiate subcultures: academic, collegiate, inconformist, and consumer-vocational.62 His findings showcased a lack of social diversity among college students who were members of the four subcultures.63 According to Lewis, “these findings support the contentious that any study of college life should take into account the fact that various subcultures exist on campus…”64 From previous research it is evident that multiple subcultures exist on college campuses. However, in which subcultures do college Black lesbian
58 Martian Trow and Burton R. Clark, “Varieties and Determinants of Undergraduate Subcultures.” Paper read at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Society, New York, 1960. 59 Lionel Lewis, “The Value of College to Different Subcultures.” The School Review 77 (1969): 32. 60 Ibid. 61 Ibid. 62 Ibid.,32-40. 63 Ibid.,38. 64 Ibid. Jones 12 students find the most comfort? Does the existence of subcultures overlook the needs Black lesbian students, and in turn reaffirm their intersectional invisibility?
Cultural Invisibility of Black lesbian College Students
According to Purdie-Vaughns and Eibach, the intersectional invisibility faced by minority LGBT individuals can be both advantageous and disadvantageous. They insist belonging to multiple marginalized groups can be advantageous because, “active forms of prejudice and discrimination should be primarily directed at the group’s more prototypical members, allowing non prototypical members to be relatively less directly affected by these more active forms of oppression.”65 This suggests that collegiate Black lesbians may escape some discriminatory practices that directly target one of their multiple identity groups compared to individuals who identify more closely with one of the prototypes of their identity (i.e., Black woman, White lesbian). One disadvantage of intersectional invisibility is too often it produces cultural invisibility.66
Cultural invisibility refers to the lack of cultural representation of the distinctive experience of individuals with intersectional identities.67 A majority of collegiate Black individuals with non-heteronormative sexual identities experience cultural invisibility.68 These individuals continue to combat stress associated with heterosexism, racism, sexism, and learning in a competitive environment.69 Research suggests that the centrality of White privilege that prevails within collegiate LGBT culture reinforces the cultural invisibility of minority LGBT
65 Purdie-Vaughns and Eibach, “Intersectional Invisibility: The Distinctive Advantages and Disadvantages of Multiple Subordinate Groups,” 380. 66 Ibid.,384. 67 Ibid. 68 Ibid. 69 Gretchen Koehler and John Skvoretz, “Residential Segregation in University Housing: The Mathematics of Preference.” Social Science Research 39 (2010): 15. Jones 13 individuals.70 Theorists have argued that central concepts in modern LGBT culture, such as “the closet”, “coming out”, “lifestyle”, and “sexual identity”, overlook the specific needs of minority
LGBT members and as a result reinforce their cultural invisibility.
“Coming out” is a common process within mainstream LGBT culture.
Mainstream notions of “coming out” have neglected the ways in which minority LGBT individuals are affected by the disclosure of their sexual identity. The process of “coming out” often references the experiences of relatively affluent, white gay men and lesbians upon publicly disclosing their sexuality.71 Often a minority LGBT individual who has yet to begin this process is viewed as a political problem.72 The process of “coming out” is problematic because it fails to acknowledge cultural factors that operate against minority participation in this practice.73
According to researchers Rosario et. al., “most LGBT individuals are not raised in a community of similar others from whom they learn about their identity and who reinforce and support that identity. Rather, LGBT individuals are often raised in communities that are either ignorant of or openly hostile toward homosexuality.”74 In the United States, a significant amount of heterosexism75 prevails amongst the population despite an increase in
70 Jane Ward, “White Normativity: Cultural Dimensions of Whiteness in a Racially Diverse LGBT Organization.” Social Science & Medicine 69 (2009): 567. 71 Margaret Rosario and Eric W. Scrimshaw and Joyce Hunter, “Ethnic/racial Differences in the Coming-Out Process of Lesbianism, Gay and Bisexual Youths: A Comparison of Sexual Identity Over Time.” Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 10 (2004): 217. 72 Purdie-Vaughns and Eibach, “Intersectional Invisibility: The Distinctive Advantages and Disadvantages of Multiple Subordinate Groups,” 385. 73 Ibid. 74, Margaret Rosario and Eric W. Scrimshaw and Joyce Hunter, “Ethnic/racial Differences in the Coming-Out Process of Lesbianism, Gay and Bisexual Youths: A Comparison of Sexual Identity Over Time.” Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 10 (2004): .216. 75 This term is sometimes used in place of the more common term, homophobia. I will use heterosexism - a term developed within the lesbian and gay liberation movement- to reinforce the prevalence and systematic nature of negative affects and beliefs about non-heterosexual individuals. Jones 14 visibility of LGBT issues, greater societal acceptance, and positive media exposure.76 According to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, more than 90% of lesbians and gays have been the target of abuse because of their sexual orientation.77 Although scholars agree that racial stereotypes and biased attitudes on college campuses of both Whites and Blacks have dramatically declined since the last century, incidents of racism, heterosexism and sexism continue to persist within higher learning institutions.78
In 2000, a study conducted by Schope and
Eliason surveyed 129 collegiate students reports, “almost half of the respondents had heard verbal assaults against gay or lesbian persons.”79 Studies have indicated that racism on collegiate campuses can negatively affect the academic progress of Black Americans.80 The pervasiveness of heterosexism within the Black community is catastrophic. In California, in 2008, heterosexism was the speculated reason that an alarming 70% of Black American voters supported proposition
8 to eliminate marriage equality for same sex couples.81
In 2008, psychologist Lisa Bowleg conducted a qualitative study with a subsample of Black lesbians in Washington, DC to theorize their encounters of multiple minority stress as it relates to heterosexism and the intersection of race, gender, and sexual
76 David Baker, Morris Jenkins and Eric G. Lambert, “Attitudes of Black and White College Students Toward Gays and Lesbians,” Journal of Black Studies (2007): 589. 77 Ibid. 78 Koehler and Skvoretz, “Residential Segregation in University Housing: The Mathematics of Preference,” 15. 79 R. Schope and M. Eliason, “Thinking versus acting: assessing the relationship between heterosexual attitudes and behaviors toward homosexuals.” Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services 11 (2000): 76. 80 Roy Brooks, Rethinking the American Race Problem (University of California Press, 1990), 98. 81 Williams and Collins, “Socioeconomic and Racial Differences in Health: Patterns and Explanations,” 350. Jones 15 orientation.82 Bowleg chose this population because, “the lives of Black lesbians are rooted in structural inequalities, based on the interactions of sexual orientation, sex, gender, and race.”83
Bowleg Relied upon the “double jeopardy” model to theorize the effect of intersectionality on the Black lesbian identity more thoroughly.84 “Double jeopardy” a term introduced in the 1970’s, is traditionally used by scholars to emphasize the accruing stress faced by Black lesbians due to a collision of their multiple subordinate identities.85 Although She faced several methodological challenges this undoubtedly contributed to the epistemology of Black lesbians.
In Bowleg’s study, a majority of the Black lesbians interviewed about the stressors associated with their sexual and racial identities indicated that their experiences with racism, sexism, and heterosexism often overlapped, each constituting a significant source of stress in their lives.86 Heterosexism within the Black community is indistinguishably intertwined with the Black church.87 The influence of Christianity has played an integral role in constructing and maintaining heterosexism within the Black community.88 Adversely, research indicates that many Black lesbians choose not to disclose their sexuality for they are unwilling to jeopardize their connection to their ties to their families and ethnic community.89 Fear of cultural rejection
82 Bowleg, “When Black + Lesbian + Woman ≠ Black Lesbian Woman: The Methodological Challenges of Qualitative and Quantitative Intersectionality Research,” 312-325. 83 Ibid., 313. 84 Ibid., 85 Purdie-Vaughns and Eibach, “Intersectional Invisibility: The Distinctive Advantages and Disadvantages of Multiple Subordinate Groups,” 379. 86 Bowleg, “When Black + Lesbian + Woman ≠ Black Lesbian Woman: The Methodological Challenges of Qualitative and Quantitative Intersectionality Research,” 312. 87 Dawn M. Szymanski and Barry Chung, “Feminist Attitudes and Coping Resources of Lesbian Internalized Heterosexism” Feminism Psychology (2003): 369. 88 Elijah G. Wood, “Homophobia, Hypermasculinity and the U.S Black Church.” Culture, Health & Sexuality 7 (2005): 494. 89 Lisa Martin Wexler and Gloria Difluvio and Tracey Burke, “Resilience and Marginalized Youth: Making A Case For Personal Meaning-Making as Part of Resilience Research in Public Health.” Science & Medicine 69 (2009): 568. Jones 16 has increased the pressure for Black lesbians to maintain secrecy around their sexual desires.90
How do Black lesbians continually cope with being different? Is the socioeconomic status a form of resilience for Black lesbian college students? It is evident that
Black lesbian college students are visibly different from the dominant cultural by virtue of race and gender, and their sexual orientation distinguishes them from other members within the collegiate Black community. However, it is unclear whether their social status provides them with resilience that influences their ability to cope. According to psychologist Robert Brooks,
“resilient individuals are those who have a set of assumptions or attitudes about themselves that influence their behavior and the skills they develop.”91 Resilience is often understood as perseverance that is acquired from past experiences or exposure to certain situations.92 In this context, referencing an individual as resilient implies that the individual can successfully cope with problems as they arise, as a result of internal strength acquired from a similar experience or situation. According to researchers Fenstermaker and West, the conceptualization of class as a doing will expose a powerful dimension of class, one that exposes class as an agent in resisting structural inequality.93 I am interested investigating this mediating relationship on collegiate Black lesbian identity, and if it can be found in the interaction between multiple subordinate identities and cultural forms of oppression. Most intersectionality studies that call for Black lesbian participants omit those who are in college. By focusing my recruitment on collegiate Black lesbians, I hope to provide a comprehensive analysis of distinctive experiences
90 Rosario and Scrimshaw and Hunter, “Ethnic/racial Differences in the Coming-Out Process of Lesbianism, Gay and Bisexual Youths: A Comparison of Sexual Identity Over Time,” 217. 91 Robert Brooks and Sam Goldstein, The Power of Resilience: Achieving Balance, Confidence, and Personal Strength in your Life (New York: McGraw-Hill Books, 2004), 17. 92 C.A. Olsson et al, “Adolescent Resilience: A Concept Analysis.” Journal of Adolescence 26 (2003): 11. 93 Sarah Fenstermaker and Candace West, Doing Gender, Doing Difference: Inequality, Power, and Institutional Change (New York: Routledge, 2002), 144. Jones 17 that may be faced by this population. Additionally, I will ask questions that interrogate these experiences with the intent to uncover various factors that contribute to their coping strategies.
Methodology
At first, I was reluctant to center my feminist research project on a population with limited scholarly discourse because I knew that it would not be an easy task. However, once I began researching the topic more thoroughly I found myself deeply engaging with available material on the lived experiences of collegiate Black lesbians. I became excited to further feminist scholarship on the intersectionality of this population. In order to fully conceptualize the interactions that take place between the multiple identities of the collegiate Black lesbian, it became essential that I rely upon an intersectional framework. However, despite the evolution of intersectionality as a major foundation of research in women’s studies and psychology, there has been little discussion of the methodology employed by intersectional researchers. According to
Leslie McCall, “intersectionality has introduced new methodological problems and … has limited the range of methodological approaches used to study intersectionality.”94
Upon reviewing methodological challenges faced by Bowleg within her intersectional study of Black lesbians, I have come to realize the importance of posing good questions; questions that are “…intersecting, interdependent, and mutually constitutive…” yet are not solely additive.95 In 2008, Bowleg discusses issues she faced while using the additive model measure the intersectionality of Black lesbian identity.96 Critics have rejected the additive approach to understanding intersectionality because it implies that social inequality increases
94 Leslie McCall, “The Complexity of Intersectionality.” Signs 30 (2005): 2. 95 Bowleg, “When Black + Lesbian + Woman ≠ Black Lesbian Woman: The Methodological Challenges of Qualitative and Quantitative Intersectionality Research,” 314. 96 Ibid. Jones 18 with each additional marginalized identity.97 Bowleg points out that as a consequence of using the additive approach, several of her questions implied that the intersecting identities of Black women could be ranked.98 For example, she asked, “…If someone dropped in from another planet and asked you to tell them about your life as a Black lesbian woman. First, what would
(you) say about your life as a Black person? A woman? A lesbian? And Black lesbian woman?”99 Concluding the analysis of her own researcher, Bowleg stresses the importance of choosing a methodology that asks questions that expose the interconnectedness of intersecting identities.100
McCall is one of the first researchers to discuss the lack of a solid methodological framework in intersectionality research.101 To alleviate this methodological complexity, I will draw upon three methodological approaches in the analysis of my study. First, my intersectional analysis will rely on the grounded theory approach of Strauss and Corbin, in order to substantiate my findings with sufficient research that will allow for further generation of theory.102 In alignment with this theory, I will selectively code for similar concepts, themes and categorical experiences shared by my participants.103
Many intersectionality researchers choose to categorize their participants based on their multiple identities.104 This is because, according to Cole, the classification of an individual by their intersected identity allows for the transparency of other factors that influence an individuals
97 Shields, “Gender: An Intersectional Perspective,” 303. 98 Bowleg, “When Black + Lesbian + Woman ≠ Black Lesbian Woman: The Methodological Challenges of Qualitative and Quantitative Intersectionality Research,” 312. 99 Ibid.,315. 100 Ibid., 312. 101 McCall, “The Complexity of Intersectionality.” 2-31. 102 Philip Burge and Margaret Jamieson, “Gaining Balance: Toward a Grounded Theory of the Decision-Making Process of Applicants for Adoption of Children with and without Disabilities.” The Qualitative Report 14 (2009): 1-38. 103 Ibid. 104 Cole, “Coalitions as a Model for Intersectionality: From Practice to Theory,” 2. Jones 19 lived experiences.105 Cole refers to this model of intersectional classification as “categorical intersectionality.106 According to Cole, “… categorical intersectionality is of particular interest to psychologist because it lends itself to hypotheses at the level of individual, and to operationalizing category membership in terms of independent variables that influence outcomes.”107 Drawing on this model for the purpose of classification is essential in my study, because it will allow for me to potentially showcase the ways that individual identities simultaneously operate to influence their social realities.
In 2005, McCall provided the intersectionality researcher community with a wide range of methodological approaches specific to the study of intersectionality.108Her model of
Intracategorical complexity is the final approach I will inaugurate within my study. According to
McCall, “intracategorical complexity acknowledges the stable and even durable relationships that social categories represent at a given point in time though it also maintains a critical stance toward categories.”109 I am particularly drawn toward incorporating aspects of this approach in my study, because it will allow for me to simultaneously recognize and interrogate the influence of social categories in the lives of my participants.110
Recruitment
Studies suggest that more than half of Black Americans reside in Southern states.111 Within these states, Black individuals represent the majority of people who attend
105 Ibid. 106 Ibid. 107 Ibid. 108McCall, “The Complexity of Intersectionality.” 2-31. 109 McCall, “The Complexity of Intersectionality.” 3. 110 Ibid. 111 Hans A. Baer and Yvonne Jones, African Americans in the South: Issues of Race, Class, and Gender (Georgia: University of Georgia press, 1990), 1. Jones 20
Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs).112 It is in the interest of this qualitative study on social class and collegiate Black lesbian identity that I recruit participants from both
HBCUs and prestigious institutions. Throughout the duration of this study, I hope to maintain close contact with coordinators of LGBT resource centers at 2 Southern HBCUs and 2 predominantly White institutions (PWI), which I have chosen based on institutional comparisons. I will ask these figures to support my study by providing me with either a list of qualified individuals who may be interested, a campus LGBT electronic mail list serve, or the possibility of posting a flier on university grounds detailing my study and contact information.
On the flyer will be a brief description of my project, a call for interested participants, my phone number and email address. I will create a separate telephone number and email address for participants to contact me throughout the duration of this study. I will contact collegiate LGBT resource centers once a month to ensure that my study establishes and maintains status in the
LGBT community. By building networks within collegiate LGBT sites, I hope to purposively solicit a diverse sample of Black lesbians from various economic backgrounds who attend or have attended: Howard University, Spelman University, Smith College, or The
University of Michigan- Ann Arbor. I have chosen to limit my study to a maximum of twenty interviews; this is to insure that I have adequate time to transcribe and analyze the narratives. I intend to focus my study on any self-identified Black lesbian, at least eighteen years old, who currently attends or has attended one of the previously mentioned collegiate institutions within the last 5 years. As a result of my limited subject pool, I will host interviews with lesbians who prefer to be called “African American” to Black. Often Multi-racial individuals are presumed by society as Black or “African American.” I will allow for Multi-racial lesbians to participate in
112 Charles V. Willie and Richard J. Reddick and Ronald Brown, The Black College Mystique (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2006), 34. Jones 21 my study only if they self-identify as Black, though I will certainly note any differences in the origins of their ethnic identification. Sociologists often refer to the neither accidental nor easily accessible sampling method I intend to employ in this study as purposeful or criterion-based sampling.113 Prior to beginning my study, I will set up 10 minute screening sessions via email or telephone with the first twenty women reply. During these screening sessions I will ask the women if they identify as Black or “African American”, if they do I will ask them, if they have same-sex sexual attractions, have had sexual or romantic relationships with someone of the same sex, or who identify as lesbian. If they respond yes to any of the following they will be considered eligible for the study. As previous research suggests, key concepts in LGBT culture, such as publicly labeling ones sexual desires, overlook cultural factors that contribute to the lack of minority representation along the LGBT spectrum.114 I will refrain from putting the term
“lesbian” on the flier with efforts to gain participation of Black women who may not yet be comfortable with labeling their sexual desires. I will attempt to visit the participants of my study.
However, if I cannot afford to travel I will conduct interviews with them via email or the telephone. In order to insure the anonymity of my participants I will make it optional for participants to disclose their birth names.
Analysis Strategy
I will use the two models of intersectionality to develop intersectional questions and preliminary analysis of my findings. I will primarily rely upon the ground theory to theorize my findings. Within my interview I will ask questions that requests Black lesbians to disclose their
113 Joseph A. Maxwell, “Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach.” Sage (2005): 70. 114 Purdie-Vaughns and Eibach, “Intersectional Invisibility: The Distinctive Advantages and Disadvantages of Multiple Subordinate Groups,” 385. Jones 22 age, range of family income, and their current year in college. I will then draw upon the categorical approach to begin organizing study participants by their family income, age and the number of years they have attended college. I plan to utilize the intracategorical approach to develop questions that interrogate the effect of their intersectional experiences with race, gender, and social class, performative and non. For example, and question I plan to ask is “how have your social identities influenced your college experiences?” Upon transcribing the interviews I will utilize the grounded theory approach to uncover patterns in the experiences detailed by collegiate Black lesbians.