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Race- and gender-related contextual factors influence Black women’s sexual behaviors, attitudes, and outcomes. Contextual factors of Black women’s sexual behaviors include stereotypes, microaggressions, ethnic identity, and self-concept. Little to no research has examined race- and gender-specific microaggressions (i.e., gendered racial microaggressions; GRM) impact on Black women's sexual health. Responsively, using an intersectional approach, this study hypothesized that ethnic identity’s influence on the relationship between GRM and sexual behavior (i.e., condom use, lifetime sexual partners) is conditional on self-conceptualization moderated effect on ethnic identity and sexual behavior. Participants included 124 unmarried Black women, recruited from mTurk, a southeastern university and community. Moderated moderation analyses revealed the relationship between GRM and number of lifetime sexual partners is conditionally based on one's level of ethnic identity and self-conceptualization. Findings could potentially enhance existing HIV interventions by increasing awareness of GRM and implementing coping strategies to combat GRM’s effect on sexual behaviors.

The strong Black woman ideal is a long-established image in U.S. society pressuring Black women to maintain a facade of strength at all times. The strength ideal is internalized as an integral aspect of their identity, so much so that Black women socialize each other to habituate behaviors reflecting strength. The Strong Black Woman Collective Theory (SBWC; Davis, 2015a) posits that Black women re-appropriate the strong Black woman image and use certain communication behaviors to affirm strength in each other. By exhibiting these behaviors, they delineate a safe space to promote solidarity within the group and confront oppressors collectively. This new theory needs to be corroborated with empirical data to examine how the theoretical tenets are actualized in a real-world communication context. To this end, the present study conducts a partial test of the SBWC theory by observing Black women friend groups engage in supportive discussions about racial discrimination. This is an ideal context to test the SBWC theory because the friends are gathering together as a group of same race-gendered persons; they are discussing the wrongdoing of an identifiable external hostility that they are motivated to retreat from and confront; and strength gets reified as a form of support during the conversation. The study advances a path model to represent the empirical associations among four key variables: strength regulation, group identification and solidarity, verbal confrontation, and relational quality with the out-group member. Fifty-two Black women friends groups (three in each) aged 18-89 years were sampled but only the data from the support seeker were used for analyses (n = 52). All data were collected in the home of one of the participants as a way to observe the supportive conversation in a safe, naturalistic environment. Structural Equation Modeling was used to test the Strong Black Woman Collective path model. The findings revealed that strength regulation was positively associated with group identification/solidarity, such that women felt more connected to the group when strength was regulated and reinforced. Also verbal derogation was inversely associated with relational satisfaction with the White woman aggressor. That is, support seekers reported lower levels of relational satisfaction with the White woman after she was verbally derogated during the discussion. The results also showed that strength regulation was positively correlated with verbal derogation, even though the relationship was approaching significance. Finally, verbal derogation had a very weak and nonsignificant association with group identification/solidarity. Findings from this study demonstrate that strength is functional in the context of Black women’s communication spaces and has important implications for their relationships with in-group affiliates and outsiders. The conclusion of this dissertation discusses the implications of these findings in relation to future articulations of the SBWC theory, extent research in Feminist Studies and Communication, and Black women’s day-to-day encounters with discrimination.

The present study is designed to extend the finding of Miner-Rubino and Cortina (2007) on bystander experiences of sexual harassment to bystander experiences of racial microaggressions. Racial microaggressions are a form of subtle racism, which are short, quick, everyday encounters that send degrading messages to people of color. The affects of racial microaggression on psychological, physical, and occupational outcomes were examined for both Caucasian and African-American employees. The results of the study indicate that racial microaggression are negatively related to psychological well-being for both races, as well as correlated to multiple negative work outcomes such as job burnout, job withdrawal, and a decrease in job commitment. The overall results demonstrate that subtle racism is pervasive in the workplace and detrimental to employee well-being.

This study examines experiences of racial microaggressions as related to an audience through the art of Storytelling. Integrating Performance Ethnography and Critical Race Theory, it examines how storytelling may serve to illuminate the concept of racial microaggressions. After examining the current body of work on Racism, Storytelling and Microaggression, the author moves through the stories of experiences with racial microaggression from four individuals, gathered and performed as a storytelling event, before a live audience. The communicative management methods individuals use when talking about race and racial microaggressions are explored in presentation of the audience discussion which followed the performance. The author concludes storytelling has merit as a tool for the illumination of racial microaggressions, yet the potency with which racism is ingrained in the psyche of white people in U.S. indicates significant structure must be applied to public discussions of race to support the utilization of storytelling in this manner.

Victims of racial discrimination often experience negative consequences that extend into all aspects of well-being (e.g., psychological, subjective, social). Racial microaggressions describe a series of verbal and non-verbal behaviors that cause harm, perpetuate negative stereotypes, and negate the experience of racial/ethnic minorities. Research has found a negative relationship between experiencing racial discrimination and psychological well-being, as well as a potential buffering effect of racial/ethnic identity. However, less information is available about the existence of these relationships with social well-being. The purpose of this dissertation is to fill a gap in the literature in regard to racial microaggressions, racial/ethnic identity, and social well-being in 453 racially diverse undergraduate students. Quantitative results indicated that African Americans reported higher levels of racial microaggressions and racial/ethnic identity than other groups, racial microaggressions were negatively associated with sense of belonging, racial/ethnic identity was positively associated with sense of belonging, and the association between racial microaggressions and sense of belonging was not moderated by racial/ethnic identity. Qualitative analyses using the conventional content analysis revealed two clusters of facilitative behavioral expressions of university/community inclusion: (a) interpersonal expressions of inclusion and (b) systemic expression of inclusion. I conclude by discussing limitations, areas for future research, and implications for counseling.

The purpose of this study is to explore Black Canadian English language learning students’ acquisition and use of Black Stylised English. I will be looking at the use of Black Stylised English with respect to these students’ experiences of racial microaggressions, defined as everyday subtle acts of racism. This study poses the question: How does experiencing racial microaggression impact Black Canadian ELL students’ acquisition of Black English as a second language? This study was conducted in 2015 and draws on Critical Race Theory methodology with a focus on storytelling and counter-storytelling as a means to disrupt the dominant narrative. The participants were Black Canadian ELL students from immigrant families living in a metropolitan city in Northeastern Ontario attending after-school programs. A purposefully selected sample of 24 students who self-identified as Black and four support workers were examined. Data for this study was collected at three different after-school program sites. The first after-school program was located in a suburb at a seniors’ residence where students volunteered. The second after-school program was located in the downtown area and catered to newly arrived immigrants. The third site was located in the west end of the city and focused on the academic success of students from low-income families. The study found the following: first, all participants had experienced racial microaggressions. Second, there are similarities and differences in the participants’ experiences depending on the context. Third, experiencing racial microaggressions had an emotional effect on participants. Fourth, most participants did not know how to respond directly to racial microaggressions. Fifth, although they did not know how to respond to racial microaggressions, the boy participants used Black Stylized English as a defence mechanism to cope with the racial microaggressions. The girl participants acquired and used BSE to fit-in with other Black girls. In response to racial microaggressions the girl participants focused on losing their accents in order fit-in with their racialized White counterparts. Sixth, after-school programs operate on the basis of the authorized multicultural discourse.

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