How Does Misogynoir Effect Black Women?

Hello! This is yet again another assignment that I did for an English class. It’s one of my proudest works and I hope you enjoy it! 

 Abstract

The main topic of this paper is misogynoir, and how it effects Black women and feminine presenting people. We’ll be looking at a series of personal experiences, studies, and definitions to explore this topic. There will be sections that focus on misogynoir in school, workplaces, protesting, and childbirth. I felt that these were some of the most important and/or interesting presentations of misogynoir. There will also be some ways you can help combat misogynoir and be of support to the Black feminine community.

Keywords: misogynoir, racism, intersectionality, misogyny, feminism, Black women, obstetric racism, feminine presenting

 

 

 

 

What is Misogynoir?

               First and foremost; what is misogynoir? I would define misogynoir as the intersection of misogyny and racism that effects exclusively Black women and Black feminine presenting people. Misogynoir was coined by Moya Bailey, and it refers to the “specific hatred, dislike, distrust and prejudice directed toward Black women” (Asare, 2020). Some of the most common places for misogynoir to present are at school, work, and in healthcare. We’ll be covering those situations, as well as a situation that’s less prominent- misogynoir in protesting. Misogynoir can lead to a myriad of problems for Black women and Black feminine presenting people, its effects need to be taken seriously.

               I don’t have any personal experiences with misogynoir that I can remember, but I also don’t remember most of my childhood. What I do know is that I grew up in middle class Oklahoma, with roots in lower class North Tulsa. I went to a private school in kindergarten and one of the biggest public schools for elementary school, Union Cedar Ridge (the Union vs. all other public schools in Oklahoma was as big as OSU vs. OU). There were 2 other Black kids in my grade up until third grade, and they were mixed kids with a White mom and Black dad, I’m a mixed kid with a Black and Native American mom, mixed dad, and Mexican stepdad. I was the darkest in my grade, which is crazy because I’m literally the shade of peanut butter. The other Black kids had blonde ombre hair, they were rich, they played sports, they were popular, they had everything I wanted (then). Remember this, as it’s the lens I see race through.

Fast forward to 10th grade, I’m in Washington state and everyone is racist now. I just got my IEP/504, and there’s one teacher that keeps ignoring it. What does that have to do with anything? I’m the only Black kid in class, and I’m a woman. There are multiple kids in a lot of my classes saying openly racist things, and at most there’s 2 other Black kids in those classes. The teachers are there, they do nothing. I report these things to the administration, they do nothing. I get retaliated against for reporting, they do nothing. Maybe it was just racism, maybe it was just misogyny. Maybe they just didn’t care. Regardless of what it was, it was my wake-up call. The reason why I’m writing this essay. I don’t want others to experience things like this.

Misogynoir in School Settings

A study by Seanna Leath highlights that the most common forms of misogynoir from teachers and administration to students are policing of appearance, body language, and tone of voice (2021). Two stories from study participants detail ways that Black women and feminine presenting people are oversexualized and punished because of their natural body shape. Wearing clothes that are considered “revealing” is what the Black community calls “fast”. It’s one of those terms you have to grow up hearing to know what it means, but if someone calls you “fast” they’re saying you’re acting older than you should be.

This same study also talks about how the teachers set an expectation of perfection for their Black female and feminine presenting students. I can vouch for this; I was the smart kid in all my classes and still am. When people in school were struggling, they’d ask me for help. Teachers have ALWAYS expected great things from me, when my grades started slipping in late elementary school, it felt like they were all disappointed in me. Which is odd because it was partially their fault that my grades weren’t as good, but that’s another story.

Another study by an author that goes only by e alexander (yes, that’s how it’s written in the article) talks about misogynoir towards working professors. They talk about female faculty taking on more responsibility than male faculty, and people of Color faculty taking on more responsibility than White faculty (2022). The study shows that White femme faculty used their privilege to obstruct Black femme faculty’s success. One story from the article that stuck with me is where one Black femme graduate student shares the news of her pregnancy, and a White femme faculty member shared an article with their coworkers about how grad students that get pregnant are less likely to finish their training.

Misogynoir in the Healthcare System

Misogynoir in healthcare is one of the most heartbreaking presentations of misogynoir. I’m almost 100% sure that every Black woman and femme presenting person has a story about misogynoir in healthcare. I’ve got two. Ever since middle school I’ve been having a lot of random health issues. Strong migraines, stomach aches so bad I dissociate, low blood sugar, high heart rate, among other things. I’ve talked to multiple doctors about it, I’ve had blood work done, X-rays, and more blood work. The only thing they’ve come up with is that I had a stomach infection and that it’s gone now.

I’m sure we all know the story of Serena Williams giving birth. If you don’t know, I know it from memory. She had been having blood clots, and the doctors would barely listen to her. She had to continuously ask to be treated and said that she “might not be alive if she hadn’t advocated for her health” (Coady, 2022). A similar thing happened with my birth.

Mom always told me I came a month early, and that I was supposed to be a Cancer and not a Gemini. What she didn’t tell me, at least not until later in life, is that the doctors failed us both. My mom went to the emergency room, and tried to tell the doctors that something was wrong with me. I’m her second child (and the favorite), so she could tell if something was wrong. The doctors didn’t do anything. Some time later at a regular checkup, the doctors tell her that all the amniotic fluid is gone and that the baby (me) is in distress. They had to induce labor.

This specific type of racism is considered “obstetric racism” (Lett, E., et al., 2023). One of the best ways to combat it is through having a Black woman or femme presenting person as part of your healthcare team. A study by Elle Lett et al. says that having a community support person, like a Black OBGYN or Black nurses can reduce the amount of obstetric racism experienced.

Why is Misogynoir Important?

You may think that misogynoir isn’t real, or that it’s dividing people in unnecessary ways. I can understand that. There’s a lot of similarities between racism, misogynoir, and misogyny. That’s because they’re all forms of discrimination. Black women and feminine presenting people are still being treated unfairly, regardless of what we do. We’ve worked for centuries for the betterment of our people and others, only to get shot down and stereotyped.

The struggles of Black women and feminine presenting people with misogynoir are usually ignored. The 2020 spike in the Black Lives Matter movement had 2 key players: Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Taylor’s story was treated as less important, like a lot of the injustice that Black women and feminine presenting people experience. Robyn Maynard’s book “Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present” talks about “a 1995 report on systemic racism in the Ontario criminal justice system, which found that a disproportionate number of African and Caribbean women visiting from abroad, but also Canadian or Caribbean-born Black women returning from vacations, were being arrested, jailed and criminalized as “drug mules” (Thompson, C., 2018).

Misogynoir in Protesting

As you’ve already learned, a lot of Black women and feminine presenting people’s efforts tend to get ignored or downplayed. One area of this that doesn’t get much attention is protesting. A few years ago in South Africa, there were a lot of university student protests against things like fees and remnants of apartheid in schools. The face of these movements was Nompendulo Mkhatshwa. Many male protestors had a problem with this because they didn’t want to be led by a woman (Mahali, A., 2022). Despite that fact that the protests were about fees and colonization, some of the protestors managed to make it a story about misogyny. There was also a lot of intimidation from male protestors to women, feminine presenting people, and queer people in the movement.

What can we do?

If you don’t want to read what is going to be a very long conclusion, here’s a series of questions from Elizabeth Gilliam and S. R. Toliver’s “Black Feminist Wondaland”.

1.         How are Black women represented across your syllabus? Are we relegated to one month or unit or are we included throughout? Do the stories, articles, and books on the reading list showcase Black women’s celebration and reclamation alongside oppression, pain, and/or struggle?

2.         How do you celebrate Black women in your classroom and in your everyday life? How do you make space for Black women to be seen and heard?

3.         What does your course content and your academic field make possible for the Black women in your classrooms?

4.         How are you ensuring that Black women do not have to fight misogynoir alone?  (2021).

Those questions were specifically for combatting misogynoir as a teacher, but they can be adjusted for different situations. For all forms of misogynoir, and all forms of discrimination, the best way to combat it is to educate yourself and others and advocate for the oppressed. Educating people about the topic is the easiest and most important way to advocate, but you can also be an advocate by calling out misogynoir when you see it. You can also ask your coworkers or school administration about how they plan on combatting misogynoir from their place.

 

References

alexander, e. (2022). Feminized anti‐Blackness in the professoriate. Gender, Work, and Organization, 29(3), 723–738. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12798

 

Alio, A. P., Richman, A. R., Clayton, H. B., Jeffers, D. F., Wathington, D. J., & Salihu, H. M. (2010). An Ecological Approach to Understanding Black–White Disparities in Perinatal Mortality. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 14(4), 557–566. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-009-0495-9

 

Asare, J. G. (2020, September 22). Misogynoir: the unique discrimination that Black women face. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2020/09/22/misogynoir-the-unique-discrimination-that-black-women-face/?sh=7ee1d1856ef6

 

Coady, S. (2022, April 7). Serena Williams opens up about ‘Life or Death’ childbirth experience. SELF. https://www.self.com/story/serena-williams-childbirth-experience

 

Lett, E., Hyacinthe, M.-F., Davis, D.-A., & Scott, K. A. (2023). Community Support Persons and Mitigating Obstetric Racism During Childbirth. Annals of Family Medicine, 21(3), 227–233. https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.2958

 

Mahali, A., & Matete, N. (2022). MbokodoLeadUs: the gendered politics of black womxn leading campus-based activism in South Africa’s recent university student movements. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 40(1), 132–146. https://doi.org/10.1080/02589001.2021.1946490

 

S. R. Toliver, & Elizabeth Gilliam. (2021). Black Feminist Wondaland. Journal of Effective Teaching in Higher Education, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.36021/jethe.v4i2.167

 

Seanna Leath, Noelle Ware, Miray D. Seward, Whitney N. McCoy, Paris Ball, & Theresa A. Pfister. (2021). A Qualitative Study of Black College Women’s Experiences of Misogynoir and Anti-Racism with High School Educators. Social Sciences (Basel), 10(1), 29-. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10010029

 

 

Thompson, C. (2018). Misogynoir in Canada: Robyn Maynard Documents the Policing of Black Lives in Canada. In Herizons (Winnipeg) (Vol. 32, Issue 1, pp. 21-). Herizons Magazine, Inc.