Black Women, Race & Rape

What is it about?

This article examines the ways Black women cope with sexual assault by Black men. The results show that both structural inequalities and cultural ideals shape Black women’s responses to same-race rape. Black women often are afraid to disclose their rape due to harmful stereotypes and the devaluing of Black women more generally. African and Caribbean immigrants, however, often avoided discussions of racial inequality and distanced themselves from African Americans in their rape accounts.

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Why is it important?

Although Black women are more likely to be raped, little is actually known about how Black rape survivors cope. Also, most studies rely on sample sizes where the Black participants number fifty or fewer; and they usually come from the same geographic, ethnic and class background. This study attends to previous limitations through innovative methods and intensive interviews with a diverse group of over one hundred Black women survivors from four U.S. cities.