Experiences of Harm, Healing, and Joy among Black Women and Femmes on Social Media

Abstract

This project illuminates Black women and femme’s experiences with unwanted behavior and harassment on social media, and how they (re)claim and transform their experiences to cope, heal, and experience joy. This work situates Black women and femmes’ experiences within extant social media research, and examines how their unique identity creates multiple forms of interlocking oppression. In our focus groups, participants (N=49) described harms they experienced through racism, misogynoir, ableism, and sexual objectification, and their complex labor of protecting and transforming their experiences online. Despite the harmful effects of unwanted behavior online, participants described a Black feminist transformative politic, in which they cultivated healing and joy through various methods offline and online. Using a transformative justice lens, we discuss their experiences of harassment from white women and men, as well as the complexities of cultural betrayal when experiencing harassment from Black men.

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