Relationship Between Womanist Identity Attitudes and Body Image in Black Women

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingyi Yu ◽  
Dericka D. Canada ◽  
Lisa Paler ◽  
Janet E. Helms
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Womanist Identity ◽  
Identity Attitudes

scholarly journals Incongruence in body image and body mass index: A surrogate risk marker in Black women for type 2 diabetes mellitus

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rynal Devanathan ◽  
Viveka Devanathan ◽  
Tonya M. Esterhuizen
Keyword(s):  
Diabetes Mellitus ◽  
Type 2 Diabetes ◽  
Body Mass Index ◽  
Body Image ◽  
Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Risk Marker ◽  
Diabetes Group

Background: Excess weight contributes to the development and progression of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Distorted body image amongst urban Black women and the perception that thinness is linked with HIV, may however be compounding the problem, particularly in areas with a high HIV burden.Objectives: This study aimed to compare the perception of body image in urban Black women with and without T2DM.Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted on 328 Black women systematically sampled into two groups (with and without T2DM). Body mass index (BMI) (weight [kg]/height[m2]) was determined and the adapted Stunkard Body Image Silhouettes for Black women was used to determine perceived body image (PBI).Results: Seventy-two per cent had T2DM and in this group 89% were obese, with a mean BMI of 39.5 kg/m2 (s.d. ± 8.5). In the non-diabetes group (NDG) 44% were obese, with a mean BMIof 31.3 kg/m2 (s.d. ± 9.0) Black women underestimated their body image across all weight categories (p < 0.05). Both groups (99% of the study group) also perceived thinness as being associated with HIV.Conclusions: This study identified an incongruence between PBI and actual BMI amongst urban Black women. This, combined with their belief that thinness is associated with HIV, places those with T2DM at risk of secondary complications arising from diabetes mellitus, and those without diabetes mellitus at a higher risk of developing T2DM. A discrepancy between PBI and BMI may therefore serve as a risk marker to alert clinicians to use a more ethno-cultural specific approach in engaging with urban Black women regarding weight loss strategies in the future.

Body image, dieting tendencies, and sex role traits in urban black women

Sex Roles ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 18 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 523-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronica G. Thomas ◽  
Michelle D. James
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Sex Role

Compelled by the Spirit

2019 ◽  
pp. 216-232
Author(s):  
M. Thandabantu Iverson
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Black Woman ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
Family Members ◽  
College Education ◽  
The Self ◽  
Labor Studies ◽  
Personal Journey ◽  
Womanist Identity

Writing about his personal journey toward feminist and womanist manhood, the author of this chapter revisits his relationships with family members. He records his experience of “patriarchal masculinity and heterosexist battering abuse.” The author attributes his pro-feminist/womanist identity to his mother and what she taught him about her life as a black woman. He states that she would be the first woman to introduce him to the meaning of feminism. As he continues his narrative toward self-transformation—he shares how his college education and his work as a professor and activist in Labor Studies would transport him to a deeper understanding his mother’s life and that of other black/women of color. The author refers to them his “other mothers and soul sisters.” Ultimately, he aims to “challenge males of all ages and (of all races and ethnicities) to open themselves up to the self-transforming power of feminism and womanism.”

scholarly journals Body Image as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Body Mass Index and Weight-Related Quality of Life in Black Women

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 1573-1578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany L. Cox ◽  
Jamy D. Ard ◽  
T. Mark Beasley ◽  
Jose R. Fernandez ◽  
Virginia J. Howard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Body Mass Index ◽  
Body Image ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Related Quality ◽  
The Relationship

Body image and internalization of appearance ideals in Black women: An update and call for culturally-sensitive research

Body Image ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 313-327
Author(s):  
Alice S. Lowy ◽  
Rachel F. Rodgers ◽  
Debra L. Franko ◽  
Emily Pluhar ◽  
Jennifer B. Webb
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Culturally Sensitive ◽  
Appearance Ideals

scholarly journals “I’m Supposed To Be Thick”: Managing Body Image Anxieties Among Black American Women

2020 ◽  
pp. 002193472097244
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Body Dissatisfaction ◽  
Body Satisfaction ◽  
White Women ◽  
Black American ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Strong Black Woman ◽  
American Women ◽  
Black American Women

Prior literature on Black women’s body image heavily relies on comparative studies to confirm Black women’s greater body satisfaction relative to white women. Collectively, these studies argue that “cultural buffers” exempt Black women from the thin ideal and instead, encourage women to embrace thickness as a mark of racial pride. And while the literature largely establishes Black women’s preference for a curvaceous figure, I take a different approach by examining women who describe failing to embody thickness and how they reconcile this conflict. Thus, this article asks how women negotiate body dissatisfaction when violating racialized bodily ideals. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 31 Black American women of diverse body sizes and shapes, I demonstrate how women rely on discursive frameworks such as healthism and the “strong Black woman” ideology to reconcile their self-image. While these discourses enable women to defend criticisms of violating thickness, they also participate in stigmatizing other forms of embodiment in their attempts to assuage body dissatisfaction. Overall, these findings reveal Black women’s agency to challenge idealized–and essentialized–notions of thickness that weighed heavily on their body image. Lastly, I discuss the broader implications of my findings within the literature of body politics and offer suggestions for future research.

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