Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Feminist theorists in the intersectionality of race and gender tell us that every story about race is a story about gender and vice versa. However, intersectionality as it shapes the life experiences of whites and individuals belonging to other dominant categories remains comparably unexplored. Gender is almost completely absent from theoretical models of white racial identity and consciousness. How does gender shape white racial identity/consciousness dynamics? To answer this question, the author conducts an exploratory analysis of qualitative in depth interviews with whites in black-white interracial relationship. Gender is found to shape formations of white racial identity/consciousness, and also plays a critical role in mitigating the processes through which various modes of white racial identity/consciousness take hold. Future research is needed in order to develop a model of white racial identity/consciousness that takes the intersectionality of race,class and gender into account.