Barriers, racism and the experiences of Black women seeking help in instances intimate partner violence.

Racism in the United States is deeply and systemically rooted. It has significant impacts on sexual and reproductive health, often leading to intimate partner violence and affecting the safety and wellbeing of Black women. The longstanding racism embedded in our history and institutions has taken shape in our healthcare and criminal justice systems. This continues to disproportionately affect the livelihoods of Black Women. The need for quality, timely and appropriate action is of the essence. However, we continue to fall short on this, and Black women are suffering. One of the key indicators of racism is stereotyping and discrimination. For Black women, discrimination is experienced in intersecting ways on the basis of not only their racial identity but also on the basis of class and gender (Collins, 2000; Crenshaw, 1989). In this regard, Black women have to interact and live in a world where the mainstream populations frequently hold negative stereotypes about them. (Cole et al., 2017). Frequently, their sexuality, what is seen as dominance, and stereotypes about emotional resilience are called into question or presented in a manner considered undesirable and problematic. The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected Black women (Gur et al., 2020) and made their realities even more complicated. One of the many challenges Black women face is IPV. Seeking help following IPV is particularly challenging for Black women as they try to navigate not only the intersecting oppressions described above but also a confusing and inconsistent process of accessing help. Additionally, a long history of tensions with law enforcement also serves as an important barrier to accessing help especially when women’s lives are in immediate danger. Given the current climate of escalation of violence by police against Black and Brown lives, women may be less likely to report instances of IPV. (Evans, Lindauer & Farrell, 2020)