Diversity within Women of Color: Why Experiences Change Felt Stigma

Abstract

This commentary offers additional considerations for better understanding and studying how women of color detect and respond to prejudice in the United States. Building on the thoughts raised by Remedios and Snyder (2015), we highlight the importance of considering the socio-cultural and historic factors that differentially impact how sub-groups of women of color are perceived. Rather than generalizing work on stigma and discrimination across the diverse group of women of color, we discuss the importance and benefits of examining subgroups individually. In this commentary therefore, we pose research questions about three additional bodies of literature that add to Remedios and Snyder’s (2015) ideas regarding experiencing stigma. First, we examine how stereotypes of subgroups of women of color differ. Next, we introduce other work in the field of intersectionality, e.g. gendered race, to argue that differences in the ways women of color are perceived may affect how they experience identity centrality, discrimination, and other identity-related processes. Finally, we provide empirical evidence highlighting the concept of intersectional invisibility as an additional form of felt discrimination.