This paper is a brief consideration of how the construction of research, such as using whiteness as a reference point, can be imbued with racism, resulting in the erasure of health issues in certain communities. I will use body image/ideal research as an example of how research practices embedded with racism can lead to erasure.
To understand how using white women as the reference, ignoring unique issues Black women face, and sociocultural factors lead to the erasure of Black women in body ideal/image literature, we have to understand what racism is. For the purposes of this paper, we will apply Critical Race Theory’s (CRT) definition of racism in conjunction with Ibram x. Kendi’s antiracism definition of racism. CRT describes race as being socially constructed instead of biologically grounded and was developed by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of color (Britannica, T Editors of Encyclopedia, 2021). Next, racial inequality emerges from the social, economic, and legal differences that white people create between “races” to maintain elite white interests in labor markets and politics, giving rise to poverty and criminality in many minority communities (Britannica, T Editors of Encyclopedia, 2021).
Author of How to Be an Antiracist Ibram X Kendi defines racism as a marriage of racist policies and racist ideas that produces and normalizes racial inequities (p. 17-18, How to Be an Antiracist). He then defines racial inequity as a racist policy and a racist idea. Racial inequity is when two or more racial groups are not standing on approximately equal footing (p. 18, How to Be an Antiracist). A racist policy is any measure that produces or sustains racial inequity between racial groups. Here, policy refers to written and unwritten laws, rules, procedures, processes, regulations, and guidelines that govern people (p. 18, How to Be an Antiracist). A racist idea is any idea that suggests one racial group is inferior to or superior to another racial group in any way. Racist ideas argue that the inferiorities and superiorities of racial groups explain racial inequities in society (p.20, How to Be an Antiracist).
Keeping these definitions of racism in mind, it is also important to note that racism has constructed whiteness as the norm or default in the United States. Whiteness/white racialized identity is the standard by which all other groups are compared (Whiteness, 2020). We see that in research as well, with white people commonly used as the reference group in research studies, because there is an underlying assumption in the United States that to be white in the United States is to be normal. The normalization of whiteness throughout U.S. history has created a culture where non-white people are seen as inferior or abnormal (Whiteness, 2020).
The assumption that whiteness is the norm is in itself racist according to the antiracist definition of racism because it implies white people are superior and nonwhite people are inferior and abnormal. It is crucial to keep racism in mind when revisiting the assumption that Black women are immune to the body ideal/image health effects. The body ideal in the United States is white because of white supremacy and the normalization of whiteness; therefore, to conclude that Black women are not affected perpetuates racist ideas. Therefore, Blackness was excluded from the construction of the body ideal to begin with. How can any conclusion be made about Black women’s health and the body ideal if it ultimately leaves them out?
Another aspect to consider is Black women have their own body ideals. Still, because it has historically deviated from white phenotypic attributes, it has implicitly or explicitly been ignored, which has led researchers to conclude Black women are less affected because very few are looking into the unique body ideal issues Black women face. Additionally, the implicit bias purports that Black women are not affected by the body ideal when statistics suggest they are.
According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associate Disorder (ANAD), Black Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) are significantly less likely than white people to have been asked by a doctor about eating disorder symptoms. BIPOCs with eating disorders are half as likely to be diagnosed or to receive treatment (ANAD). Black people are less likely to be diagnosed with anorexia than white people despite experiencing the condition for more extended periods. Black teenagers are 50% more likely than white teenagers to exhibit bulimic behavior, such as binge eating and purging (ANAD).
These statistics indicate that the research insinuating that Black women are immune from adverse health outcomes that result from the body ideal is harmful. We do not have a complete portrait of how Black women are being affected because doctors are not asking Black women and teens about eating disorder symptoms, which could mean doctors internalize what the research is saying about Black women’s health in relation to the body ideal. ANAD reports that 6% of people with eating disorders are not considered medically underweight. This is important because it could point to some implicit bias unintentionally perpetuated by research.
BIPOC people are significantly less likely than white people to have been asked by a doctor about eating disorder symptoms. One could conclude that there is implicit bias informed by whiteness being the norm. This is troubling for Black women’s health when racism is embedded so deep that it does not occur to medical professionals to ask questions that could prevent dangerous outcomes. Black women may deviate from the norm or not fit the “usual” demographic. White being the reference group not only obscures the seriousness of this issue but also sustains inequality between the races. The effect of obscuring Black women’s body image issues leads to the understudy of the unique health outcomes that Black women have. The understudy is putting Black and other women of color’s health at risk. If someone, for example, did a policy analysis to provide more interventions for eating disorders, the current literature would tell them to focus on white middle-class girls and women (except more obscure studies trying to challenge traditional assumptions). The popular existing research has determined that this is a white woman issue, for which the funding and research will continue to study this demographic (Striegel-Moore et al., 2003).
Further issues with research are funding and who gets funding for research. Certain funders shy away from funding research that explicitly addresses race and racial inequity because they deem it too controversial (Brown, Kijakazi, Runes, & Turner, 2019).
Researchers and medical professionals also need to be held accountable for being racist and producing racist, unsubstantiated research and claims. On February 23, 2021, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) released a podcast titled Structural Racism for Doctors-What Is It? The host, Edward Livingston, a top journal editor, said: “Personally, I think taking ‘racism’ out of the conversation would help. Many people like myself are offended by the implication that we are somehow racist.” Online, the journal promoted the podcast with a tweet that said, “No physician is racist, so how can there be structural racism in health care?”
In 2011, Satoshi Kanazawa, Ph.D., Evolutionary Biologist, and former professor at the London School of Economics, wrote an article on his Psychologically Today blog titled, “Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?” Kanazawa argues that women of all races are more attractive than men except Black women. He says one reason for this is Black women are, on average, much heavier than nonblack women. Kanazawa argued the most significant factor to unattractiveness in Black women is:
The only thing I can think of that might potentially explain the lower average level of physical attractiveness among black women is testosterone. Africans, on average, have higher levels of testosterone than other races, and testosterone, being an androgen (male hormone), affects the physical attractiveness of men and women differently. Men with higher levels of testosterone have more masculine features and are, therefore, more physically attractive. In contrast, women with higher levels of testosterone also have more masculine features and are, therefore, less physically attractive. The race differences in the level of testosterone can, therefore, potentially explain why black women are less physically attractive than women of other races, while (net of intelligence) black men are more physically attractive than men of other races.
Kanazawa has been repeatedly criticized by other researchers and had papers debunked as pseudoscience-based research (Britton,2011). Despite these critiques, he was still allowed to serve on the editorial board of peer-reviewed research journals (Britton, 2011). Ten years later, finding Kanazawa’s blog post is difficult without going into the dark recesses of Tumblr and other online platforms. The link is accessible here: https://tishushu.tumblr.com/post/5548905092/here-is-the-psychology-today-article-by.
These two examples illustrate how researchers perpetuate racist ideologies. They receive backlash, but remaining in their positions leads to the further spread of racist ideas; even with Kanazawa’s eugenic-like rhetoric. Kanazawa and Livingston create an environment ripe for racism and erasure. Researchers are the gatekeepers for what constitutes valid research (Brown, Kijakazi, Runes, & Turner, 2019). These examples are overt, but the undercurrent of gendered racism continues to be pervasive in the Academy.
Work Cited
Britton, K. (2011, May 23). The Data Are In Regarding Satoshi Kanazawa. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-data-are-in-regarding-satoshi-kanazawa/
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2021, April 02). Critical race theory. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/critical-race-theory
Brown, K. S., Kijakazi, K., Runes, C., & Turner, M. A. (2019, February). Confronting Structural Racism in Research and Policy Analysis. Retrieved April 03, 2021, from https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/99852/confronting_structural_racism_in_research_and_policy_analysis_0.pdf
Kendi, I. X. (2019). How to be an antiracist. New York: One World.
Lee, S. M. (2021, April 07). After JAMA QUESTIONED racism in Medicine, scientists are boycotting. Retrieved April 04, 2021, from https://epibiostat.ucsf.edu/news/after-jama-questioned-racism-medicine-scientists-are-boycotting
Striegel-Moore, R. H., Dohm, F. A., Kraemer, H. C., Taylor, C. B., Daniels, S., Crawford, P. B., & Schreiber, G. B. (2003). Eating disorders in white and black women. The American journal of psychiatry, 160(7), 1326–1331. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.160.7.1326
Whiteness. (2020, July 20). Retrieved March 29, 2021, from https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race/topics/whiteness
Photo Credit: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from the Western Costume Company
