In 1977 the Combahee River Collective (CRC), a collective of Queer Black feminist organizers, wrote a political analysis based on their lived experiences in U.S. society and in multiple social movements and organizations. They stated that, “If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.” We aim to honor, center, and act in alignment with the CRC’s analysis along with other insights from Black feminist and other intersectional organizers and theorists across time and place (e.g., Collins, 1990; CRC, 1977; Crenshaw, 1989; Davis, 1981; hooks, 1981; Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, 1970; Third World Women’s Alliance, 1971; Truth, 1851). These individuals and collectives not only help us understand how interlocking systems of power and oppression operate and create harm, but also offer us practices and paths to pursue collective liberation and well-being. By collective liberation, we mean freedom for all people from all forms of oppression, which we understand to be necessary to truly support people’s well-being and thriving.

Intersectionality, Gendered Racism, and the Well-Being of BIPOC Women and Us All

Intersectionality is a theory and framework originating from Black feminist organizers and theorists, as well as other organizers and theorists that have faced and worked against multiple interconnected forms of oppression at the same time (Collins, 2019). Intersectionality helps us to understand how all systems of power and oppression are interconnected (ableist ageist anti-Black capitalist colonial cisgenderist heterosexist imperialist patriarchal sizeist white supremacy) and affect everyone’s experiences in society in unique and related ways (Overstreet et al., 2020). Intersectionality also shows how people can work together and support one another to change society in pursuit of social justice and liberation. One important insight (of many) from intersectionality is that there are forms of oppression that uniquely target and harm individuals that are members of multiple oppressed groups. One example of this is gendered racism, which describes unique forms of oppression targeting individuals based on the combination of their race/ethnicity and gender, including targeting Black, Indigenous, and other Women of Color (BIPOC Women) (Essed, 1991).

People have tried to critique and tear down intersectionality by making the inaccurate claim that this framework is only relevant for and about BIPOC Women. But, intersectionality is relevant for us all. Focusing on gendered racism and how it uniquely harms BIPOC Women is critical because BIPOC Women bear more of the harms of systems of oppression, including for their mental and physical health, and their well-being matters. And, at the same time, this focus on gendered racism and BIPOC Women can help everyone because systems of oppression affect and harm all of us (with all different combinations of more oppressed and more privileged identities). Further, a focus on gendered racism not only addresses both sexism and racism at the same time, but also draws our attention to all other systems of oppression that are interconnected, including capitalism, imperialism, and heterosexism, among others, ensuring that no oppressed people’s experiences are ignored (CRC, 1977).

Who We Are

We are a multiracial/ethnic group of individuals trained in the field of psychology in the U.S. and at different career and life stages, who have collaborated together over the past 10+ years on research about how multiple levels and forms of gendered racism affect the sexual, reproductive, and mental health of BIPOC Women, as well as BIPOC of any gender identity. In this work, we attempt to address the interconnections between physical and mental health, as well as between systems of power and oppression, drawing on intersectionality as a guiding framework. We have learned from our own and others’ research on these topics, and we are deeply grateful to the BIPOC study participants that have generously shared their lived experiences, insights, and hopes/desires with us.

Physical and Mental Health Inequities Driven by Intersecting Forms of Discrimination

BIPOC as well as other oppressed groups in the U.S. face many health (and other) inequities (or injustices, also sometimes referred to as disparities), including in sexual, reproductive, and mental health (e.g., Mazon et al., 2025; Stanton et al., 2025). For example, one major reproductive health inequity in the U.S. is that Black Women are more than three times as likely as white Women to die from pregnancy-related causes (Njoku et al., 2023). These inequities are driven by racism and other interconnected forms of discrimination. While most research about this has tended to focus on one form of discrimination at a time, there is increasing evidence that intersecting forms of discrimination play key roles. For example, growing research shows the harms that gendered racism causes to the mental health of Women of Color, including for Black and Asian American Women (Keum et al., 2018; Lewis & Neville, 2015). Recent research also points to gendered racism experienced online as an underappreciated factor that harms BIPOC Women’s mental health (Keum & Lewis, 2026).

Our Research about Sexual Stereotypes and Consequences for Mental, Physical, and Social Well-Being

Multiple research projects we have worked on add to existing evidence of how experiences of gendered racism harm mental, sexual, and reproductive health. Some of our research has focused on sexual stereotypes of BIPOC Women and men, an aspect of gendered racism that has long been created and used to justify and continue oppressing these groups (Young et al., 2023). One example is the Jezebel stereotype of Black Women as sexually promiscuous and available, which was used to legitimize white male enslavers’ vile regular practice of raping enslaved Black Women, and this stereotype continues to cause harm in current times (Davis, 1981). In a focus group study (bringing participants into small groups to respond to and discuss study questions together), we explored the perspectives and experiences of young Black and Latine individuals in New York City related to sexual stereotypes of Black and Latine Women and men. When we analyzed what participants discussed about the content of, sources of, and their responses to sexual stereotypes, we found that sexual stereotypes are harmful to Black and Latine individuals’ mental and physical health and broader well-being (Rosenthal et al., 2020). We also found that participants described how sexual stereotypes are rooted in long-existing systems of power and oppression and societal institutions, and can become internalized within individuals and communities. Findings also illustrated the power and strength of participants and their communities in coping with and resisting sexual stereotypes and oppression.

Another analysis from this focus group study focused on similarities and differences in consequences of sexual stereotypes. We found that participants identified microaggressions and discrimination, double standards, interpersonal relationships, and emotional and behavioral responses as consequences of stereotypes, highlighting the need to challenge and dismantle these sexual stereotypes (Cheeseborough et al., 2024). Across these themes, participants described both shared and unique experiences when comparing across Black Women, Black men, Latine Women, and Latine men, suggesting that we can build solidarity by addressing oppressed groups’ commonalities and differences. Finally, in another analysis from this focus group study that focused on Black Women participants, we identified three contexts in which Black Women discussed how sexual stereotypes affect them in their transitions through adolescence and young Black womanhood: interactions with other people, encounters in health care, and negotiating their sexual identity, self-worth, and agency (Overstreet et al., 2023). Across these contexts, Black Women described their resistance, refusal, and practices of reclaiming their sense of self in the face of sexual stereotypes, highlighting the power and importance of centering Black Women and their liberation.

Our Research about Multilevel Gendered Racism and Consequences for Sexual, Reproductive, Mental, and Social Well-Being

Across two survey studies of U.S. Women that were currently pregnant and/or had at least one child, gendered racist stereotypes about sexuality and motherhood were experienced by Black and Latina Women more than by white Women, and these experiences were associated with greater distress about their pregnancy (Rosenthal & Lobel, 2020). Black and Latina Women also experienced more mistrust in societal institutions regarding birth control than white Women did. This mistrust is an understandable reaction to systemic abuses such as forced sterilizations of Black, Indigenous, Latina, and other Oppressed Women, and this mistrust was linked to less power in sexual relationships. These results highlight how unique forms of oppression targeting Black and Latina Women contribute to inequities in mental, sexual, and reproductive health.

In another analysis from one of these studies that focused only on pregnant Women, we found that pregnant Black and Latina Women again experienced more frequent and severe gendered racism than other Women, and these experiences were linked to less social support and more symptoms of depression and anxiety (Muellers et al., 2026). These results highlight how facing intersecting forms of discrimination can be uniquely isolating for BIPOC Women, with harmful consequences for their mental health during pregnancy.

Finally, in an analysis from one of these studies that focused on Black and Latina Women who did not have any children and were not currently pregnant, we found that previous experiences of gendered racism were associated with greater expectations that they would experience gendered racism as well as distress during a potential future pregnancy (Rehbein et al., revision under review). This highlights how gendered racism harms not only current well-being among Women of Color, but also their anticipations for the future, including when thinking about future pregnancy.

We continue to expand our research in these areas, including an ongoing study with BIPOC Women and Femme people in the U.S., for which we are collaborating with community partners that are Women of Color. Early findings from this study include that BIPOC Women and Femme people who have experienced more intersectional discrimination – including gendered racism from other people and intersectional discrimination from institutions such as legal, housing, and medical systems, and sexual and reproductive healthcare providers – face more social isolation and symptoms of depression and anxiety. In open-ended responses, participants called for changes to institutions such as healthcare, health insurance, and state and federal policies to improve their sexual and reproductive health (Muellers et al., 2025). We continue to work on and explore findings from this study, including what reproductive justice means to BIPOC Women and Femme people, and what they want from healthcare systems to support them.

Conclusions

What we have learned from these research projects echoes what the CRC (1977) and other intersectional organizers wrote decades ago. It also informs the following ideas about the revolutionary changes needed to truly support the mental and physical health, and overall well-being, of Black Women, other Women of Color, BIPOC people of all genders, and all oppressed peoples:

• radical restructuring of healthcare systems to be identity-affirming, liberation focused, and available to all at no cost throughout the life course, including increasing the numbers of providers that are BIPOC Women and LGBTQ+ folks, as well as members of other oppressed communities, and ensuring access to necessary resources (e.g., doulas and midwives for pregnant and birthing people; mental health providers for all people);
• radical restructuring of all other societal systems (e.g., economic, education, immigration, legal, media, political), specifically based on and centering what BIPOC Women and all oppressed peoples themselves need, want, and imagine to support their mental, physical, social, and overall well-being (instead of the status quo of these systems being based on the desires and imaginations of the elites and oppressors);
• approaches to research and provision of care that collaborate with, uplift, and are accountable to oppressed peoples, communities, and social movements/organizers pursuing liberation and well-being (e.g., critical participatory action research; Fine & Torre, 2019);
• ending the use of societal resources for imperialist war, and instead supporting systems of care to promote well-being;
• continued support for and growth of liberation movements building collective power through intersectional solidarity and working both in the U.S. and transnationally to dismantle all systems of oppression in order to promote all forms of well-being: ableist ageist anti-Black capitalist colonial cisgenderist heterosexist imperialist patriarchal sizeist white supremacy must go!

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