One size does not fit all: using variables other than the thin ideal to understand Black women's body image.

Very few empirical studies have investigated the effect that culturally relevant beauty ideals (such as long, straight hair and lighter skin tones) have on Black women's feelings about their physical appearance. The current investigation examined the direct effect of internalizing idealized media images on Black women's body esteem and appearance satisfaction. The indirect effects of: (a) the presumed influence of the media images on African American men, and (b) feelings of invisibility were also tested.

Gender and race matter: the importance of considering intersections in Black women's body image.

Traditionally, body image literature has used race as a variable to explain ethnic-specific differences in body satisfaction and the prevalence of eating disorders. Instead of employing race as an explanatory variable, the present study utilized a qualitative method to explore the relationships among race, ethnicity, culture, discrimination, and body image for African American and Black women. The purpose of the study was to gain a deeper understanding of how race and gender interface with and inform body image.

Racial dialogues and White trainee fears: Implications for education and training.

To assist educators in detecting the occurrence, understanding the dynamics, and effectively facilitating a difficult dialogue on race, we conducted a qualitative study to systematically examine the perceptions, interpretations, and reactions of 14 White trainees in counseling psychology graduate classes. In our focus groups, we identified 3 major domains: (a) global perspectives associated with race and racial dialogue, (b) specific reactions to racial disclosures, and (c) classroom strategies or conditions that proved helpful and unhelpful in facilitating dialogues. Participants appeared to have difficulty understanding how and why difficult dialogues on race occur.

Racial microaggressions and difficult dialogues on race in the classroom.

A qualitative study supports the observation that difficult dialogues on race and racism are often triggered by racial microaggressions that make their appearance in classroom encounters or educational activities and materials. Difficult dialogues are filled with strong powerful emotions that may prove problematic to both students and teachers. When poorly handled by teachers, difficult dialogues can assail the personal integrity of students of color while reinforcing biased worldviews of White students.

Racial microaggressions in everyday life: implications for clinical practice.

Racial microaggressions are brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color. Perpetrators of microaggressions are often unaware that they engage in such communications when they interact with racial/ethnic minorities. A taxonomy of racial microaggressions in everyday life was created through a review of the social psychological literature on aversive racism, from formulations regarding the manifestation and impact of everyday racism, and from reading numerous personal narratives of counselors (both White and those of color) on their racial/cultural awakening.