Misogynoir in Victimology: How Gendered Racism Impacts the Experiences of Black Women and the Law

Misogynoir and Victimization

Victimology is a sub-field within criminology that explains how people become victims and how victimization can be experienced. Much like all other aspects of non-critical criminology it pretends to be race neutral or color-blind. This intentionality allows for non-white people not to be seen as potential victims or more closely associated with the victim-offender overlap. Which indicates that their victimization is more closely aligned with their likelihood to be or have been an offender. It does not take into consideration the way that Black women experience victimization or provide any explanation for mitigation other than victim blaming. During the enslavement of Africans, enslaved African women could be punished for their own rape if it resulted in the birth of a child (Kopelson, 2013). Whereas the white men who were responsible for fathering mixed-race children via rape were not looked down upon because they were rapists (Kopelson, 2013). According to Kopelson (2013), they were only looked down upon because laying with Africans was considered an abomination as it was considered “unclean”. Patriarchy allowed for the policing of enslaved women’s sexuality even when the sex was forcible. The ideology of enslaved African women not being able to make decisions about their own sexuality continues today. The perception that Black women are incapable of making discernible decisions about their bodies and sexual identities causes them to be unfairly objectified even today (see: Lori Harvey; Megan thee Stallion; and Chloe Bailey).

Black women are often forced to prove their victimization even when the obvious nature of their victimization is present. If we consider the allegations of Bill Cosby, Robert Kelly, Russell Simmons, and countless others who are alleged to have raped Black women many of those allegations remained uninvestigated because the victims were Black. The gendered racism that Black women experience is unique because it serves as a double marginalization rooted in anti-Blackness and misogyny (Bailey & Trudy, 2018). There is a direct causal relationship between chattel slavery of yesterday and the misogynoir that Black women experience today. The othering of Black women (Engram, 2021) in their experiences with victimization is emblematic of the existence of structural racism in the criminal justice system.