In Case You Missed It: Rethinking Resilience for Black Women and Girls
When I wrote about our new cardiometabolic health framework this spring, it built on an earlier article that deserves its own spotlight.
In American Psychologist, Dr. Valerie Adams and I argue that praising Black women and girls as superwomen, endlessly strong and always resilient, is not a compliment. It is a burden. When resilience is treated as a personal character trait, it hides the conditions that demand it and excuses the systems that create those conditions.
For sustained, progressive, and healthy development to occur at every stage of life, interventionists should take a two-pronged approach to promoting resiliency that will (a) address the immediate psychosocial and physical needs of Black women and girls, which should co-occur with (b) addressing policies and social norms that allow Black women and girls to experience outsized adversity.
I joined the podcast, Black Women Leading with Laura Knights to expand on how society relies on Black women and girls' ability to withstand adversity rather than eliminate the adversity in the first place. This paper continues to shape my work, including my research on stress, the body, and health equity. If you teach, mentor, or care for Black women and girls, I hope you’ll read it and share it.
