Understanding Toxic Oppression: An Anti-Racist Conceptualization of Toxic Masculinity in Black Men as a Gendered Trauma Response.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This dissertation utilized a Comprehensive Review and Analysis (CoRAL) of extent literature on conceptualizations of Black men. Utilizing principles from Intersectionality, Critical Race Theory, and Critical Psychology, this work applies an anti-racist framework in understanding toxic behaviors in Black men. Rather than toxicity stemming from “toxic masculinity”, this work theorizes toxicity exhibited by Black men as behavioral expressions of gendered racial trauma, with intersectional etiological roots in White supremacy and patriarchy. Given the intersectionality of race, we theorize that Black men cannot access the full spectrum of normative masculinity and thus cannot exhibit toxic masculinity. As such, we hypothesize that for Black men, despite patriarchal origins, “Toxic Oppression” or the effects stemming from the core belief that Blackness poses a threat to White masculinity, does not allow Black men access to any visage of influential power. The term ‘Toxic Oppression’ is proposed as: the compilation of incessant socially oppressive constructions that weaponize deficit models stemming from the intersection of patriarchal and White supremacist narratives, as a means of maintaining power through the devaluation of human life and gratuitous violence. This dissertation aims to increase empathy and effective treatment options for Black men who exhibit socially problematic behaviors, guiding the field in viewing this population from a trauma informed and thus survivor-sensitive culturally aware perspective. Implications and techniques for anti-oppressive work with Black men on presentations of "toxic oppression" are discussed.