A narrative exploration of the importance of intersectionality in a Black trans woman’s mental health experiences

Abstract

Background: The current United States presidential administration’s statements and policies have, in a shockingly short time, catastrophically affected people of color and LGBTQIA + communities. And although these numerous discriminatory policies and policy revisions have negatively affected both US people of color and LGBTQIA + people, trans women of color have been disproportionately affected. Even more specifically, when focusing on vulnerability to violence—including murder—it is Black trans women who are most directly affected by the intersections of transphobia and racism in the US. This article explores a Black trans woman’s experiences with mental health professionals across two decades and different regions of the US.

Aims: This article argues for the necessity of understanding trans people’s mental health experiences as necessarily intersectional, in order to more fully appreciate and address the degrees to which factors such as race, socioeconomic class, and geographic context matter in trans people’s efforts to access ethical and effective mental healthcare.

Methods: Using a theoretical framework informed by Kimberlé Crenshaw’s single-axis concept, the authors fully center Aryah’s intersectional experiences and counter a single-axis in exploring trans mental health issues, our article relies on a narrative-based approach. As narrative inquiry is a broad field, we selected Butler-Kisber’s narrative analytic approach, “Starting with the Story” as our method. The narratives are pulled from approximately 10 intensive qualitative interviews over the course of several months.

Discussion: These narratives disrupt the common threads in the literature that ignore the degrees to which race and class matter alongside being a trans woman. In addition, as we noted that nearly all of the mental health literature relied on large-scale survey-based data, this article offers a qualitative narrative exploration of Aryah’s experiences and works to humanize trans mental health challenges and needs, while emphasizing the multilayered oppressions and obstacles that affected Aryah.

Keywords:

• Class
• collaborative narrative
• intersectionality
• mental health
• qualitative research
• race
• trans people

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to report.

Notes

1 This acronym refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, and asexual or allied individuals, with the “+” indicating additional identities relative to sexualities and genders beyond the included letters.