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Into the night: A critical race feminist approach for understanding the off-campus experiences of Black undergraduate women in nightclubs

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Into the night: A critical race feminist approach for understanding the off-campus experiences of Black undergraduate women in nightclubs

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INTO THE NIGHT: A CRITICAL RACE FEMINIST APPROACH FOR UNDERSTANDING
THE OFF-CAMPUS EXPERIENCES OF BLACK UNDERGRADUATE WOMEN IN
NIGHTCLUBS
by

Sarah Toutant

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
URBAN EDUCATION POLICY

May 2022

Copyright 2022 Sarah Toutant

ii
DEDICATION
I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my father, Paul E. Toutant. He passed away six weeks
before I began my doctoral journey. Before he passed, his requests were that I take care of my
mom and finish school. Well, mom is doing great. As for finishing school…dad, we did it.
Thank you.

iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would first like to acknowledge my God. I would not be here without God and my angels. I am
grateful for the constant trials He has put me through because they taught me how powerful and
strong I am. I acknowledge His grace and the love and encouragement He has provided me
throughout my educational journey. Thank you for guiding me and being my anchor.

Mom—I am not sure how many phone calls you have received from me where I convinced
myself I could not complete the PhD. Each time, you listened to me, were patient with me and
told me you believed in me and you knew I would get it done. Without your encouraging words,
I would not be here. You are my best friend and the person I love most in this world. Thank you
for being there with me every single step of the way. I hope I made you proud. I love you.

Dad—Even though you are not here anymore, I still feel you with me in my darkest and hardest
of days. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you making me think going to college was even an
option. I miss you every day. Dad, we did it.

Renie, Christy, Jaden, and Soren—I love you all very much. Even though you had and probably
still do not know why I have been in school so long, you all have always rooted for me. That is
what family does. Thank you!

I would also like to thank my committee – Drs. Shaun Harper, Camille Rich, Julie Posselt, and
Kendrick Davis for your support and encouragement throughout this process. Thank you for
believing in my ideas and pushing me to think outside the box. I am so appreciative. To my
advisor, Dr. Shaun Harper, it has been a pleasure working with you the last four years. I
remember my first class with you as a Master’s student—crazy how quickly time passes. I
sincerely appreciate your love and support over the years. You never doubted me or my abilities.
Thank you!

I would also like to acknowledge my friends and community. There are so many of you, but I
would especially like to thank Tish, Taylor, Brittini, Gaelle, Dallas, Niarah, Saphia, Ashley,
Herlin, Alexis, Chiweta, Leslie, Nadia, Tara-Marie, Sharla, and Harrianna. All of you have
played an individual role in my PhD journey that I will forever be grateful for. Whether it be
taking the time to have deep and meaningful conversations letting me vent, texting me
motivational words, sending me funny memes and TikTok videos, or writing with me, I am so
grateful. Whether we speak every day or every month, please know, I am forever thankful for
your presence in my life.

To my therapist—I could not seriously complete my acknowledgements without shouting you
out. You’ll probably never see this, but I just have to say thank you. For the last four years, you
have witnessed and empowered me to grow. Your support during this process has meant so much
to me. It is mental health professionals like you, that make this world a better place.

To the Black community of USC Rossier PhD Students (Slaughterhouse), thank you for holding
it down since day 1. I look up to each and every one of you. You are all brilliant in your thinking

iv
and innovative in your ideas. All of you are so amazing and will do critical and meaningful work
for years to come; it’s been an honor to study alongside of you.

Laura and Alex—I can never thank you enough for your love and support over the years. Laura,
as a Masters student, you gave me my first assistantship in the PhD office. It was here, that I got
to learn more about the program and started to see myself as a future PhD student. I loved our
talks and all that I learned from you! Once a doctoral student, I have had the privilege and honor
to be guided and supported by both of you. Laura and Alex, I cannot tell you how much I and
other PhD students respect and value all the things you do for us. Thank you for making USC
feel like home the last 4+ years.

Aaron Jasper—Wherever life leads us, I hope you know you have played a significant role in me
being here. Through your constant reassurances, listening to me vent, and encouragement, I am
forever thankful for you. You never doubted me and most importantly, you pushed me. You saw
the vision before I did. Your faith in me never once wavered, and for that and all your emotional
support, thank you.

REC Family—Thank you for your constant support. Although the pandemic severely impacted
the physical time we got to spend together, I will always remember the many times one of you
simply stopped your work just to ask me how I was doing. Thank you.

Dr. Roz & Dr. Theo—I want to thank you for believing in me since you first met me. You made
the Center for Black Cultural and Student Affairs my second home. When I was nervous about
making the transition from a master’s student to PhD student, you all continuously reminded me
that I could do anything I set my mind to. Thank you.

Dr. J. Garrett-Walker—Thank you for your mentorship. I would not be here without you. I will
never forget how much time you spent helping me with my applications. Thank you so much.

Thank you to the 42 participants of this study. You all gave me life. You reminded me why this
study was so important and you also made me laugh with your many stories. I will continue to
make space for Black women in every room I step into.

Thank you to the USC Dean’s Research Grant for your financial support.

Roscoe—We all know this dissertation would not be possible without your emotional support.
You’re the best cat that a girl could ever ask for. I appreciate you laying in my lap for hours as I
wrote and for cuddling next to me when I had mental breakdowns. We made it!!

v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................ ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................. viii
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ ix
CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND, PURPOSE AND OVERVIEW OF STUDY ................................. 1
Statement of Problem .......................................................................................................................... 6
Purpose of the Study ........................................................................................................................... 8
Significance of Study .......................................................................................................................... 9
Key Concepts and Definitions ........................................................................................................... 11
Organization of the Dissertation ........................................................................................................ 13
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ........................................................ 15
Black Women in the Antebellum Era ................................................................................................ 15
Reconstruction .................................................................................................................................. 18
The Civil Rights Movement .............................................................................................................. 19
Present Day and Movement for Black Lives ...................................................................................... 21
Black Women in Higher Education ........................................................................................... 23
Representation in the Literature ......................................................................................................... 23
Diversity in Black Women’s Identities .............................................................................................. 25
Social Engagement............................................................................................................................ 28
Off-Campus Experiences .................................................................................................................. 30
In the Workplace ......................................................................................................................................... 31
Social Media Platforms ............................................................................................................................... 32
Public Accommodations .............................................................................................................................. 33
A Brief History of Nightclubs .................................................................................................... 34
Nightclubs as Discriminatory Spaces ................................................................................................. 35
Black Women’s Bodies in Nightclubs ............................................................................................... 37
Theorizing Black Women in Higher Education.......................................................................... 39
Critical Race Feminism ..................................................................................................................... 39
Critical Race Theory ......................................................................................................................... 40
Intersectionality ................................................................................................................................ 41
CRF in Higher Education ......................................................................................................... 43
Utilizing CRF ................................................................................................................................... 43
Black Feminist Thought ............................................................................................................ 47
Affordances of BFT .......................................................................................................................... 48

vi
Limitations of Critical Race Feminism and Black Feminist Thought .................................................. 50
Toward a Critical Race Feminism and Black Feminist Thought Conceptual Framework .......... 51
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY AND METHODS ......................................................... 54
Qualitative Inquiry ................................................................................................................... 54
Rationale for the Use of Qualitative Methods .................................................................................... 55
Methodological Approach: A CRF and BFT Phenomenological Approach ............................... 57
Data Collection Procedures ............................................................................................................... 58
Sampling & Recruitment ................................................................................................................... 58
Data Analysis Procedures ......................................................................................................... 64
Trustworthiness................................................................................................................................. 66
Member Checking ....................................................................................................................................... 66
Peer Debriefing ........................................................................................................................................... 67
Triangulation............................................................................................................................................... 68
Participants Feedback Forum ....................................................................................................................... 68
Limitations .................................................................................................................................................. 69
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS ......................................................................................................... 73
Motivations and Campus-Adjacent Nightlife ..................................................................................... 75
“Black Girls Deserve to Have Fun” ............................................................................................................. 76
“I’m Exploring My Identity” ....................................................................................................................... 77
“The Research Paper Can Wait” .................................................................................................................. 79
“White Fraternity Parties Ain’t It” ............................................................................................................... 80
“Where the Black Frats At” ......................................................................................................................... 83
Aesthetic Judgment ........................................................................................................................... 85
“My Body is Not Up for Judgement Now or Ever”....................................................................................... 85
“The Guest List is the Paper Bag Test” ........................................................................................................ 88
“It’s Literally Just Hair” .............................................................................................................................. 91
“Can We Talk About Fatphobia Though” .................................................................................................... 94
Misogynoir ....................................................................................................................................... 96
“Misogynists on and Off-campus” ............................................................................................................... 97
“There is History Behind All This” .............................................................................................................. 99
“You’re Not Seeing Me as Someone Who Can Be Hurt or Harmed” .......................................................... 101
“Black Women Should Own Clubs” .......................................................................................................... 102
Safety ............................................................................................................................................. 104
“College Taught Me I’m Not Safe” ............................................................................................................ 104
“Try Me If You Want To” ......................................................................................................................... 106
“We Move in Groups” ............................................................................................................................... 107
“I Swear Men Should Not Own Clubs” ...................................................................................................... 109
Rejection and Acceptance ............................................................................................................... 111
“Black Girls at PWIs” ............................................................................................................................... 111
“I’m Not Sending Pictures to Get into A Club” .......................................................................................... 112
“Promoters Are the Worst but It’s About Who You Know” ........................................................................ 114
“I Think This Happens Everywhere” ......................................................................................................... 115
Appropriation ................................................................................................................................. 117
“It’s the Hip Hop for Me” .......................................................................................................................... 118
“Everybody Wants to Be Us but Nobody Wants to Be Us” ......................................................................... 119

vii
“The BBL Effect” ..................................................................................................................................... 121
“Black Girls Are Trendsetters” .................................................................................................................. 122
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS ......... 125
Summary of the Study ..................................................................................................................... 125
Discussion ...................................................................................................................................... 134
Conclusions .................................................................................................................................... 143
Implications for Practice and Research ............................................................................................ 144
Implications for Practice ............................................................................................................................ 145
Implications for Research .......................................................................................................................... 146
Closing ........................................................................................................................................... 149
References .............................................................................................................................. 151
Appendix A: Phenomenological Study Interview Protocol (Semi-Structured) .......................... 174
Appendix B: Study Participant Consent Form for Exempt Research ........................................ 176

viii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................. 53
Figure 2. Participants Table ..................................................................................................... 61

ix
ABSTRACT

The problem addressed in this study is that scholars have underexplored Black women’s off-
campus lives. In fact, higher education research remains limited in its understanding of how all
students experience the off-campus arena. Extant literature has investigated the experiences of
Black women in higher education through mentorship (Griffin et al., 2010), retention through
student organizations (Croom et al., 2017), racialized and gendered microaggressions
(Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000), and the overall racial campus climate for Black women on
college and university campuses (Patton & Croom, 2017). As the literature demonstrates,
broader societal issues of gendered anti-Black racism, classism, and other forms of oppression
impact the campus experiences of Black women. However, there is currently a dearth of
academic literature regarding Black collegian women’s off-campus experiences. In this
dissertation, qualitative research methods were employed to conduct a phenomenological study
using nightclubs as an empirical space of investigation to create an empirical nexus between
Black women’s experiences with higher education and their external environment. A total of 42
semi-structured individual interviews with Black women currently enrolled or recently graduated
from a college or university were conducted. Findings indicated that Black undergraduate
women navigate safety concerns, identity politics, and misogynoir in their off-campus
environments. Implications for future research and recommendations for improving Black
undergraduate women’s off-campus experiences are discussed in the concluding chapter.

1
CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND, PURPOSE AND OVERVIEW OF STUDY

“I am a Black Feminist. I mean I recognize that my power as well as my primary
oppressions come as a result of my Blackness as well as my womaness, and therefore my
struggles on both of these fronts are inseparable” (Lorde, 1985).

A series of recent events have reinforced the reality that Black women in America continue
to be targets of state-sanctioned, white supremacist violence. On March 13, 2020, 26-year-old
Black woman, Breonna Taylor, was fatally shot by police in Louisville, Kentucky when they
forced entry into her apartment. When Kentucky’s attorney general revealed that the police
responsible for murdering Breonna Taylor would not be prosecuted, it served as a reminder that
Black women’s lives in this country have never been valued or protected.
Breonna Taylor’s story is but one example of the gross mistreatment of Black women in
America. Almost six years later, now in 2021, we are still meant to believe that Black woman
activist, Sandra Bland, killed herself in a jail cell after being arrested for failing to turn on her
turning signal. In 2015, a young Black woman, Bree Newsome, climbed a flagpole at the South
Carolina State Capitol and took down a confederate flag. She did this ten days after a white
supremacist killed eight Black parishioners and their pastor at Emanuel African Methodist
Episcopal Church in Charleston. She knew she would be arrested. Police officers attempted to
get her down from the flagpole by threatening to tase the flagpole she was climbing.
It is important to note that violence against Black women is not always so visibly apparent.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that there are 64,000 – 75,000
missing Black women and girls across the nation. All of these stories do not represent a fraction
of the continued violence perpetuated against Black women. Although some of these stories
made national news and perhaps even sparked necessary conversations, Black women continue
to be neglected, undervalued, and unprotected. This violence against Black women illustrates

2
how the public lacks empathy, care, and concern for the injustices perpetuated against Black
women. As Patton and Njoku (2019) explain,
The mere existence of Black women – whether in the minds of their own communities or
beyond – conjures up enduring tropes that impact how they are treated. Black women
need not utter a word before being subjected to stereotypes and misconceptions, which
result in chronic forms of marginalization that strip them of their humanity. Such a
process makes possible the normalization of Black women’s invisibility, despite their
physical presence, and provides an avenue through which they are easily susceptible to
multiple forms of violence (p. 1163).

This country’s refusal to protect Black women has created an environment where
marginalization occurs everywhere, even in spaces of learning; Black women continue to battle
with racialized and gendered experiences in intellectual spaces such as colleges and universities.
As a Black woman in the academy, I have experienced countless covert and overt acts of
violence against me—not only in higher education—but in this society writ large.
When I was a sophomore at the University of San Francisco (USF) in 2014, a Black
woman undergraduate student had a racial slur written on her dormitory door by two white
students (Ward & McCown, 2016). These white women were upset that she was wearing the
Black Student Union’s (BSU) “I Love Black People,” sweatshirt arguing that they would be
perceived differently had they worn an “I Love white People” sweatshirt. To their point, they
most likely would have been perceived differently. Yet, Black students knew our Blackness was
not celebrated in our society, so we created those sweatshirts to uplift and validate our identities.
At no point did we think one of our own would be targeted at a university that is known for its
Jesuit mission and commitment to social justice for all.
When Black students, including myself were made aware of what happened, we quickly
launched into action and hosted a town hall. The President of the university attended along with
faculty, staff, administrators and students. Faculty and students, in particular, pushed the

3
residence hall director and staff members to be transparent about the specific slur. However,
residential staff insisted it was too inappropriate to share with everyone. In response, Black
faculty made clear that the USF Black community, especially students, deserved transparency—
they deserved to know what they were up against. The room went quiet. A residential hall
director stated, “The racial slur written on the student’s door was, ‘stupid Black bitch.’” This
moment forever changed me. Not only did I switch from a psychology major to double major in
Sociology and Critical Diversity Studies, but I went to work, as Black women do.
The University’s lack of response and attempt to cover up this gendered anti-Black racist
incident, reaffirmed to me that racism permeates every institution, even within spaces that are
supposed to be safe for all students. One might assume that such prestigious institutions are
combatting discriminatory and inequitable issues plaguing Black people and other people of
color in America. The problem, however, is that they are just as responsible for perpetuating
institutionalized racism as they allow their campuses to function as harmful sites for racially
minoritized students. Black women in particular navigate the intersections of anti-Black racism
and gendered experiences in their classrooms, among peers, and with faculty, staff and
administrators (Croom et al., 2017; Evans-Winters & Esposito, 2010; Patton & Croom, 2017).
As a Black woman scholar-activist, my multidimensional identity has rendered me
vulnerable to countless materializations of patriarchy, misogynoir, and racial violence. These
compounding elements of oppression manifest in various facets of my life (i.e., interactions with
the police, racism on campus, daily microaggressions, etc.), but it is most evident in my
experiences with nightlife. In September of 2019, I experienced a racist, gendered, and body
shaming experience in a popular nightclub in Hollywood, California. I shared my experience on
Twitter, stating that “LA Club culture hates Black women, unless our aesthetic is on non Black

4
women who have enhanced their bodies to look like ours. I didn’t get in with my Latina friend
because the promoters said I didn’t look a ‘certain way’.” Over 1,400,000 people viewed the
tweet, and messages poured in from Black women across the United States and the United
Kingdom sharing their similar negative experiences, while also affirming mine. The influx of
support elucidated how my experiences were far less isolated than I initially imagined.
In response, I conducted an exploratory study where I surveyed 97 Black women—
both students and non-students. There was an urgency in their responses that revealed how Black
women need space to digest and process what appears to be an international issue. As
participants reflected on obtaining access to nightclubs and their overall treatment in this
particular social environment, many shared instances of colorism
1
, misogynoir, aesthetic
judgment
2
, and rejection.
To narrow my analytical scope to the field of higher education, I hosted an on-campus event
at the University of Southern California (USC) where over seventy Black collegians, men and
women, joined me in a conversation about Black students’ nightlife culture. The Black women
shared experiences that aligned with what I found in my exploratory study, and the Black men
discussed witnessing these events and sought ways to fight against this phenomenon. This
preliminary study helped provide foundational evidence for how Black collegian women’s social
experiences—both on and off-campus—are demarcated off-campus by an array of subjugating
factors. However, there is still a need for a more in-depth analysis concerning how Black
collegian women experience their intersecting identities in off-campus spaces such as nightclubs.

1
Colorism “is a process that privileges light-skinned people of color over dark in areas such as income, education,
housing, and the marriage market” (Hunter, 2007, p. 237).
2
I use the term “aesthetic judgment” to refer to how Black women’s bodies were subjected to phenotypic evaluation
of their skin color, hairstyle, and body shape.

5
Much of the discourse surrounding Black undergraduate
3
women describe them as generally
successful in postsecondary contexts. For example, a commonly referenced statistic is that Black
women have represented two thirds of Black bachelor’s degree recipients for the past two
decades (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012), suggesting that Black women require
no additional support. These narratives insinuate that Black women’s experiences must not be
inequitable given their outstanding graduation rates. However, these narratives are also harmful
as they fail to acknowledge Black women’s experiences with racism, white supremacy, gender,
intersectionality, and misogynoir both on and off-campus (Patton & Croom, 2017).
Intersectionality, coined by legal scholar, Kimberlé Crenshaw, is an analytic concept
grounded in Black feminist and critical race theories to illustrate the economic, political and
social worlds women of color navigate. Further, misogyny refers to a form of sexism defined as
the hatred of women, but queer Black feminist scholars Moya Bailey and Trudy coined the term
“misogynoir,” blending both concepts of “misogyny” and “noir,” which means Black in French
(Bailey & Trudy, 2018). Bailey and Trudy (2018) insisted that Black women, in particular,
experience anti-Black racist misogyny specific only to that of the Black woman. Research
investigating the experiences of Black women is necessary because they “have to contend with
the socially constructed, negative images of Black womanhood that deem all Black women—
regardless of their education, status, or position—as inferior, subservient, hostile, domineering,
hypersexual or overly masculine” (Jones, Wilder, & Osborne-Lampkin, 2013, p. 327).
Black women are often left out of larger conversations of systemic racism and oppression
as their experiences are dismissed or pushed to the side, their stories grossly ignored. Thus, in

3
The term undergraduate refers to any student enrolled in a four-year public or private college or university.
Throughout this paper I use it as a descriptor (e.g. Black undergraduate women). I also use Black undergraduate
women interchangeably with Black collegian women.

6
this dissertation study, I considered the ways in which Black women enrolled in colleges and
universities experience their off-campus lives. I focused specifically on how they experience
nightlife, a common space for college students to engage in social activities. I particularly
focused on nightclubs because they are (1) increasingly reported as racist and sexist spaces, (2)
the relationship between frequented off-campus nightlife venues and college students remains
underexplored, and (3) narrowing in on one specific off-campus space allows for a more in-depth
study exploration. This chapter includes a statement of the problem that is addressed, the
purpose and significance of the study, and the definition of key terms and concepts essential to
the study. Lastly, I conclude this chapter with an overview of the organization of my dissertation.
Statement of Problem
The problem addressed in this study is that scholars have underexplored Black women’s
off-campus lives. In fact, higher education research remains limited in its understanding of how
all students experience off-campus contexts. Given the dearth in literature on off-campus spaces,
this study is committed to filling that gap in the literature.
Extant literature has investigated the experiences of Black women in higher education
through mentorship (Grant, 2012; Griffin et al., 2010; Patton, 2009; Patton & Harper, 2003), the
connection between retention and student organizations (Allen, 2019; Croom et al., 2017),
racialized and gendered microaggressions (McCabe, 2009; Morales, 2014; Solórzano, Ceja, &
Yosso, 2000), and the overall racial campus climate for Black women on college and university
campuses (Patton & Njoku, 2019; Patton & Croom, 2017; Schwartz et al., 2003; Solórzano &
Villalpando, 1998). Other research has explored Black undergraduate women’s racialized and
gendered experiences in STEM (Dortch & Patel 2017), processes of their identity development
(Porter & Dean, 2015), and their academic engagement at Historically Black Colleges and

7
Universities (HBCUs) (Freeman, 2002; Harper et al., 2004). As the literature demonstrates,
broader societal issues of gendered anti-Black racism, classism, and other forms of oppression
impact the campus experiences of Black women. Yet, there is currently a dearth of academic
literature regarding Black collegian women’s off-campus experiences. To investigate the
cumulative effect of on/off-campus marginalization on their overall experiences, future research
is needed to resist the “epistemic violence enacted to silence, marginalize, and dehumanize Black
women” (Patton & Croom, 2017, p. 1).
Higher education researchers have demonstrated the importance of college students
engaging in social experiences (Astin, 1993; Croom et al., 2017; Rendón & Muñoz, 2011).
Students benefit from partaking in social activities outside of their academic responsibilities as it
cultivates satisfaction with the college experience, increases campus and community
involvement, establishes strong peer networks, and enhances intellectual development (Astin,
1993; Hu, 2011). Common spaces for college and university students to engage in recreation are
nightlife
4
venues like nightclubs (Grazian, 2007, Reingle et al., 2009). It is not uncommon for
some of these venues to partner with campus student organizations to host events to promote
community and social engagement. However, these nightclubs are increasingly being exposed as
racist spaces (Grazian, 2008; May, 2014; May & Chaplin, 2008). For example, May and Chaplin
(2007) found that an urban nightclub in Athens, Georgia disproportionality rejects Black men
from their venues. This rejection is in part due to Black men violating racist and classist
subjective dress codes that target how they dress (e.g. a Black man is perceived more favorably

4
The terms “nightlife” and “nightclubs” are used interchangeably. Notably, I at times use “nightlife” as a broader
term. Importantly, nightclubs are defined as perceived public spaces, but often privately owned. They operate in
mostly urban locations. Nightclubs are “semi-public spaces where access is granted to anonymous individuals who
demonstrate the willingness to comply to formal or informal rules for access” (May, 2007, p. 58).

8
when wearing a collared shirt as opposed to a t-shirt, or slacks as opposed to jeans) (May &
Chaplin, 2007).
These studies reveal the importance of creating an empirical nexus between Black
women’s experiences with higher education and their external environment. This dissertation
focuses on understanding how Black undergraduate women experience their external
environments, using nightclubs as an empirical space for investigation. Although the focus is
college women, this study is more so concerned more about the encounters Black collegian
women had during the time they were in college whilst engaging in their off-campus
environment. More specifically, my study highlights the racialized and gendered factors that
affect this population in order to shift higher education’s limited scope of Black women’s
realities.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the current study is to discover and examine how Black undergraduate
women experience their off-campus lives using nightlife as a space for empirical investigation.
To clarify, this study is less concerned about college women broadly, and more concerned with
the off-campus encounters Black collegian women had during the time they were in college. This
dissertation also focuses on the nightlife industry’s history of racism and sexism that is slowly
being exposed to the public through patrons sharing their experiences on social media and even
to local news stations (Ryder, 2020). Further, the current study is a response to calls by women
of color researchers in higher education to continuously center Black women collegians in
research inquiries (Patton and Njoku, 2019), understand the multiple spaces Black women
students traverse (Patton & Ward, 2016), and make meaningful contributions to the dearth in
literature on Black undergraduate women (Patton & Croom, 2017). Thus, the findings of this

9
study not only center an overlooked and understudied population in new ways, but they also
offer valuable insight into the role of external environments and how they shape student’s
experiences—a topic higher education researchers have not extensively explored (Stokes, 2020).
This study will also enable readers to understand how the off-campus arena is
increasingly important in higher education empirical research. Some students are involved in on-
campus activities, live on campus, and participate in various organizations and athletics. This has
limited higher education research’s scope of conceptualizing the “on-campus” space and the
“off-campus” space. For example, one could argue that fraternity and sororities built close to
campus are considered a part of the campus community or they might be considered part of the
off-campus community; this also emerged in this study’s findings. Regardless, it shows that
students’ experiences are not limited to the classroom, the quad area, the student union, a library,
or the gym. Hence, the purpose of this study is to expand how higher education professionals
think about external environments and their effects on students, particularly Black women.
Since nightclubs operate as potential off-campus spaces students engage with, the
primary research question guiding this study is the following: (1) How do Black undergraduate
women in colleges and universities navigate their off-campus experiences in nightclubs? In
addition, I explore a supplementary and related question: (2) How do Black undergraduate
women characterize nightlife culture, specifically their racialized and gendered encounters with
nightclubs?” These questions are designed to capture the lived experiences of participants and
their relationship with their external environments.
Significance of Study
Most college and university faculty, staff, and administrators remain unaware of the racial
and gendered challenges that Black undergraduate women face on campus, let alone off-campus

10
(Patton & Njoku, 2019). Consequently, the specific needs of Black women students are not
acknowledged or prioritized. This is in part due to the historically complex relationship between
invisibility and hypervisibility that Black women face in society, which manifests on college and
university campuses. As a result, Black collegian women’s needs have gone ignored, leaving
them responsible for creating their own networks of support.
While the work of critical higher education scholars has most certainly advanced our
understanding of Black undergraduate women in higher education (Commodore et al., 2018;
Evans-Winters & Esposito, 2010; Haynes et al., 2020; Patton & Croom 2017), existing
knowledge of how these students navigate their off-campus experiences is extremely limited.
This, in large part, is due to Black women scholars’ efforts to center Black women students in
research. Although some key studies on the experiences of Black women in higher education
were published relatively recently (Patton, Crenshaw, Haynes, & Watson, 2016; Patton &
Croom, 2017), there is now an opportunity for research to begin to fill in the gaps in innovative
ways.
Further, a concentrated analysis should be devoted to exploring how Black women’s external
environments serve as a compounding element of oppression, which can expand higher
education researchers’ limited view of Black women student experiences. Researchers have
worked tirelessly to represent Black women students in the literature. Their work has allowed for
the next generation of researchers to investigate even deeper the nuances and complexities of
Blackness and womanness outside the confines of a college or university campus. Moreover, this
study has the potential to encourage higher education researchers to consider the off-campus
arena not only for Black students but for other historically marginalized populations.

11
Key Concepts and Definitions
Before delving into the review of related literature in this study, it is critical to define key
concepts and definitions I repeatedly use throughout this dissertation. The following concepts,
definitions, ideas, and terms are all used in specific, meaningful, and intentional ways as
terminology and rhetoric are of utmost importance.
Aesthetic Judgement—I use the term “aesthetic judgment” to refer to how Black
women’s bodies were subjected to phenotypic evaluation of their skin color, hairstyle, and body
shape from slavery to contemporary times.
Black or African American—I use these terms to refer to the United States born people of
African descent. This term does not include African people, Caribbean-Americans, or other
international students, as their college and university experiences differ from their U.S.-born
peers (Griffin & McIntosh, 2015).
Colorism—Related to aesthetic judgment, Colorism “is a process that privileges light-
skinned people of color over dark in areas such as income, education, housing, and the marriage
market” (Hunter, 2007, p. 237).
Eurocentric Beauty Standards—I use this concept to describe the standards of beauty
dictated to others through cultural traditions, media, fashion trends, and almost anywhere.
Eurocentric beauty standards are ideals rooted in whiteness that validate women’s beauty by
expecting them to have slim bodies, lighter skin, and straight hair.
External Environments, Off-Campus—I use these words interchangeably to describe the
physical location of spaces outside the confines of college and university life. In other words,
Nightlife or Nightclubs—I use the terms “nightlife” and “nightclubs” interchangeably.
Notably, I at times use “nightlife” as a broader term. Importantly, nightclubs are defined as

12
perceived public spaces, but often privately owned. They operate in most urban locations.
Nightclubs are “semi-public spaces where access is granted to anonymous individuals who
demonstrate the willingness to comply to formal or informal rules for access” (May, 2007, p.
58).
Intersectionality—I use this term frequently, especially when discussing the intersections
of race and gender. Coined by a legal scholar, Kimberlé Crenshaw, intersectionality is an
analytic concept grounded in Black feminist and critical race theories to illustrate how “women
of color are differently situated in economic, social, and political worlds,” through the three
dimensions of intersectionality: structural, political, and representational (Crenshaw, 1990, p.
1250).
Misogynoir—Misogyny refers to a form of sexism defined as the hatred of women, and
misogynoir blends both concepts of “misogyny” and “noir,” which means Black in French
(Bailey & Trudy, 2018). Bailey and Trudy (2018) insisted that Black women experience anti-
Black racist misogyny specific only to Black women.
Racism—The United States is a system that provides privileged advantages to white
people, and racially minoritized are left to fight against the social construction of race and how it
disadvantages them. Racism is concerned with the system of racist behaviors and attitudes
perpetrated against people of color. Racism also disproportionally grants white people access to
resources that people of color do not have (DeGruy, 2005). In the context of nightclubs, racism,
aesthetic Judgement, and misogynoir work together to deny some Black women access to public
accommodations based on their skin color, body type, hairstyle, and more.
Women—I use this term to refer to adult people who identify as a woman, regardless of
their physical attributes (e.g., ovaries, eggs, genitalia). This term refers to any woman who

13
identifies as such, including women who do not ascribe to feminine ways of expressing
themselves, lesbian and queer women, trans women, and femme women who identify on the
feminine end of the gender spectrum.
Women of Color—At times, I use this term to refer to the combination of Black/African
American, Asian American, South Asian, and Latinx women. I also recognize the power in this
term as it brings women of color from all unique experiences and perspectives together in
solidarity. At the same time, I honor each group’s own particular experiences, realities, and
traditions, making it especially important to disaggregate between the groups when necessary.
When I use this term, I caution readers not to view these women as monolithic.
Organization of the Dissertation
Chapter Two of this dissertation contains an interdisciplinary review of the literature. I
integrate scholarship from sociology, African American Studies, and gender and sexuality
studies to provide an interdisciplinary perspective and argument for developing higher education
literature on Black collegian women’s off-campus experiences. First, I explore literature
pertaining to Black women in the U.S. considering historical and contemporary contexts. This
historical overview is followed by a section that discusses their experiences as students on
college and university campuses. Following the review of literature, I utilize a Critical Race
Feminism (CRF) and Black Feminist Thought (BFT) conceptual framework to study the
interlocking systems of oppression Black undergraduate women endure. Chapter Three contains
methodology, sample selection, and data collection and analysis procedures used throughout the
study. In Chapter Four, I present an overview of the findings that emerged from the data
analyses. Finally, in Chapter 5, I summarize the study, provide a discussion of the findings in the

14
context of existing empirical research, and detail recommendations for policy, practice, and
future research.

15
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In this chapter, I provide an elaboration and synthesis of published literature related to the
racialized and gendered experiences of Black women in the United States. I provide a brief
overview of the institution of slavery, Reconstruction, the Civil Rights movement, and the
Movement for Black Lives (#BlackLivesMatter) to help delineate the sociopolitical, economic,
and social positionality of Black women within historical and contemporary contexts. Next, I
position Black women in the context of higher education where I discuss their on-campus
experiences with race and gender. I then transition to focus on the nexus between on and off-
campus experiences by using nightclubs as an empirical space, where I provide a synopsis of this
industry. Lastly, I present the theories used to inform my dissertation.
Black Women in the Antebellum Era
To engage in research about Black women, it is imperative to consider the historical
catalysts that influence their contemporary experiences. Dragged out of their homes, ripped of
their mother tongues and stripped of their culture, Black women have endured a long history of
violence and oppression since the early 16
th
century (Berry & Gross, 2020; Stevenson, 1996). In
the context of the U.S., Black women’s history began with the horrible legacy of chattel slavery
(Berry & Gross, 2020; Leary & Robinson, 2005). When African women were aboard the slave
ships, the slaveowner’s job was to break the prideful and independent spirit of African women so
they would conform to white
5
colonizers’ desires for a “docile” slave demeanor (hooks, 2015).

5
As can be seen, I purposely capitalize the “B” in “Black” when referencing Black women or Black people more
broadly. I also lowercase the “w” in “white.” This, too, is purposeful. In such practice, I borrow from Dumas (2016).
He states, “Black is understood as a self-determined name of a racialized social group that shares specific histories,
cultural processes…Black is a synonym of African American and replaces previous terms like Negro and Colored,
which were also capitalized…[further,] white is not capitalized in [Dumas’s] work because it is nothing but a social
construct, and does not describe a group with a sense of common experiences or kinship outside of acts of
colonization an terror” (p. Dumas, 2006, p. 12-13).

16
Further, slaveowners’ exploitation of women’s sexuality was one of the most significant factors
differentiating the experiences of Black men and women (Jennings, 1990; Harris, 1993).
Enslaved women were sexually abused by their slaveowners to produce more slaves who would
be sold for profit. Slave owners also did this to assert their power and discourage misconduct
(Steckel, 1996). Some slaveowners used enslaved women as sexual favors to pay off their debts
(Kerber, Kessler-Harris, Sklar, & Painter, 1995). These sinister acts demonstrated how patriarchy
and capitalism reinforced one another as Black women’s bodies were commodified for the
pleasure of men (Jones, 1982). If women fought back or resisted sexual abuse, they were met
with brutal and sometimes fatal repercussions.
Their bodies were used as sources of reproduction to uphold patriarchal and capitalistic
structures (Cody, 1996). To further elucidate how racial capitalism manifested in the experiences
of Black women, it is critical to discuss Harris’s (1993) Whiteness as Property. In her seminal
work, Harris (1993) posits that although whiteness was initially a socially constructed identity, it
evolved into a form of property protected by American law. Through a historical investigation of
Black and Native American peoples positioning in systems of oppression, Harris (1993) explains
how whiteness is a racialized privilege and status that provides protection and societal benefits to
white people. Harris (1993) also provides an analysis of Black women’s bodies as commodified
modes of production used to increase property; the Virginia colonial assembly dictated that the
blood of the mother determined whether a child would be free or a slave. This protected white
men under law to rape Black women to breed more slaves. Consequently, the racialized
commodification of Black women’s bodies incentivized white men to engage in more violence
against Black women since it came with economic benefits (i.e. created more property by
producing Black children).

17
Black enslaved women were considered hypersexual, “innately lustful beings,” which
made them both the object of white men’s abhorrence and their sexual fantasies (Jennings,
1990). They were stereotyped as mammy’s and jezebels to purposefully define a Black woman’s
‘place’ (Edwards, 1991). The term “mammy” is a historical stereotypical image of Black women
that emerged from the Antebellum South during slavery. A “mammy” refers to a:
motherly, self-sacrificing Black woman servant who is responsible for domestic duties
and taking care of those around her. [They] were characterized as loyal, faithful, and
obedient servants who were the main caretakers of the [slaveowner] and his family…Her
image was used to portray Blacks as being content with slavery, thereby justifying its
institution (Reynolds-Dobbs et al., 2008, p. 136-137).

The term “jezebel,” was another prominent archetype of Black women during slavery and
beyond. Jezebels were usually Black women with “thin lips, long straight hair, slender nose, thin
figure and fair complexion” (Jewell, 1993. p. 46). Further, “The image of Black women as the
seductresses was used to rationalize the sexual relationships between White men and Black
women… [Black women were] depicted as [women] with an insatiable appetite for sex…”
(Reynolds-Dobbs et al., 2008, p. 137). The jezebel caricature emphasizes the anti-Black
patriarchal ideal that Black women are hypersexual, therefore even when white men enact sexual
violence against them, Black women are somehow still at fault for their abusers’ actions.
These images were extremely harmful as they associated “Black women with sexuality
and labor, in contrast to whites’ notions of virtuous womanhood and domesticity for white
women” (Zipf, 2000, p. 12). During slavery, Black women not only had to bear children and
cope with sexual abuse, but they also had to maintain the domestic work that was assigned to
them as cooks and housekeepers (hooks, 2015; Jones, 1982). These depictions of Black women
had detrimental impacts for centuries. As Collins (2002) discussed, the institution of slavery

18
shaped the relationships that women of African descent had within their families, communities,
workplaces and even with each other.
Reconstruction
Once the Civil War ended and the 13
th
Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting
slavery was ratified, the era of Reconstruction began in 1865 and lasted until 1877 (Robertson,
1996). Reconstruction was when former Confederate states were brought back into the United
States. During this time, the South split into military districts for elections to be supervised while
new state governments were created (Robertson, 1996). As historians have documented, Black
people during Reconstruction continued to face racism and violence (Sweeney, 2020; Zipf,
2000). Black women also navigated the precarious nature of womanhood during this time
(Gatewood, 1991). Not only did they grapple with what it meant to be Black in America but they
also faced a certain ambiguity of their former status as enslaved women (Robertson, 1996). As
Zipf (2000) explains, the term “womanhood,” was reserved by white society for white women.
Past historians maintained that free Black women’s “womanhood was tied to their labor. Racial
and sexual assumptions created a sexually discriminatory environment for Black [women], who
often responded by withdrawing into the domestic arena to attend to the lives of their families”
(Zipf, 2000, p. 10). However, over the years, literature suggests that Black women did not solely
take on domestic roles. Rather, Black women responded to racist, gendered and class oppression
through reconstructing “womanhood” by shaping the public and political sphere through their
leadership roles in churches, workplaces and political rallies (Brown, 1992; Schwalm, 1997).
Historians argue that Black women resisted their abusive hypersexualization as well as white
patriarchal traditional expectations of women.

19
Reconstruction proved a challenging time for Black women as they operated in “legal
limbo” (Zipf, 2000). Explicitly, society was too concerned with the rights of free men that Black
women remained altogether excluded from legal discussions of rights, privileges and freedoms
(Gatewood, 1991). During this time, Black women fought for custody rights over their children
and pushed to redefine what being a “free woman” meant, which singlehandedly challenged
political philosophies of the nineteenth century (Edwards, 1991; Fleming, 1975; Gatewood,
1991; Zipf, 2000). Further, Zipf (2000) found that single Black women “rejected the political and
social conventions of the day that reserved the status of independent household head to men. In
the process, they redefined the term “free woman” to include themselves (Robertson, 1996;
Schwalm, 1997). Despite their lack of legal protections and freedoms, during Reconstruction,
Black women actively rejected confinement to domesticity and dependency (Brown, 1992;
Schwalm, 1997; Edwards, 1991). They paved the way and influenced what would become Black
feminism.
The Civil Rights Movement
After Reconstruction ended, Black Americans were confronted with “Jim Crow” laws
starting in 1896, which barred Black people from equal access to public facilities (McGuire,
2010). In 1955, a Black woman, Rosa Parks, challenged these laws as she refused to give up her
seat on a public bus to a white man. Although this prompted her arrest, her courageous act served
as the initial momentum to the historic Civil Rights Movement (McGuire, 2010). She served as
one of the only representations of Black women activists of the time despite the active role Black
women played in the movement (Barnett, 1993). In their study using archival data and 36
personal interviews with civil rights leaders, Barnett (1993) found that there were many Southern
Black women heroes rendered invisible in public discourse and educational contexts (e.g.

20
Septima Poinsette Clark, McCree Harris, Shirley Sherrod, Diane Nash, Johnnie Carr, Thelma
Glass, Georgia Gilmore, and JoAnn Robinson). These leaders were especially valiant given the
sociopolitical environment of the South, a region characterized by a “dangerous climate of
legalized bigotry, labor exploitation, sexual assault and insult, and institutionalized violence and
intimidation” (Barnett, 1993, p. 163). These Black women leaders performed “roles comparable
to those of Black male leaders,” and they were “often the ones who initiated protests, formulated
strategies and tactics, and mobilized other resources (especially money, personnel, and
communication networks necessary for successful collective action)” (Barnett, 1993, p. 163).
McGuire (2010) describes how Black women reclaimed their bodies and humanity by
telling their stories of sexual assaults, bigotry and hate through testifying locally and nationally
in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) reports. Black
women across all backgrounds—school teachers, college professors, students, beauticians,
sharecroppers, domestic and service workers, and more—were united against oppression
(Barnett, 1993). Whether they were in the courtroom, churches, congressional hearings,
voluntary associations, their homes, political organizations, women’s clubs, college campus
organizations, or work groups, Black women set the blueprint for future movements to utilize the
power of testimony and protest to demand justice for human dignity (Barnett, 1993; McGuire,
2010). Further, renowned political activist Malcolm X (1962) once stated:
The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman; the most unprotected
person in America is the Black woman; the most neglected person in America is the
Black woman.

Although powerful and true, this popular quote arguably remains the most public recognition of
Black women during the Civil Rights Movement, and yet it was through a man’s voice. This
exemplifies how Black women’s voices were not amplified to reflect the valuable leadership

21
roles they occupied. To be clear, Black women’s onto-epistemological
6
invisibility was not due
to their lack of participation in activism; rather, it was a byproduct of gender, class and racial
biases in social movement scholarship and politics (Barnett, 1993; Crawford, Rouse, Woods, &
Butler, 1993).
Present Day and Movement for Black Lives
In Black feminist movements in the 1970s, the slogan, “the personal is political,” served
as a rallying cry as they engaged in radical revolutionary politics (Taylor, 2017, p. 19). Although
the slogan was popularly understood in reference to “lifestyle” issues, in this context, it conveyed
how Black women’s experiences shaped their political outlook (Taylor, 2017). Today, this
slogan remains true as Black women continue to fight at the frontlines of global uprisings to
combat anti-Black racism and state-sanctioned violence against Black people across the country,
which prompted the Movement for Black Lives, popularly known as the #BlackLivesMatter
Movement (Garza, 2014; Patton, 2019). An ideological and political intervention,
#BlackLivesMatter is a movement created by three queer Black women, Alicia Garza, Patrisse
Cullors and Opal Tometi in response to the continued anti-Black racism in our society (Garza,
2014).
This movement has proved extremely powerful and has even been referred to as “the new
Civil Rights Movement,” (Freelon, McIlwain, & Clark, 2016). Yet, the queer Black women who
created it are oftentimes not recognized and are victims of onto-epistemological theft (Garza,
2014). Garza (2014) explained the co-founders’ work has been co-opted and stolen by huge
media outlets and corporations without crediting the creators. Garza (2014) stated:

6
Ontology refers to “beliefs about reality, existence, and notions of truth and being” (Pérez & Saavedrap, 2017, p.
3). Epistemology is defined as “what can be known, and the relationship between the knower and the known” (Pérez
& Saavedrap, 2017, p. 3). The term “onto-epistemology” blends “ontology” and “epistemology” to “emphasize their
symbiotic relationship” (Pérez & Saavedrap, 2017, p. 3).

22
Perhaps if we were the charismatic Black men many are rallying around these days, it
would have been a different story, but being Black queer women in this society (and
apparently within these movements) tends to equal invisibility and nonrelevancy (p. 2).

Similarly, in their qualitative textual analysis, Carney (2016) found that violence against Black
women was largely absent from #BlackLivesMatter social media discourse. For this reason, the
“focus on state-sanctioned violence against Black men rendered Black women and transgender
[women] victims invisible” (p. 16). The co-founders of #BlackLivesMatter and other Black
women across the world continue to face invisibility even in the movement they created and help
sustain, further accentuating the consistent erasure of Black women’s intellectual, physical, and
emotional labor in the anti-racist work they spearhead.
Despite their experiences with racial injustice, sexism, homophobia and economic
disenfranchisement, Black women have an extended history of always fighting for the liberation
of Black people. However, their experiences cannot merely be reduced to their resiliency
because “the plight and exploitation of Black women has continued into the twenty-first century”
(Taylor, 2017, p. 12). Black women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-
related causes than white women (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019); fatal
violence disproportionally affects Black trans women (Human Rights Campaign, 2019); Black
women are being fatally shot by police at rates higher than women from other races (Jenkins &
Iati, 2020); and Black women experience the highest rates of homicide (Center for Disease
Control and Prevention, 2017). Hence, to discuss Black communities in contemporary society
without paying particular attention to the experiences of Black women is to ignore the depths of
oppression Black America is facing (Jackson, 2016; Taylor, 2017).
Lastly, although class divides are present among Black women like all other social groups,
the experiences of high earning Black women are still shaped by misogynoir. Taylor (2017)

23
illustrates that wealthy “elite” Black women—such as Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, Serena
Williams, Beyoncé, and Kamala Harris—are regarded as justifications that American capitalism
is “just and democratic” (Taylor, 2017, p. 10). Despite being the first Black first lady of the
United States, Michelle Obama grappled with racialized and gendered slurs and threats to her
life, further showing that Black women cannot escape anti-Black gendered racism even at the
perch of the White House (Taylor, 2017). Therefore, research on the experiences of Black
women remains necessary to highlight their holistic truths. Black women in higher education are
more likely to be regarded as privileged and elite, yet the historical and contemporary
experiences of Black women from all backgrounds shows that Black collegian women’s
trajectories are likely influenced by misogynoir.
Black Women in Higher Education
The sections above elucidate how Black women have significantly influenced cultural,
political and legal practices throughout the institution of slavery, reconstruction, the civil rights
era, and today (Berry & Gross, 2020). In the sections to follow, I transition from a broader
conversation of Black women’s history to contextualizing their experiences within institutions of
higher education. First, I consider how higher education literature has traditionally discussed
Black undergraduate women. Next, I explore their diverse identities, academic success, and
social engagement. Finally, I delve into Black women’s experiences by using workplace
literature, social media scholarship and limited nightlife literature to conceptualize what this
might mean for Black collegian women’s off-campus experiences in nightclubs.
Representation in the Literature
In their Critical Perspectives on Black Women and College Success, Patton and Croom
(2017) disrupted higher education’s long-established erasure of Black undergraduate women’s

24
voices and testimonies. They critique that although this limited body of scholarship is helpful in
highlighting Black women’s experiences, literature positions them in larger discussions of
“diverse” populations without devoting an emphasis on Black women. Further, in their recent
30-year literature synthesis of Black women’s experiences in higher education from the years
1986-2016, Haynes et al. (2020) found a total of 680 peer-reviewed empirical studies. Out of the
680 studies, they discovered only 23 of them were published by scholars who engaged
intersectionality, a critical theoretical concept, that scholars argue is needed to accurately study
Black women’s experiences (Harris & Patton, 2019).
Patton and Croom (2017) presented three “fantasies” or definitions shaping higher
education discourse around Black women undergraduates, including being defined as more
academically successful than Black men, being referenced as the ‘new’ model minority; and the
Black Girl Magic moniker (p. 2). Regarding the first “fantasy,” by merely comparing Black men
and Black women’s enrollment and retention and graduation rates, this narrative of Black
women’s success fails to acknowledge their intersecting realities with race, class, and gender
(Haynes et al., 2020; Patton, Crenshaw, Haynes, & Watson, 2016). Recent literature has argued
that reducing Black women’s experiences to mere numbers fails to accurately provide data that is
intersectional, nuanced, critical, and representative of their diverse experiences (Harris & Patton,
2019). Secondly, the “new model minority” myth (Kaba, 2008) argued that Black women have
faced “severe economic, social and political isolation” but have managed to rise despite such
difficulties (p. 310). Scholars insist this growing myth assumes there is no need for future
research that examines Black women’s problems and successes (Haynes et al., 2020; Patton &
Croom, 2017). Lastly, “Black Girl Magic,” coined by CaShawn Thompson, was created by and
for Black women to affirm their identities amongst each other. However, over time, this moniker

25
has also reinforced the harmful narrative that Black women are succeeding and outpacing their
Black male counterparts (Ford, 2016; Patton & Croom, 2017). Describing Black women as a
“magic” population allows outsiders at institutions to appropriate this intergroup phrase, further
ignoring the racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression they face
(Ford, 2016; Patton & Croom, 2017).
Diversity in Black Women’s Identities
In their acclaimed “Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics
of empowerment,” Collins (2002) detailed Black Feminist Thought (BFT), a theory and praxis
that is designed to center and reclaim the lived experiences of Black women. Within this
epistemological framework, Collins (2002) illuminated how BFT resists monolithic
representations of Black women and thus insisted scholars honor the diversity of Black women.
In the field of higher education, representing the varied identities of Black women through more
than descriptive statistical numbers remains an ongoing task (Harris & Patton, 2019). However,
higher education literature has specifically explored the experiences of queer Black women
(Bradley, 2020; Kessi, 2018), working-class Black women (Johnson, 2017; Kessi, 2018), Black
women athletes (Ferguson & JW, 2017; Carter-Francique, Hart, & Steward, 2013) and Black
immigrant women (Griffin & McIntosh, 2015; Griffin, Mwangi, & Patterson, 2017).
Queer Black women are an under-researched population and their intersectional
experiences are overlooked (Bradley, 2020). In her phenomenological study at a large research
one university, Bradley (2020) found queer Black women experienced isolation through a lack of
positive peer relations, which negatively impacted their well-being and mental health. They also
explained that due to feeling isolated they struggled to find community. Although their campus
had an LGBTQ+ Resource Center and Black Student Resource Center, they grappled with each

26
center’s lack of intersectional programming. Similarly, in their photovoice method study, Kesi
(2018) used photographs and written stories for their participants to document their lives as queer
Black working-class women. Kesi (2018) illustrates how participants also experienced feelings
of isolation and exclusion from campus activities similar to Bradley (2020), but students created
solidarity amongst each other to resist, challenge and disrupt their institutional norms. In
congruence with Kessi (2018), Johnson (2017) considered the role of class in Black women’s
experiences. Their findings from their qualitative study showed working-class Black women not
only navigated racialized and gendered experiences, but also juggled work-study jobs that took
away from their study time and struggled to find the finances to participate in on-campus social
activities. However, all of these studies also found a deep-rooted resilience from their
participants, often highlighting the resistance Black students across institutions of higher
education have consistently demonstrated.
An additional group of students who contribute to the diversity of Black college women’s
identities are Black women student athletes. They not only navigate their institutions as
minoritized students but they also manage regimented schedules that isolate them from the rest
of the student body. They also endure an extreme emphasis on athletic performance as opposed
to academic performance (Carter-Francique, Hart, & Steward, 2013). This population also
confronts negative racialized and gendered stereotypes, particularly related to their femininity
and outward appearances (Ferguson & Satterfield, 2017). Ferguson and Satterfield’s (2017)
narrative inquiry study found that Black women student athletes enacted hyper-femininity as a
survival strategy to resist the stereotypical masculine, unintelligent, hypersexual, promiscuous
Black woman caricature. Black women student athletes resisted Eurocentric beauty standards
and remained empowered to compete in athletic environments.

27
In addition to the aforementioned populations of Black women students, there remains a
strand of work addressing how race, ethnicity and gender shape Black women’s transition to
college. One study specifically focused on the cross-cultural adjustment of Caribbean women
found that students felt a sense of belonging on their campuses through familial support and
access to off-campus venues that shared their culture (McFarlane’s, 2010). Similarly, student
organizations of Black student immigrants’ regions of origins assist in their student engagement
and sense of belonging (Griffin & McIntosh, 2015). Additionally, recent scholarship from
Griffin, Mwangi, and Patterson (2017) showed that although Black immigrant women face
similar transitional experiences to non-immigrant Black students, their ethnic backgrounds,
family relationships and cultural connections also vastly shaped their experiences. Black
immigrant women in colleges and universities face a myriad of challenges related to race-related
stereotypes, isolation, familial and cultural pressures and a new academic climate (Griffin,
Mwangi, & Patterson, 2017).
Academic Success
A majority of scholars begin their studies by addressing Black undergraduate women’s
history of academic success (Commodore et al., 2018; Everett & Croom, 2017; Griffin et al.,
2017). For example, Griffin et al. (2017) begin their study on the experiences of Black immigrant
women transitioning into college by referencing Black women’s high college graduation rates.
They discuss how a similar narrative regarding Black students from immigrant backgrounds has
been created. However, they argue that research on Black women lacks complexity around the
multiple challenges they face. In fact, recent literature advocates against scholars overly
discussing Black women’s academic success since it could potentially contribute to the myth that

28
Black collegian women are somehow void of experiencing challenges in higher education
(Commodore, Baker, & Arroyo, 2018; Patton & Njoku, 2019).
With regard to Black undergraduate women’s academic success, literature has
overwhelmingly documented their high enrollment and graduation rates within the last two
decades (Patton & Croom, 2017). Specifically, by race and gender, Black women collegians earn
more Bachelor’s degrees in comparison to their non-Black counterparts (NCES, 2012). Black
women in college and universities outpace their Black male counterparts (Harper, 2013) despite
a lack of “systemic support and services designed to help them overcome the obstacles that
persist in their collective postsecondary experiences” (Everett & Croom, 2017, p. 75). However,
scholars note Black undergraduate women’s academic successes “are often held up against the
challenges of their male counterparts” (Commodore, Baker, & Arroyo, 2018, p. 1). Such scholars
critique the pitting of Black undergraduate women and men against each other as it further
contributes to the lack of adequate conversation specifically centering Black women (Patton &
Croom, 2017).
Social Engagement
Social engagement consists of the meaningful connections that students create with
faculty, staff, administrators, and students (Rendón & Muñoz, 2011). Many of these connections
are fostered through campus programs and student-led organizations (Croom et al., 2017). Black
women’s social engagement across their campuses varies depending on institutional types
(Croom et al., 2017; Harper et al., 2004). For example, in their quantitative study, Harper et al.,
(2004) found Black women at HBCUs perceive their campuses to be just as supportive of their
social and academic endeavors as they are to their Black male counterparts. This counters past
studies that found that Black women were significantly less social engaged than their same-race

29
male peers (Allen, 1986; Fleming, 1984; Gurin & Epps, 1975). Conversely, literature examining
Black undergraduate women’s experiences on historically predominantly white institutions
(HPWIs) consistently illuminates the lack of integration they experience with their campus
community as well as a lack of support and validation (Chambers & Poock 2011; Fleming, 1983;
Turner, 2001; Winkle-Wagner, 2014). Further studies have explained the lack of “fitting on
campus” is due to Black women feeling that their race, gender or class backgrounds are not
valued or represented in campus programming (Winkle-Wagner, 2009). As a result, some Black
women matriculate through their educational journeys without ever establishing strong social
connections within their campus community (Sims, 2008). Sims (2008) refers to this as
“irrelation,” which is the idea that Black undergraduate women view not cultivating deep levels
of relationship as neither positive nor negative (Sims, 2008).
Black women have reported that non-Black student organizations avoid inviting them to
participate in their groups (Turner, 2001). As a response, they created their own social
opportunities through Sister Circles, Black Greek letter sororities, and religious groups on
campus. Such groups and organizations provided secondary environments for them to find
support and validation within their minoritized identities (Bryant-Davis, 2013; Patton &
McClure, 2009; Turner, 2001; Winkle-Wagner, 2009b). Further, Black Student Unions serve as
counter-spaces for all Black students regardless of their gender identity. However, in their
qualitative study, Croom et al. (2017) found that Sister Circles, student-led groups that center
race and gender, serve as a “needed counter-space to the counter-space” (p. 225). Although the
counter-space of Black Student Unions are important, they can also serve as spaces of
“heteropatriarchy” by exclusively centering the experiences of Black men (Croom et al., 2017, p.
225). Thus, Black women engage with Sister Circles to find other Black women role models who

30
provide thoughtful guidance, experience Black women co-existing in community, and discover a
space where they can authentically exist as their whole selves (Croom et al., 2017; Winkle-
Wagner, 2009b).
As the literature has shown, college campuses are not always safe or welcoming
environments for Black women. Although higher education has been praised as a place of
intellectual enlightenment, its formation is linked to intersecting factors of race, property and
oppression (Patton, 2016). Although Black women attending colleges and universities maintain
privilege, “such environments are not immune from authorizing physical danger toward Black
women (Patton, 2019, p. 1167). In addition, violence against Black women are not limited to
spaces of higher education.
Off-Campus Experiences
Extant literature advocates for the continued exploration of Black undergraduate
women’s academic and social experiences. Scholarship has acknowledged Black women
experience the intersections of racism, sexism, classism and other forms of oppression in every
aspect of society. For Black collegian women, these experiences are shaped both within and
outside the confines of their campuses (Collins, 2002; Crenshaw, 1990; Harris & Patton, 2019;
Patton et al., 2016; Patton & Njoku, 2019). To date, no studies were found that explicitly
investigate their experiences as college students off-campus. However, literature has explored
non-collegian Black women’s experiences in public accommodations such as the workplace
(Combs, 2003; Hall et al., 2012; Hughes & Dodge, 1997), on social media platforms (Stanton et
al., 2017; Williams 2015), and with nightlife (Grazian, 2008; May, 2014). These are all
considered “off-campus” spaces Black collegians might participate in.

31
I use this scholarship to provide a lens to what Black collegian women might also
experience in off-campus spaces, since this provides a holistic illustration of their racist and
sexist encounters. Although this literature is not specific to higher education, it is useful in
conceptualizing how we might think about the off-campus arena as important sites of empirical
investigation for our field. It is also important to note, that instead of conducting a study on
Black women’s experiences in multiple off-campus spaces, I chose to target nightlife. This
allows for an in-depth concentrated analysis of one particular empirical space. However, it
remains important to provide literature that examines other off-campus spaces such as in the
workplace and on social media to illustrate the prevalence of discrimination against Black
women in a variety of contexts.
In the Workplace
Workplace literature found Black women have to work harder than their white
counterparts to be hired or promoted, face a lack of mentorship, code-switch to overcome
barriers to employment, and feel isolated and excluded in the workplace (Hall et al., 2012).
Additionally, Black women with service roles reported facing significantly more institutional
discrimination, whereas Black women in managerial and technical roles felt more interpersonal
racial and gender biases (Hughes & Dodge, 1997). Furthermore, Combs (2003) found that Black
women in managerial roles have less access to informal social networks than their white women
and men counterparts, thus affecting their career advancement, success, and attaining
institutional power.
Black women in the workplace also navigate the intersections of race, gender and
emotional performance. Oftentimes, Black women professionals grapple with showing their
emotions to resist being stereotyped as the “angry Black woman” (Wingfield, 2010; p. 263).

32
Wingfield (2010) also found that Black women professionals often hide any sense of anger or
annoyance “out of the sense that adverse consequences await them” (p. 263). Equally important,
Bowleg et al.’s (2008) pioneering intersectional work examined Black queer women’s workplace
stressors. In their study, participants reported feelings of uncertainties of which of their
minoritized identities were being discriminated against (Bowleg et al., 2008). Additionally,
Black queer women and straight women report higher rates of sexual assault in the workplace,
but Black queer women report higher rates compared to Black straight women (Brassell et al.,
2020). More empirical studies are needed to investigate these workplace experiences using
intersectionality theory (Brassell et al., 2020). However, the growing body of literature shows
that the inequalities that Black women face are omnipresent—even in their workplaces.
Social Media Platforms
Research shows that Black college students use social media to explore and enhance their
understandings of racial self and identity (Lee, 2012). A later study conducted by Tynes et al.
(2013) explained Black students actually experienced more online stress due to racial
discrimination, and thus had a significantly more negative view of their campus racial climate.
To combat racial discrimination, Black users shared hashtags and created a virtual community
referred to as “Black Twitter” (Brock, 2012). Black Twitter especially appeals to Black women
because it offers them a chance to elevate their voice—they are able to strengthen their social
networks with other Black women, and their personal experiences are made more visible. They
are also able to draw on their culturally specific oral traditions amongst each other (Bradford,
2017; Crandall & Cunningham, 2016; Maxwell, 2016; Stanton et al. 2017).
Black women have also used social media as a form of activism (Williams, 2015). When
mainstream news media consistently overlooked the deaths of Black transgender women, Black

33
women created the hashtag #SayHerName in 2014 (Crenshaw & Ritchie, 2015) to call attention
to heteropatriarchal violence (Williams, 2015). Although Black women’s social media activism
was critical in spreading awareness of the movement, their labor puts them at risk for a
diminished well-being. Stanton and colleagues (2017) investigated how the “strong Black
woman” (SBW) archetype effected Black women’s mental health and well-being on social
media. They explained that SBW archetype is rooted in Black women’s “strength, tenacity, and
caretaking abilities…but it may also be detrimental to their own self-care behaviors, as it expects
Black women to prioritize others’ needs above their own” (Stanton et al., 2017. p. 465). Thus,
they found that social media is associated with poorer mental health and well-being among Black
women.
Public Accommodations
Although there remains no literature to date that focuses on Black women’s specific
nightlife or nightclub culture experiences, sociological scholars have investigated Black people’s
broad experiences with nightlife and other public spaces. Feagin (1991) found that Black
Americans were deprived of thoroughly enjoying public accommodations (e.g., stores,
restaurants), and “Black women and men face an unusually broad range of discrimination on the
street and in public accommodations” (p. 114). Feagin (1991) argues that although white people
may see discriminatory instances as minor, the “blatant acts of avoidance, verbal harassment, and
physical attacks combined with subtle and covert slights, and these accumulate over months,
years, and lifetimes…The impact on a Black person is far more than the sum of the individual
instances” (p.114-115).
Brewster et al. (2014) expand on Feagin’s (1991) study using quantitative methods to
advance consumer racial profiling scholarship. Brewster et al. (2014) found that white restaurant

34
servers extend hospitality to their Black customers in less sincere ways than their white
customers. Correspondingly, Mallinson, and Brewster’s (2005) empirical study, found that
restaurant servers categorize customers by drawing on racial and class stereotypes. Finally, in
their random digit dialing phone survey of 500 participants, Gabbidon and Higgins (2007)
discovered African Americans were ten times more likely than their non-Black counterparts to
believe they were racially profiled in a retail establishment.
A Brief History of Nightclubs
I transition from the aforementioned public accommodations (e.g., restaurants and retail
stores) to discuss nightclubs as external spaces of empirical investigation. First, it is essential to
explain a brief history of nightclubs and how they came to be. The first nightclubs appeared in
New York City during the 1840s and 1850s, and people would attend to hear live music, dance,
as they operated as venues of entertainment (Kaplan, 2006). The first nightclubs were exclusive
and prioritized for an upscale audience. In 1886, Webster Hall was credited for the first modern
nightclub (Kaplan, 2006), originally operated as a hub for dancing and even political activist
events. In 1889, the creation of the jukebox, a coin-operated record-player, in addition to the
prohibition-era, created a more considerable need for underground speakeasy bars (Long, 2017).
During this time of Prohibition, working-class Americans attended speakeasy bars with
jukeboxes, but once the repeal of Prohibition happened in 1933, nightclubs began to thrive.
As the nightclub scene began to grow, it changed throughout the years but maintained
some of its classist roots and aims—to cater towards “high society.” Although there were
nightclub venues directed towards people from lower-income backgrounds, there remained a
level of exclusivity at “higher-end” nightclubs. Through the 1960s, larger discos began to open,
which led to the 1970s being a place for the disco club scene (Shapiro, 2015). In particular, disco

35
clubs were places for racially minoritized people to engage in recreational enjoyment without
having to be concerned with exclusive nightclub policies (Shapiro, 2015). Once the 1980s came,
a new era of house music was birthed, which influenced nightclubs leaning towards rave culture;
raves are dance parties frequently held in an outdoor field, warehouse, or large public spaces
(Anderson & Kavanaugh, 2007).
From the 1990s until 2020, nightclubs continued to evolve in the music they played but
also established even stricter criteria of who can enter their venues (Grazian, 2009). Many
nightclubs utilize bouncers to decide who can enter the nightclub, including VIP areas (Grazian,
2009; May, 2014). Typically, most nightclubs have a team of bouncers who “screen” patrons
before entering the venue by checking IDs to ensure patrons are of legal drinking age (May,
2014). They also check to see if patrons are intoxicated before entering the venue, which is also a
cause for no entrance. In this study, the issue is that some nightclub bouncers also screen patrons
based on a separate list of criteria such as physical appearance, guest list inclusion, and dress
code (Grazian, 2009). The reason for this unsaid set of criteria is to make nightclubs appear more
exclusive to “high-end” clientele such as, but not limited to, celebrities and high-income people
(May, 2014). It is also important to note that nightclub bouncers, promoters, and venue owners
all play a role in a given nightclub’s culture. It has even been stated that some nightclub owners
are known for explicitly communicating to their bouncers what type of crowd they should allow
entry to, including but not limited to race and gender (Ryder, 2020).
Nightclubs as Discriminatory Spaces
Within the past five years, sociologists have begun investigating nightclubs as
discriminatory public accommodations (May, 2018). In particular, factors such as race, class, and
gender serve as barriers to accessing and equitably experiencing nightclubs (Grazian, 2009;

36
Kovac & Trussell, 2015; May, 2014). Similar to other social settings, nightclubs have their own
sets of racialized and gendered norms, logics, and relationships that play out in myriad ways.
Nightclubs are assumed to be accessible to all people; however, such spaces are oftentimes
privately-owned and operated and therefore function as semi-public and subjectively
exclusionary (May, 2014). This leaves nightclubs and their owners’ discretionary space to limit
“access to individuals who meet specific criteria” (May, 2014, p. 5). For example, dress codes
can serve as “specific criteria,” that intersect with race and gender (e.g., a Black man is perceived
more favorably when wearing a collared shirt as opposed to a t-shirt, or slacks as opposed to
jeans) (May, 2014). Also, women experience gendered aggression in nightclubs. Men constantly
harass women (Grazian, 2009), and college women in particular “are harassed by sexually
interested middle-aged men (including married men) in nightlife settings (Grazian, 2008, p.
1640).
Grazian (2009) posits that this is perhaps due to the “wishful thinking” that nightclubs are
primarily hedonistic spaces (p. 910). As such, nightclubs might be considered sites of little
sociological importance and, therefore, off-limits to empirical study and analysis. However,
seeing as nightclubs are of the few off-campus establishments where Black women in college
can socially engage, they are significant spaces to investigate. It is essential to study these spaces
because creating meaningful connections through social engagement is crucial for college
students (Astin, 1993; Croom et al., 2017; Rendón & Muñoz, 2011). Scholars would be remiss to
limit their scope of where these engagements occur to solely on campus. We know Black women
face misogynoir throughout their everyday experiences, and scholarship must remain aware of
such ongoing social changes, regardless of their locations in which they take place (Collins,
2002).

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Black Women’s Bodies in Nightclubs
I have discussed nightclubs and how many of them operate under racialized and gendered
criteria, which I argue, Black women, in particular, are primarily targeted. As previously
discussed, Black women’s bodies’ racialized commodification incentivized white men to engage
in more violence against Black women since it came with economic benefits (i.e., created more
property by producing Black children). With this historical context in mind, I argue, the ways
Black women’s bodies are policed by the gaze of men, even bodyguards at a nightclub, was
made by design. Just how Black women’s bodies were judged as lined up at slave auctions, their
bodies are judged the minute they stand in line outside a nightclub.
Their hair, whether it is worn in the protective style of braids, flat ironed to be straight,
with extensions, or worn naturally, their hair is judged. In my previous pilot study, one
participated stated,
“In my personal experience, with straight hair and the right outfit I can easily get in, but
with more ethnic attire or curly hair I have been turned away or even told by promoters
not to even try to come.”

An additional form of aesthetic judgment is Black women’s skin color. Colorism is
discrimination based on skin color, and it privileges lighter skinned people as their beauty is
more aligned with white Eurocentric beauty standards (Hunter, 2007). One participant stated,
“For years, I was told by promoters to send pictures of my friends before I could be
granted access. They would straight out deny dark skin women and women that were
larger…they still have issues against Black women.”

In addition to color and hairstyles, body type also contribute to forms of discrimination against
Black women (Appleford, 2016). Black women’s bodies have stereotypically been portrayed as
having large buttocks, smaller waists, large lips and larger breasts (Appleford, 2016). Where
these features did not align with Eurocentric beauty standards, there has been a shift. Now,

38
exercise and plastic surgery are being encouraged to develop a shape which is more “typically
associated with Black sexuality, as opposed to white femininity” (Appleford, 2016, p. 12). At
one point in time, Black women’s bodies were classified as something other, but now, non-Black
women are being encouraged
“to develop stereotypically Black women attributes, and at the same time Black women
are being encouraged to adopt strict forms of exe riseand dieting, in order to achieve the
‘slim thick’ look, which are more closely associated with white western beauty
(Appleford, 2016, p. 12)

This aesthetic judgment increasingly illustrates that there is a specific “type” of Black women
that nightclubs gravitate towards, which one participant explains as “the light skinned, curly
haired, green eyed, slim thick Black woman and if you don’t look like that, you better know
someone who can get you in.” Overall, Black women’s bodies are important to discuss as they
are targets of racialized and gendered discrimination based on phenotypical features rooted in
Eurocentric beauty standards.
Thus far, I have provided a comprehensive overview of Black women’s history in the
United States and their experiences in higher education institutions. The literature demonstrated
the constant erasure and invisibility of Black women’s intellectual, physical, and emotional
labor. It is evident that the unique experiences of Black women are rarely the sole focus of
research on Black college students or students of color in general (Winkle-Wagner, 2014).
Scholars urged researchers to use theory in ways that honor Black women collegian’s
intersectional experiences by not conflating Black women with women of color, as it is a
“semantic move that…erases Black women” (Patton & Njoku, 2019, p. 1167). The
aforementioned literature with foci on Black collegian women predominantly utilizes qualitative
methods, critical race feminism, critical race theory, Black feminist thought, Black feminist
theory, and intersectionality theory. Building from this foundational literature, I hope to advance

39
racial theory concerning Black women by amalgamating a variety of concepts into a composited
analytical, conceptual, and theoretical framework for this study.
Theorizing Black Women in Higher Education
In this section, I present a Critical Race Feminist and Black Feminist Thought conceptual
framework to study Black undergraduate women’s off-campus experiences in nightclubs. First, I
review CRF, where I describe its tenants derived from Critical Race Theory (CRT) and
intersectionality. Next, I discuss Black Feminist Thought (BFT) and its origins and the
understandings it offers academe. I conclude by coupling CRT and BFT to explain their utility as
analytical and theoretical tools in my proposed study.
Critical Race Feminism
Women of color share a history of economic, political, social and educational inequalities
that demand a heuristic design that is capable of interrogating each element of their intersectional
identities. More specifically, an analysis of Black women’s experiences benefits from analyses
that center their experiences with power and oppression through a feminist perspective. Although
Critical Race Feminism has been recently popularized within academic literature, Black women
activists, scholars, and political figures throughout history have indirectly practiced the core
principles of CRF (Patton & Ward, 2016). For example, Anna Julia Cooper, Ida B. Wells-
Barnett, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Charlotte Forten, Angelina Grimke, and many others
laid the foundation for CRF by challenging white supremacy, patriarchy, and class stratification
in their respective work. CRF as a term did not emerge until the late 1960s when scholars began
incorporating the framework as an analytical tool to interrogate issues within the field of law.
The actual term, “Critical Race Feminism,” was an intentional decision to link the framework to

40
Critical Legal Studies (CLS), Critical Race Theory (CRT), and feminist jurisprudence (Wing,
1997).
Critical Race Theory
CRT was informed by critical legal scholars who insisted on problematizing the role of
racism in American law by critiquing how law oppresses racially minoritized people (Bell, 1995;
Crenshaw et al., 1995; Delgado 1995; Matsuda, 1991; Williams, 1991). As scholars across fields
and disciplines learned of CRT, some used its legal underpinnings as a tool to theorize the
intersection of race and education. For example, in their pioneering piece, “Toward a Critical
Race Theory of Education,” Ladson-Billings and Tate (1995) used CRT to argue that race and
racism was undertheorized in educational research and strongly advocated for future scholarship
to contend with centering race in their analyses. In response to Ladson-Billings and Tate’s
(1995) urgent request, educational scholars began to utilize CRT in their research to illuminate
the role of race in educational settings (Harper, Smith, & Davis, 2018; Solórzano, 1997;
Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000).
CRT is delineated by a collection of underlying principles, or “tenets,” that help analyze
issues of race and racism in various ways: (1) racism is an endemic element of society; (2) the
rejection of colorblindness, meritocracy, and neutrality; (3) counternarratives and counter-
storytelling; (4) interest convergence; (5) and the utilization of interdisciplinary methods (Bell,
1987; Crenshaw, 1997; Delgado, 1995; Ladson-Billings, 2000; Solórzano, 1997; Harper &
Patton, 2007; Harper, Patton, & Wooden, 2009). CRT has proved to be a useful analytical and
methodological tool (Cabrera, 2018) in education as it “challenges ahistoricism and the
undisciplinary focus of most analyses, and insists on analyzing race and racism in education by
placing them both in historical and contemporary contexts using interdisciplinary methods”

41
(Solórzano, 1998, p. 123). To clarify, CRF adopts all tenets of CRT, but differentiates itself
through its analytical nuances of the legal status and rights of women of color.
Intersectionality
In adopting CRT’s core principles, CRF centralizes intersectionality as a foundational
point of departure. At its core, CRF acknowledges that the experiences of women of color are
distinctly different from that of white women. Additionally, coined by critical legal scholar,
Kimberlé Crenshaw, intersectionality is an analytic concept grounded in Black feminist and
critical race theories to illustrate how:
Women of color are differently situated in economic, social, and political worlds. When
reform efforts undertaken on behalf of women neglect this fact, women of color are less
likely to have their needs met than women who are racially privileged. (Crenshaw, 1990,
p. 1250).

Crenshaw (1990) further defines intersectionality in three dimensions (i.e. structural, political,
and representational). Structural intersectionality refers to the intersections of race and gender
that make the experiences intersectionality analyzes feminist and antiracist politics that
marginalize women of color. Lastly, representational intersectionality considers how women of
color are represented in public discourses, oftentimes through stereotypes (Haynes et al., 2020).
An intersectional lens allows scholars to grapple with the ways in which “sociohistorical systems
influence interdependent identity-specific experiences” (Harris & Patton, 2019, p. 348). Further,
as Harris and Patton (2019) explain, intersectionality demonstrates how “discourses of
resistance, such as feminism and anti-racism, often frame identities as isolated and mutually
exclusive, resulting in the ‘theoretical erasure’ of Black women who hold multiple minoritized
identities” (Harris & Patton, p. 347). Crenshaw (1990) also discusses society’s shortcoming
when explicitly framing the specific injustices Black women endure. For example, there is a
dearth in literature examining Black women’s experiences with state-sanctioned violence,

42
violence against Black trans women, mass incarceration, sexual violence, school suspensions and
overall protection (Annamma, 2019; Patton & Njoku, 2019; The Combahee River Collective,
1977). CRF helps combat these empirical deficiencies by placing Black women’s experiences at
the forefront of analysis, and treating the array of societal mechanisms that oppress them as
compounding factors that cannot be isolated from one another.
In the field of higher education, over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles have been
published using intersectionality as a guiding framework (Harris & Patton, 2019).
Intersectionality has been utilized to examine Black collegian women’s experiences, as it
provides scholars with “a critical analytic lens to interrogate racial, ethnic, class, ability, age,
sexuality and gender disparities and to contest existing ways of looking at these structures of
inequality” (Thorton-Dill & Zambrana, 2009, p. 1). Poet, writer, feminist, and civil rights
activist, Audre Lorde (2007), often expressed her own intersectional identity in her public
appearances and work. She often stated she was a Black, lesbian, mother, warrior poet and she
could not be defined by one word (Lorde, 2007). She demonstrated how her race, gender, sexual
orientation, family structure, and more influenced how she navigated the world through her
multidimensional identity. In this way, using intersectionality also has the capacity to highlight
how misogynoir impacts Black women collegians experiences in nightclub settings by critically
analyzing how identity and oppression interlock. The concept of intersectionality is essential for
advancing social justice and analyzing systems of oppression. However, this must be done in
meaningful ways that acknowledge the foundational work of the Black women who helped
develop the concept (Collins, 2002; Crenshaw, 1989; Harris & Patton Davis, 2019; Hancock
2011).

43
CRF in Higher Education
CRF’s roots in CRT make it especially beneficial for analyzing how race and racism
function in the U.S.; however, women of color scholars argued that CRT as also been dominated
by men’s experiences (Evans-Winters & Esposito, 2010; Wing, 1997). The epistemologies of
men overshadowed the experiences of women of color. For example, the small number of
women of color law professors did not find CRT inclusive of critical feminist theories. Footnotes
of articles were the only mention of gender (Wing, 1997). Additionally, feminist legal theorists
utilizing CRT “highlighted the viewpoints of white and upper class women, but assumed that the
gendered experiences of white women and women of color were identical in character” (Evans-
Winters & Esposito, 2010, p. 19). This irresponsible and incorrect utilization of CRT ignored
women of color and the oppressions they face. Due to these critiques, CRF emerged as a branch
of CRT. CRF will often intersect with tenets of CRT, but is distinctly differentiated by actively
resisting centering men’s voices, and conflating white women’s experiences with the experiences
of women of color (Evans-Winters & Esposito, 2010). In their influential work, Evans-Winters
and Esposito (2010) demonstrated how CRF is beneficial to the investigation and theory building
pertaining to educational issues impacting Black girls. It is undeniably evident that there are
numerous benefits of utilizing CRF to guide one’s analytical sensemaking process, but there are
also limitations to contend with as well. I elaborate upon this notion in the following sections
before offering my own methodological strategy for this particular study.
Utilizing CRF
Building from existing CRF research, I argue that the following principles can be applied
to analyze Black women in higher education contexts: (1) critical race feminism as a theoretical
lens and movement purports that women of color’s experiences are different from the

44
experiences of men of color and those of White women; (2) critical race feminism focuses on the
lives of women of color who face multiple forms of discrimination due to the intersections of
race, class, and gender within a system of white male patriarchy and racist oppression; (3)
critical race feminism centers the multiple identities and consciousness of women of color (i.e.,
anti-essentialist); and (4) critical race feminism requires an interdisciplinary approach to research
that incorporates theories and concepts from a variety of academic fields. Each of these
principles is derived from CRT’s foundational tenets. Since CRF is a branch of CRT and their
theoretical assertations often overlap, I utilize five specific tenets to help inform my theoretical
approach: endemic racism, colorblindness, counternarratives, interest convergence, and
intersectionality.
Racism is Endemic. CRF acknowledges that racism is an endemic element of society,
and nightclubs are no exception (Grazian, 2009; May, 2018). This particular tenet advances our
understandings of how racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression occur outside of the
confines of college and university life. Scholarship focused on college students’ experiences
would be limited if the research did not account for the expansive geographical spaces they
encounter. Nightclubs have not yet been explored as an external component of college students’
experiences in education research, but the field would tremendously benefit from such an
analysis since they are a frequent site of racial-patriarchal tension for Black women in particular.
Colorblindness. CRF rejects colorblind ideologies by emphasizing how women of
color’s experiences and perspectives are vastly different from men of color and white women’s
realities. Namely, colorblind ideologies “[create] a lens through which the existence of race can
be denied and the privileges of Whiteness can be maintained without any personal
accountability” (Harper & Patton, 2007, p. 3). The idea of colorblind racial ideology manages

45
“old racism with overtly racist ideologies and new racism/colorblindness as a more subtle form
of racism” (Bonilla-Silva, 2014, p. 26). When theorizing Black undergraduate women’s off-
campus experiences with nightclubs, utilizing CRF would entail the rejection of the
essentializing argument that discrimination happens to “all” women, not just Black women.
Instead, CRF would validate the existence of such racist and gendered discrimination and push
for a more nuanced conversation around the inequities at play.
Colorblindness is a form of violence and deflection that ultimately harms racially
minoritized individuals who share their experiences with power and oppression. For example,
white people have the privilege to evade conversations about race and racism because they do
not experience it. This is referred to as white fragility, where the minimum amount of racial
stress cannot be grappled with, thus leading to defensiveness and avoiding discussions about race
and racism (DiAngelo, 2018). However, it is important to note that this is frequently an
intentional decision rather than one derived from ignorance. Thus, CRF does not allow for any
assertions of colorblindness—whether intentional or unintentional—to be empirically validated.
Instead, this tenet promotes the saliency of race in academic research, which serves as a central
component of this study.
Counternarratives. An additional affordance of using CRF is that it accepts the realities
and lived experiences of people of color through counternarratives, which is storytelling that
recognizes racially minoritized people’s experiences as legitimate (Bell 1995; Delgado 1998;
Huber, 2009; Parker, 1998; Solórzano et al., 2000). As Harper and Patton (2009) illustrate, “CRT
uses counternarratives as a way to highlight discrimination, offer racially different interpretations
of policy, and challenge the universality of assumptions made about people of color” (p. 391).
Student’s stories—including their experiences both on and off of their respective campuses—are

46
essential to understand as they may influence their mental and emotional well-being. Centering
Black women’s counternarratives validates their intersecting identities (Croom et al., 2017).
The validity and legitimacy of Black women’s stories are often questioned (Patton &
Ward, 2016). For example, popular rapper, Megan Thee Stallion, was shot in her foot by a
famous and wealthy man. As if her testimony was not enough, misogynist men flocked to social
media insisting she was lying. As Megan Thee Stallion stated in her recent New York Times
opinion article, “There’s not much room for passionate advocacy if you are a Black woman”
(2020, n.p.). However, passionate advocacy and acceptance of Black women’s onto-
epistemological experiences as legitimate and true is a key component of CRF.
Interest Convergence. Delgado (1995) defines interest convergence as the process by
which white power structures “tolerate or encourage racial advances for Blacks only when they
also promote white self-interests” (p. 14). In other words, efforts to combat racism and other
forms of systemic oppression must sufficiently converge with both white power structures, and
in this case, Black women. Through a CRF lens, I posit that nightclubs operate as capitalistic
white heteropatriarchal structures that do not have interest in providing Black women with equal
treatment unless they are incentivized to do so. In other words, nightclub owners, promoters and
security guards, who I refer to as “gatekeepers,” need to have a vested interest in creating an
inclusive experience for Black women patrons. Such incentives might include local laws and
policies that fine nightclub venues for a high volume of discriminatory complaints.
Intersectionality. As I described in the review of literature, CRF interrogates how
women of color face multiple forms of oppression through the concept of intersectionality.
Intersectionality addresses societal power relations that impact the lives of women of color
(Crenshaw, 1990). As Harper and Patton (2009) describe intersectionality, they explain “one

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[cannot] fight racism without paying attention to sexism, homophobia, economic exploitation,
and other forms of oppression or injustice” (p. 392). In my study, intersectionality helps provide
space for my participants’ multidimensional identities to be represented. CRF resists racial and
gender essentialism, which is the “notion that there exists a monolithic woman’s experience,
regardless of one’s race, class or sexual identification” (Evans-Winters & Esposito, 2010, p. 21).
Black Feminist Thought
In their renowned book, Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the
politics of empowerment, Collins (2002) provided the first synthesized overview of Black
feminist thought (BFT). Collins (2002) explains, “If intersecting oppressions did not exist, Black
feminist thought and similar oppositional knowledges would be unnecessary” (p. 22). BFT is an
overarching critical social theory and “intellectual framework for understanding Black women,
their experiences, and their realities within systems of domination and subordination” (Patton &
Croom, 2017, p. 88). In the field of higher education, many theories make it difficult to
disaggregate the holistic and specific experiences of Black undergraduate women. BFT
centralizes the experiences of Black women while also acknowledging that all Black women
have differing and diverse experiences (Collins, 2002).
Although women from different racial groups may have similar gendered perspectives,
their racialized experiences remain distinctive (Collins, 2002). Collins (2002) provides the
following distinguishing features of BFT: (1) BFT does not ignore the global matrix of Black
women’s experiences but acknowledges the interconnectivity of the disenfranchisement of Black
women from a transnational approach; (2) BFT respects that all Black women that live in the
U.S. have differing and diverse experiences; (3) BFT understands that self-defined Black
feminism occurs when both dialogue and action work collectively to inform one another; (4)

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BFT accepts the contributions of all African American women as intellectuals; (5) BFT stays
attuned to the ongoing social changes Black women face; and (6) BFT posits Black women’s
struggles remain a part of a wider struggle for, “human dignity, empowerment, and social
justice” (Collins, 2002, p. 21). All of such features are distinctly important to this intellectual
framework, but overall, BFT exists to resist the ongoing oppression of Black women. Therefore,
employing Black Feminist Thought in the examination of Black undergraduate women allows
for the centralization of a frequently neglected population.
Affordances of BFT
There are several benefits of incorporating BFT into an analysis of Black collegian
women’s experiences in nightclubs, including (1) that it situates all Black women as
intellectuals, (2) it recognizes that Black women face ongoing social challenges and changes (3)
and it acknowledges that Black women face misogynoir in their fight for liberation. These
themes highlight the interlocking oppressions that Black women endure. An additional
affordance of BFT is its inclusivity of Black women across the globe. For example, Collins
(2002) states the following:
When Angela Davis counsels that privileged Black women not ‘ignore the straits of our
sisters who are acquainted with the immediacy of oppression in a way many of us are
not,’ she stresses the need for new ways of conceptualizing oppression and activism that
take class differences of a global matrix of domination into account (p. 228).

Black feminism discusses a transnational approach, which is critical as it validates how Black
womanhood traverses the global apparatus. In my previous study, I received responses from
Black women in the UK further illustrating that racialized and gendered experiences in nightlife
have global implications. However, my study focuses soley on the U.S. I am explicitly
investigating Black collegian women who attend nightclubs in the U.S. because research has not
yet addressed this particular topic. Thus, a comparative analysis with another global community

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makes more sense in the future once I complete this study. Despite my study’s U.S. focus, BFT’s
acknowledgment of Black women’s experiences across the globe allows space for potential
implications that future studies might seek to address.
Contributions of Black Women as Intellectuals. One of BFT’s features acknowledges
and honors all Black women as intellectuals. In this context, the term “intellectual” is not limited
to Black women with college degrees. Instead, all Black women are intellectuals regardless of
their age, class, occupation, as their knowledge has catalyzed social change (Collins, 2002). For
example, there were many radical and revolutionary Black women intellectuals. Despite their
social class or educational backgrounds, they fought in civil rights movements; all Black
women’s intellectual knowledge underpins this critical social theory (Collins, 2002). I employ
BFT with the hope of reclaiming and reinterpreting Black women intellectual’s ideas that the
academy has rendered invisible and illegitimate. Hence, I routinely cite Black women scholars,
turn to their work for guidance, and pay homage to the Black women intellectuals who paved the
way for this study.
Social Changes and Challenges. BFT posits that remaining aware of the ongoing social
changes that specifically affect Black women is crucial as they continue to face new challenges
in contemporary society. For example, the Black and Missing Foundation reports that
approximately 64,000 Black women are missing, and there is no media or national attention to
this devastating issue (Patton & Ward, 2016). However, “proving the worthiness of missing
Black women is difficult when media narratives attempt to link these women to crime, mental
illness, and other issues to suggest that they are somehow responsible for their predicament”
(Patton & Ward, 2016, p. 334). This serves as one example of the ongoing social changes and
challenges Black women endure. In the context of my study, critically investigating Black

50
undergraduate women’s off-campus experiences has not occurred. However, using BFT to
theorize around this population’s relationship with misogynoir outside of their campuses makes
space for contending with Black women’s contemporary issues.
Black Women Matter. A BFT framework is grounded by what queer Back feminist
scholars Moya Bailey and Trudy refer to as “misogynoir.” Misogyny refers to a form of sexism
defined as the hatred of women, and misogynoir blends both concepts of “misogyny” and “noir,”
which means Black in French (Bailey & Trudy, 2018). Bailey and Trudy (2018) insisted that
Black women experience anti-Black racist misogyny specific only to that of the Black woman. I
argue this is a crucial concept to consider when studying Black undergraduate women as they are
dehumanized by men who deem them unworthy of equitable treatment. As a group of radical
Black feminists, the Combahee River Collective, explained, “If Black women were free, it would
mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the
destruction of all the systems of oppression” (The Combahee River Collective, 1977, p. 1).
Limitations of Critical Race Feminism and Black Feminist Thought
Although CRF and BFT are critical in elucidating the experiences of Black collegian
women, limitations do exist. For example, CRF adopts the tenet of interest convergence, the
concept that systemic oppression must sufficiently converge with both white power structures
and, in this case, Black women for equitable change to occur. However, interest convergence can
be a limitation as it commodifies Black women’s experiences through a materialistic perspective
rather than humanizing them as deserving of equal treatment. In this way, Black women may
only be accommodated for the sake of capital. Albeit this significant limitation, interest
convergence can still serve as an essential analytical tool to make sense of how nightclubs
operate within regimes of misogynoir.

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Research on Black women in higher education can often be overshadowed by
characterizing their experiences as representative of all “women of color” (Haynes et al., 2020).
To be clear, all women of color face the duality of navigating racism and sexism. Still, women of
color have their unique cultures and ancestral histories even within the overarching group of
“women of color.” My experience as a Black woman will not be the same as that of my Latinx,
Native American, Indigenous, Asian American and Pacific Islander sisters, and vice versa. With
this in mind, I critique this is an important limitation of CRF, which is why I also turn to the
affordances of Black Feminist Thought.
Although important in the context of my study, BFT ultimately centers Black women’s
experiences instead of all women of color. However, Black Indigenous, Black Latinx, and
multiracial women exist. Thus, there is a potential limitation that BFT does not encompass
participants who might identify as multiracial and multiethnic. This is why pairing BFT with
CRF is helpful as CRF provides assumptions pertaining to women of color more broadly.
Toward a Critical Race Feminism and Black Feminist Thought Conceptual Framework
Theory grounds how researchers name, interpret, identify, critically engage and write
about the intersecting unique experiences of Black undergraduate women (Patton & Njoku,
2019). I identified two frameworks that assist in examining Black collegian women’s
experiences in their respective ways. However, given their individual limitations, I argue an
amalgamated framework—which combines concepts from Critical Race Feminism and Black
Feminist Thought—provides for a more comprehensive assessment. A composited framework
using CRF and BFT helps thoroughly analyze the anti-Black gendered racism that significantly
influences the lives of Black women. While BFT is utilized for its underlining theoretical
principles, the tenets of CRF are used as analytical tools to analyze my findings.

52
Where CRF allows for the disruption of essentialism and white supremacy for women of
color in general, BFT centers these understandings within a specific context of Black women.
Similarly, where BFT focuses on the sociopolitical and historical underpinnings of Black
women’s experiences, CRF supports BFT by theorizing how oppressive structures contribute to
the further disenfranchisement of this group. Although CRF acknowledges the pervasive
existence of racism and sexism in institutions of higher education and other societal contexts, it
does not discuss the specific experiences of Black women. Some studies have solely used CRF
as a framework when researching Black undergraduate women (Croom et al., 2017). However,
this study demands a framework that can encompass the racialized experiences of Black women
both inside and outside higher education contexts. Further, where BFT might be analytically
deficient in addressing concepts of interest convergence, the endemic nature of racism, and the
utilization of interdisciplinary approaches, CRF’s legal underpinnings assist in accounting for
other various factors. Since my research topic has not yet been explored, especially in the context
of higher education, coupling CRF and BFT is an intentional theoretical and analytical decision
as its explicit assumptions are rooted in combatting misogynoir and discrimination against Black
women.
My amalgamated framework (Figure 1) heavily influenced my research design in a
variety of ways. In the next chapter, I discuss how theory guided my methodological strategy.
This study is qualitative study demonstrating how my theoretical and analytical approach can be
utilized to illuminate how historical systems of power have shaped the ways in which Black
undergraduate women experience their off-campus experiences with nightclubs.

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Figure 1. Conceptual Framework

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CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY AND METHODS

In the previous two chapters, I explained how Critical Race Feminism and Black
Feminist Thought are helpful composited analytical and theoretical tools to critically investigate
Black women’s off-campus experiences in nightclub culture. I also laid the foundation for
understanding the histories and realities of Black women as they navigate the intersections of
gender and race in this country. In this chapter, I discuss the research design of my dissertation—
explaining the methodological details used in this study. First, I provide a brief description of
qualitative inquiry and explain why qualitative research methods were used in this study.
Second, I discuss my methodological approach. Third, I describe the methods I used to select
participants and the samples for data collection. Then, I detail my data collection procedures and
data analysis procedures. I conclude this chapter with measures I took to ensure the
trustworthiness of my findings and the role of the researcher.
Qualitative Inquiry
Qualitative inquiry is a form of research that focuses on understanding, examining, and
describing “the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem” (Creswell,
2013, p. 770). Further, Patton (2002) explains there are multiple characteristics of qualitative
inquiry. First, qualitative inquiry’s purpose is not to generalize about a larger population. Instead,
participants are selected to provide valuable insights into the particular phenomena in the study.
In this study, I recruited Black women who had experiences outside of their college or university
campuses, particularly in the nightlife context, who spoke about their lived realities in these
spaces. Second, qualitative research is concerned with capturing the essence of an individual’s
experience instead of measuring data. As Moustakas (1994) explains, qualitative methods are
appropriate to employ when researchers seek to understand the entirety of an experience. In this

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study, I sought to understand the racialized and gendered experiences of Black undergraduate
women in off-campus spaces by using nightclubs as a place of investigation. Third, the
researcher’s personal experiences and insights are also meaningful when engaging in qualitative
inquiry as they inform how the researcher interprets the data (Patton, 2002). To navigate biases,
researchers must practice reflexivity to be aware of how their biases affect their research process
(Creswell, 2007). Lastly, whereas quantitative research utilized numerical analyses, qualitative
research findings are illustrated by quotations from participants in a storytelling form. This is
important as qualitative research has the ability to uplift the stories of the most minoritized
individuals through the art of narration and story.
Rationale for the Use of Qualitative Methods
While quantitative research can be useful in its straightforward analyses and tested and
checked, qualitative methods have the ability to provide complex textual descriptions to depict
how participants experience a given phenomenon. In this section, I detail the rationale for using
qualitative inquiry to investigate and understand the experiences of Black undergraduate women
in nightclubs.
First, qualitative methods were chosen for this study as they allow for an in-depth
exploration of a particular topic (Creswell, 2007). Qualitative research provides information
about the descriptive nature of behaviors, beliefs, emotions, opinions, and experiences of
individuals. While I hypothesized in my conceptual framework that off-campus environments,
particularly nightclubs are likely to perpetuate racialized and gendered inequalities, qualitative
research assisted in capturing the essence of those experiences and provided a thorough lens into
this issue in ways that quantitative research cannot.

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Second, my research questions were best answered using qualitative methods as they are
especially effective in obtaining information about social contexts and experiences of particular
populations. Research questions that are interested in answering how and what questions are best
answered through qualitative inquiry (Creswell, 2007). This study’s research questions are
focused on how Black undergraduate women in colleges and universities navigate their off-
campus experiences in nightclubs and how they characterize nightlife culture, specifically their
racialized and gendered encounters.
Lastly, I elected to use qualitative methods to study participants across a variety of
settings. It is important to note that this study does not have specific research sites, as students’
respective colleges and universities were not a factor in recruiting participants. This study is
concerned with gaining a rich and complex understanding of a specific phenomenon.
Consequently, participants attended universities and colleges across the U.S., which allowed for
responses from various undergraduate women from different locations. The inclusion of students
from different geographical regions was intentional. Since this is seemingly the first study
investigating this specific demographic of students and research topic, as a researcher, I wanted
to be sure to allow space for all participants to share their narratives, regardless of their
geographical location. Further, I interviewed 42 Black women who attend or have attended a
college or university and have experienced nightlife while attending an institution of higher
education. Although institutional sizes, types, and locations varied, Black undergraduate women
shared everyday experiences as they navigated the complexities of their identities in off-campus
nightlife venues.

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Methodological Approach: A CRF and BFT Phenomenological Approach
A phenomenology approach seeks to provide thorough understandings of everyday
experiences (Hays & Singh, 2012; Moustakas, 1994). Phenomenology refers to epistemologies at
the conscious level by illustrating how people perceive and make sense of particular experiences
(Moustakas, 1994). German philosopher Edmond Husserl’s definition of phenomenology only
relies on “data available to the consciousness” (Moustakas, 1994, p. 45). In doing so,
phenomenological research seeks to “produce clear, precise, and systematic descriptions of the
meaning that constitutes the activity of consciousness” (Polkinghorne, 1989, p. 45). In other
words, phenomenology is concerned with capturing the “essence” of a given phenomenon
(Moustakas, 1994).
I selected a phenomenological approach to specifically uplift Black women participant’s
voices by engaging their descriptions of their racialized and gendered off-campus experiences in
nightlife. When studying how phenomena appear in one’s consciousness, researchers are
encouraged to approach their studies with fresh perspectives, disconnected from their
“preconceived notions” (Moustakas, 1994, p. 47). Although phenomenology demands a level of
objectivity from the researcher, my theoretical and analytical framework demands otherwise. I
utilize CRF in conjunction with phenomenology as it is committed to “acknowledging bodies,
lives, and experiences that are unseen and situating them at the center of research inquiry”
(Patton & Ward, 2016, p. 332). My study directly aligns with CRF and has a specific aim to
highlight and uplift Black women’s minoritized voices. Further, informed by Croom et al.’s
(2017) work, a CRF methodology also allowed me to (1) focus on building meaningful
relationships with participants, (2) center participant’s counternarratives and voices, and (3)
acknowledge the intersections of race, gender, class, and other identities that shape their realities.

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In addition to CRF, I utilized the theoretical strengths of BFT to resist the ongoing
disenfranchisement of Black women’s experiences by acknowledging how their environmental
contexts are valuable to understanding their holistic experiences as collegians. Ultimately, all of
the aforementioned epistemological underpinnings informed my interview protocol, data
collection, and analyses.
This dissertation is a phenomenological study of 42 Black undergraduate women that utilized
semi-structured interviews. The following research questions guided my inquiry:
1. How do Black undergraduate women in colleges and universities navigate their off-
campus experiences in nightclubs?
2. How do Black undergraduate women characterize nightlife culture, specifically their
racialized and gendered encounters with nightclubs?
Data Collection Procedures
In this dissertation study, I collected data through semi-structured interviews with 42
participants. In the sections that follow, I detail my data collection procedures. First, I discuss
sampling and recruitment. Second, I explain semi-structured interviews. Third, I describe my
data analysis procedures. Lastly, I conclude with a discussion around ensuring trustworthiness,
limitations and the role of the researcher.
Sampling & Recruitment
I utilized a criterion sampling technique for participant recruitment (Creswell, 2013;
Patton, 2002; Noy, 2008). Patton (2002) describes criterion sampling as participants “meet[ing]
some predetermined criterion of importance” (p. 238). The affordance of such technique is “to be
sure to understand cases that are likely to be information rich because they may reveal major
system weakness that become targets of opportunity for program or system improvement”

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(Patton, 2002, p. 238). Thus, the criterion of participants in this study was the following: (1)
attend a 4-year college or university or have attended within the last three years, (2) self-identify
as a Black undergraduate woman, and (3) interested in discussing nightlife experiences.
Although the study’s criterion for participant recruitment did not include the institutional type, it
is essential to note that all Black undergraduate women attended predominantly white institutions
(PWIs); women who attended HBCUs and other MSIs were afforded opportunities to participate,
but none elected to do so. Despite the differences in geographical location and institutional type,
all of finding’s themes were salient across the data.
The criterion sampling technique was highly successful when utilized in conjunction with
social media marketing. I posted a recruitment flyer on the social media platform Twitter. The
flyer provided the previously mentioned criterion as well as additional details to participate in the
study. Twitter users, many of them in the academia, reposted and shared the flyer. Within five
days, 34 participants had signed up for an interview. The other eight participants came from
other participants recommending other Black undergraduate women they thought might be
interested in the study. All participants also completed an interest form to ensure they met the
necessary criterion. Participants also gave electronically written and verbal consent to participate
in the study. Overall, criterion sampling and social media were especially effective strategies in
the recruitment process.
Lastly, it is essential to note that I not only sought participants who were currently
undergraduates, as alumni who have graduated within the last three years were also eligible to
participate. This decision was intentional because it is essential to account for the loss of a year
and a half of students to partake in on-campus and off-campus recreational activities due to
COVID-19. By opening up the study to Black women who recently graduated within the last

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three years, I interviewed participants who experienced on and off-campus life before the
pandemic. Further, I focused on undergraduate students instead of graduate students to limit this
study's scope. However, future studies should consider graduate students' experiences as well.
Below is a participants table (Figure 2) with the number of current undergraduates, all
participant’s graduation years, age, sexual orientation, and the geographical region of their
college or university. To provide a quick snapshot, out of the 42 participants, 24 were current
undergraduate students, and 18 had graduated; the average age was 22; 30 were
straight/heterosexual, two participants identified as Queer, seven participants identified as
bisexual, and three participants preferred not to answer; 19 participant’s college or university
was located in the West, eight were in the Midwest, ten were in the Southeast, and five were in
the Southwest. Geographical region is based on the National Geographic’s U.S. Regions map
(O’Conner, 2012).

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Figure 2. Participants Table

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Semi-Structured Interviews
A phenomenological approach frequently consists of qualitative interviews with participants
(Creswell, 2007). Through forty-two semi-structured, one-hour interviews, I engaged
participants through a variety of questions related to their identities and off-campus experiences
in nightclubs. Semi-structured interviews are verbal exchanges with the participant and
researcher that allow conversations to unfold without being limited by a strict interview protocol
(Brown & Danaher, 2019). This interview style allowed me to ask additional questions or follow
up questions regarding a participant’s particular experience. Additionally, since COVID-19
caused strict operational restrictions on nightclubs, bars, and other nightlife facilities, I originally
opted to utilize photo elicitations in the semi-structured interviews. Anthropologists and
sociologists use photo-elicitation interviews (PEI) to “sharpen participants’ memories,” which
lead to more extended and more comprehensive interviews (Epstein et al., 2006). Harper (2002)
asserts:
Photographs appear to capture the impossible: a person gone; an event past. That
extraordinary sense of seeming to retrieve something that has disappeared belongs alone
to the photograph, and it leads to deep and interesting talk (p. 23).

I attempted to use PEI as a method by “using photographs to invoke comments, memory, and
discussion in the course of a semi-structured interview” (Epstein et al., 2006, p. 3). Specifically, I
wanted to use photos of various nightclubs (e.g., people standing in line at a nightclub & patrons
interacting with bouncers and promoters) to walk participants through what a typical experience
might look like in hopes of invoking memories of their off-campus experiences before COVID-
19. However, I quickly learned that participants were especially eager to share their experiences
and frequently did not need the photos to recall their experiences. After seven interviews of
photo elicitations not invoking the memories I initially hypothesized, I decided to do away with

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them; the interview protocol and participants’ eagerness to story tell made the semi-structured
interviews more than engaging and rich in descriptive interactions and narratives without the
assistance of PEI as a method.
A CRF lens in qualitative research explains the importance of building relationships with
participants, which I prioritized during the recruitment process. I was particularly intentional
about disclosing my positionality and discussing my background to establish my motivations for
the study. Further, I used a semi-structured interview protocol with open-ended questions (see
Appendix A), thus, allowing participants to provide as much information as they felt comfortable
with (Creswell, 2007). Some questions I engaged them around were the following:
1. Can you talk to me a little more about what identities are important to you?
2. How have these identities shaped your on-campus experience as an undergraduate
student?
3. Can you recall the last time, if at all, that you attended a nightclub? What was this
experience like for you?
Finally, I used what Creswell (2007) refers to as “telephone” interviews. I used the video
conferencing software, Zoom, for all interviews. All of the interviews were also recorded for
professional transcriptions through April and May of 2021. Additionally, school names are
intentionally left out to protect participants’ identities. It was not uncommon for participants to
provide examples of their experiences while also mentioning their school’s name. They also
asked me not to include what university or college they attended as they were concerned it would
threaten their anonymity. Lastly, participants either chose their pseudonyms or were given one to
protect their anonymity.

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Data Analysis Procedures
Data analysis in qualitative research requires the researcher to “winnow,” which is “a
process of focusing in on some of the data and disregarding other parts of it” (Creswell, 2008, p.
621). In order to analyze the interviews and winnow properly, I drew from Creswell’s (2008)
methods where the author details the characteristics of qualitative research. I utilized Creswell’s
step-by-step methods very carefully to analyze data. First, all interviews were professionally
transcribed to prepare data for a thorough analysis, as organization is an important first step.
Again, to ease this tedious task, I used a professional transcription company, which also ensured
accuracy. The transcription company uploaded and stored the final transcriptions to a secure
password encrypted website, which only I had access to. I later downloaded the completed
transcriptions for coding purposes.
Second, I got further acquainted and familiar with data by reading through the
transcriptions to get a “general sense” of its meaning. I winnowed in on data and focused on
what participants were communicating, including the tones of their ideas. This allowed me to
capture the impression of the depth of data. In this step, Creswell (2008) also recommends
qualitative researchers write notes in the margins of their interview transcripts as a way to write
general thoughts about the data in this stage. For this reason, I wrote notes in the margins, which
was helpful as it helped me conceptualize the data and get a better understanding of all the
interviews I conducted.
Third, I looked at data and allowed themes to emerge organically. These themes were
then used during the coding process, which is “the process of organizing the material into chunks
or segments of text before bringing meaning to information” (Creswell, 2008, p. 186). In a
phenomenological approach, data is analyzed for “significant statements to describe the

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‘essence’ of what is occurring in the lives of participants” (Creswell, 2007, p. 187). To assure I
am following a detailed coding process, I also utilized “Tesch’s Eight Steps in the Coding
Process, which are the following:
1. Get a sense of the whole. Read all the transcriptions carefully. Perhaps jot
down some ideas as they come to mind as you read.

2. Pick one document (i.e., one interview)—the most interesting one, the shortest,
the one on the top of the pile. Go through it, asking yourself, “What is this
about?” Do not think about the substance of the information but its underlying
meaning. Write thoughts in the margin.

3. When you have completed this task for several participants, make a list of all
topics. Cluster together similar topics. Form these topics into columns, perhaps
arrayed as major, unique, and leftover topics.

4. Now take this list and go back to your data. Abbreviate the topics as codes and
write the codes next to the appropriate segments of the text. Try this preliminary
organizing scheme to see if new categories and codes emerge.

5. Find the most descriptive wording for your topics and turn them into
categories. Look for ways of reducing your total list of categories by grouping
topics that relate to each other. Perhaps draw lines between your categories to
show interrelationships.

6. Make a final decision on the abbreviation for each category and alphabetize
these codes.

7. Assemble the data material belonging to each category in one place and
perform a preliminary analysis.

8. If necessary, recode your existing data (Creswell, 2008, p. 629-630).

I followed Tesch’s Eight Steps extremely carefully and thoughtfully, which assisted me in
creating a codebook with 73 codes such as, “colorism,” “selectivity,” “ambiguous,” “fit the
look,” and more. Fourteen of these codes were not kept, but nonetheless, this codebook was
especially useful to refer back to during the coding process. Further, I used a qualitative
computer data analysis program, Dedoose, to analyze the data. Dedoose helped in organizing,
sorting, and searching for information while in the data analysis phase.

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In addition to Creswell’s (2008) steps, I added the reflexive strategy of memos. Memos
are a flexible strategy where the researcher writes their thought processes to assist in their
conceptualization (Birks et al., 2008). Thus, creating and maintaining memos is a useful tool
throughout the qualitative research process. It is “through memoing that the researcher is able to
articulate, explore, contemplate and challenge their interpretations when examining data” (Birks
et al., 2008, p. 71). I used memos in my data analysis for this study by recording my overall
reflections in memo form. To jog my memory of each interview, I looked back on my memos,
which aided in extracting meaning from the data.
Trustworthiness
Given the inherent threat of biases that might be at play in the data analysis process, it is
imperative that my interpretation of the data be trustworthy and truly reflect participants' lived
experiences, as opposed to my own. To ensure trustworthiness, I actively made an effort to
represent participant’s voices how they wanted to be heard and described their narratives with
the utmost care. To do this, I employed several strategies to ensure research trustworthiness,
some of which include: triangulation, member checking, reflective journaling, peer debriefing
(Arminio & Hultgren, 2002; Jones, Torres, & Arminio, 2013), and a Participants Feedback
Forum. I detail each of these strategies below.
Member Checking
Given that this study is about Black women and the researcher is a Black woman, I
especially thought it important that I provided participants the opportunity to offer feedback
throughout the study. This is a critical qualitative research approach referred to as member
checking (Guba & Lincoln, 1989, Stake, 1995; Miles & Huberman, 1994). To operationalize
this, after each interview transcript was professionally transcribed, I sent a copy to each

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participant and asked them to comment on my descriptions’ accuracy. Each transcript was also
accompanied with a summary that I appended to the verbatim transcript document. I did not
expect nor was it a requirement for each participant to respond to my member checking question.
In fact, participants rarely responded to my member checking emails. The eleven participants
that did respond, thanked me for the opportunity to interview. However, I still thought member
checking was a helpful exercise as it assured that the researcher and participant are correct in
their understanding of the data. Lastly, member checking was an opportunity for me to further
my understanding of participants’ narratives to ensure I am capturing their testimonials as
clearly, and accurately as possible.
Peer Debriefing
Both member checking and peer debriefing are strategies to utilize other’s feedback while
developing future findings. Inquiring with familiar and unfamiliar people with the study to
comment on the data analysis procedures and future findings is one way to clarify enigmatic
interpretations and descriptions (Guba & Lincoln, 1989; Lincoln & Guba,1985; Merriam, 1988).
I sought peer debriefers who had seen this study in its conceptualization phase as they were
familiar with my assumptions, biases, and intellectual processing. Also, I sought peer debriefers
who had not had a role in this study to garner external perspectives to push my understanding of
future findings. Overall, these peer debriefers offered different perspectives, innovative
viewpoints, discovered unidentified gaps, and ultimately strengthened the study.
Reflective Journaling
The “Role of the Researcher” section goes further in detail about the assumptions I hold
about Black undergraduate women’s off-campus experiences in nightlife. However, I used
reflective journaling as an exercise. Reflective journaling allowed me to engage with my

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challenges, emotions, biases, and even epiphanies about participants and their lived realities. I
used this journal to reflect on my experiences as a researcher, which created space for me to
focus on representing the data in the most accurate way possible. As Merriam (1988) explains,
reflective journaling ensures that the researcher is especially fixated on representing participants’
narratives instead of their assumptions, ultimately leading to the findings’ overall quality.
Overall, the practice of reflective journaling was beneficial and played a role in the quality of my
findings.
Triangulation
Triangulation uses multiple data sources of information to create a clear justification for
the main themes of the study (Creswell, 2007; Lincoln & Guba, 1985). In this study, I used
different qualitative methods—individual interviews and peer debriefers to help assure
trustworthiness (Patton, 2002). Although much of this study’s data comes from participants'
individual stories, this is not the only approach I took. Having peer debriefers allowed different
people to review and provide feedback on the study's overall development, which is a form of
triangulation (Patton, 2002). To be clear, I did not utilize triangulation to test the validity, truth,
or accuracy of the findings; instead, I used triangulation too see if my interpretation of the data
was sound and made sense. In qualitative research, multiple interpretations and perspectives will
always exist, and peer debriefing and triangulation only made the study stronger by providing a
deeper understanding of the given phenomenon (Patton, 2002).
Participants Feedback Forum
After completing a draft of my findings section, I emailed participants inviting them to
engage in a Participants Feedback Forum. I invited them to this forum, which I hosted virtually
on Zoom, to provide them the opportunity to share their thoughts on my findings. Allowing

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participants the space to discuss the study’s findings and the chance to provide constructive
feedback to me further strengthened this study’s trustworthiness. Although I invited all
participants, I did not expect nor require them to participate in the forum, especially given that
they already provided an hour of their time for this study. Overall, the forum served as an
additional way for me to fill gaps in the findings, provide more nuance to particular experiences,
and show participants that their narratives and experiences matter.
Limitations
With any choice methodology, limitations do exist. In this case, I initially opted for an
ethnographic case study. In many ways, I argue this is the most innovative and in-depth approach
to capture my research questions’ essence fully. However, with nightclubs closed at the time of
data collection and a photo elicitation phenomenological approach ultimately proving unhelpful,
I opted for traditional interview methods. Further, in qualitative research, a researcher’s presence
during data collecting can affect the subject’s responses influenced by the researcher’s personal
biases. I argue that the researcher’s role in phenomenological studies is not a limitation but
instead supports participants’ complexities by facilitating robust and compelling data.
An additional limitation to consider is the lack of objectivity in phenomenological
research. However, objectivity in qualitative research is quite impossible and is not an aim of
qualitative inquiry. Further, my composited theoretical and analytical framework also rejects
objectivity. For example, CRF’s ‘rejection of colorblindness’ is also a rejection of objectivity. In
a study focusing on Black women, the underlying principles of CRF and BFT posit that racism is
an endemic element of society that influences their everyday experiences. Thus, while I
attempted to remain objective in other essential aspects of this study, such as data analysis, I
perceive this limitation of phenomenology as a theoretical strength.

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Another limitation of this study is that I did not pay too much attention to differences in
experiences based on participants’ locations. As noted, participants came from a variety of
different locations across the nation. Perhaps, location could be a contributing factor to the ways
students experience nightlife. Disregarding geographical location limits the study’s nuance.
Although my initial reasoning for opening the study to all participants—regardless of their
college or university’s location—was to broaden the scope of the study, it also limited the
amount of nuance I was able to pull from the data. In future studies, I would make considering
geographical locations more of a priority. Nonetheless, the data still offers unique, innovative,
and creative ways of thinking through Black undergraduate women’s experiences in their
external environments.
Role of Researcher
Although quantitative and positivist researchers have attempted to remove biases and the
researcher's influence when conducting empirical studies, all research is subjective (Strauss &
Corbin, 1998). This is why it is essential to consider the researcher's role and how that might
particularly impact qualitative research. In qualitative research, the researcher often plays a
collaborative role. In this study, my background and knowledge of higher education were
pertinent to designing the study. Additionally, my identities are also essential to consider in the
research design and methods.
My role as the researcher in this study was to provide insight into how Black
undergraduate women experience their external environments, specifically in the nightclub
context. In this role, I was also responsible for taking the necessary steps to ensure I presented
the data to represent participant's narratives accurately. My role also included providing
conclusions about how higher education policymakers, administrators, and faculty members

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might use this study's findings to create support, specifically for Black women on their higher
education journeys.
I find it especially useful to consider my educational background and how it influenced
my data interpretation. As a twenty-seven-year-old Black and Indigenous heterosexual
transracial adoptee to a white family in a middle-class Latinx neighborhood, I found myself—
and continue to find myself—grappling with what my identity means in the various multicultural
settings I traverse. Too Black for my white adoptive family, unconnected to my Indigenous roots
of my biological father, and not Black "enough" for my Black peer groups, I am privy to
conversations of identity. I observed how my white family members were granted access to
societal benefits because of the privileges that accompany their white identity. My family
members' privileges were evident through simple interactions, such as landlords accepting my
application only once I brought my white mother to our meetings, but not before that.
Once I graduated high school, I attended the University of San Francisco and double
majored in Sociology and Critical Diversity Studies. My majors and identities made me gravitate
towards becoming intensely involved in several student organizations. For example, I was the
Black Student Union President and brought activist, scholar, and revolutionary Dr. Angela Davis
to speak to my campus community. She encouraged me and inspired me to attend graduate
school to uplift the importance of Black feminist scholars and activists. All of these activities and
experiences were dedicated to uplifting the Black community. Thus, my commitment to Black
students, particularly Black women, began in my undergraduate career and significantly
influenced the scholar-activist I am today.
After I graduated from my undergraduate institution, I began my Masters of
Postsecondary Education and Student Affairs. During those two years, I was also involved in

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many organizations and spaces that allowed me to supervise and work with Black students. I
noticed the lack of support for Black women undergraduate and graduate students and research
on this particular population. In the pursuit to address this gap in research, I began my doctoral
program. My historical white Ph.D. program enrolled six Black women for the first time, and we
made up almost 50% of the cohort. My cohort's racial composition is vital to note because my
Black peers were critical in my understanding of higher education research. They have thought-
partnered with me, reviewed my work, retained me through challenges, and encouraged me to
conduct this study.
I consider myself a critical scholar concerned with Black feminism and how society treats
Black women and girls. I do not shy away from naming how racism and sexism significantly
impact the treatment of minoritized populations. My personal experiences have made race and
gender salient topics in my life and research. Thus, I have always been committed to pushing
critical discourse, fighting for the most minoritized voices, and making space for Black women
in research. Overall, the experiences mentioned above have significantly shaped my perception
of intersectionality, influencing and guiding my interpretation of the data I collected.

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CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS
In this chapter, I present the findings that emerged from 42 individual interviews
conducted to investigate the off-campus experiences of Black undergraduate women in nightlife.
These findings provided understanding into the environments Black undergraduate women
navigate in nightlife and their hopes for the future of nightlife. Participants shared a variety of
specific examples of their experiences. It is also important to note that this study did not have a
specific research site. Although their experiences applied to themselves as individuals, some of
their narratives were almost identical. These combined findings suggest commonalities among
Black undergraduate women experiencing this particular phenomenon.
Participants attended universities and colleges across the U.S., which allowed for
responses from various undergraduate women from different locations. The inclusion of students
from different geographical regions was intentional. Since this is seemingly the first study
investigating this specific demographic of students and research topic, as a researcher, I wanted
to be sure to allow space for all participants to share their narratives, regardless of their
geographical location. Although institutional sizes, types, and locations varied, Black
undergraduate women shared everyday experiences as they navigated the complexities of their
identities in off-campus nightlife venues.
The findings in this chapter were based on research questions stated in Chapter One and
Chapter Three. Specifically, the following research questions guided this study: (1) How do
Black undergraduate women in colleges and universities navigate their off-campus experiences
in nightclubs? In addition, I explore a supplementary and related question: (2) How do Black
undergraduate women characterize nightlife culture, specifically their racialized and gendered

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encounters with nightclubs?” These questions are designed to capture the lived experiences of
participants and their relationship with their external environments.
The interviews and lived experiences of participants were organized into categories that
emerged during the data analysis period. I was particularly interested in specific examples that
Black undergraduate women had in nightlife, often asking participants to “walk me through that
experience.” As participants reflected on their racialized and gendered experiences of obtaining
access to nightclubs and their overall experience in this particular social environment, many
shared instances of colorism, blatantly racist and sexist encounters, aesthetic judgment, and
rejection. Many experiences they shared aligned with previous research about Black women’s
bodies being hypersexualized, undervalued, sexually deviant, and policed; these factors work
simultaneously, thus creating a perplexing yet realistic illustration of the dangers facing Black
women.
These findings are presented through six significant themes or categories that depict the
racialized and gendered experiences of Black undergraduate women in nightlife. The themes are
(1) motivations and campus-adjacent nightlife—participants explained their motivations for
going out and also illustrated how their social nightlife experiences at their institutions were not
inclusive of Black women; (2) aesthetic judgment—participants named how their bodies were
subjected to phenotypic evaluation of their skin color, hairstyle, and body shape; (3)
misogynoir—participants discussed that the promoters and bouncers who denied them access
were partaking in misogynoir, which is anti-Black racist misogyny specified towards Black
women; (4) safety—participants were concerned about their safety when going out; (5) rejection
and acceptance—participants acknowledged that they were rejected based on what was
“missing” from their physical appearance and knew what nightlife venues to attend or not to; (6)

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appropriation—participants made clear that Black women’s culture and aesthetic were praised on
non-Black women.
These particular themes and quotes from Black undergraduate women were used to
illustrate how this population experiences their external environments, using nightlife as a space
for empirical investigation. As noted in Chapter 3, school names are intentionally left out, and
participants were given pseudonyms to protect their anonymity. Each section was organized by
the saliency in participants’ examples and lived realities. As can be seen, some sections are
longer than others, given that specific themes were more salient than others. Nonetheless, these
themes represent what concepts and shared experiences emerged the most out of the data. Lastly,
it is also important to note that some themes intertwine with other themes and will at times, be
briefly referred to out of order (e.g. the theme fifth theme of safety being mentioned in the first
theme of motivations and campus-adjacent nightlife). When this occurs, I clarify that I will later
detail those particular themes in this chapter.
Motivations and Campus-Adjacent Nightlife
The first significant finding of this study explores the social life of Black undergraduate
women. It is well known that many college and university students participate in social activities
in college, both on and off campus (Grazian, 2008). One of such social activities includes going
out to experience nightlife. Whether of drinking age or not, it would be naïve to assume that
many college students do not attempt to experience off-campus nightlife—at least once in their
collegian journey. However, as the findings show, some of the first nightlife experiences some
participants were exposed to while in college were campus-adjacent nightlife events. “Campus-
adjacent” describes nightlife events such as close or nearby campus parties. On-campus student
organizations often host these events. Further, this theme included participants explaining their

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motivations for experiencing their social lives in the nightlife space. This finding also relates to
the areas, contexts, and locations participants engaged with.
“Black Girls Deserve to Have Fun”
The participants often exclaimed that they and other Black girls and women deserve to
have fun. They were insistent that Black women are constantly made to feel that they cannot
experience duality. They frequently spoke of how they navigate the complexities of being Black
women in colleges and universities, which was accompanied by the pressures of performing to a
high standard. Many participants mentioned how they receive pressure from their family, peers,
and society to work hard. Although participants were all exceptionally academically successful
and involved within their campus community, some of them engaged in social nightlife
experiences, simply to have fun. One participant, Kyrah offered the following:
The thing is…people need to understand that Black women experience hate from
all sides. I mean, we get hate and discrimination from our institutions, our
workplaces, and just society in general…ya know? So, no, I am not going to act
like I need to have it together all the time…I just want to have fun and enjoy a
night out because “Black girls deserve to have fun!”

All participants shared similar sentiments and acknowledged the outside hate and pressures they
receive. Another student, Brianna, stated, “I am the best of both worlds. I’ll write you a 10-page
research paper and also dance until 2am. We call that duality.”
Several participants also reflected on the simple, yet seemingly complex relationship they
have with fun. Some suggested that they almost felt guilty for wanting to engage in fun outside
of their studies. However, they would quickly think about that guilt, laugh, and exclaim that
there is no reason for them to feel guilty. For example, one participant, Miyah shared,
“Sometimes I feel like there’s so much for me to do and I should stay inside…Actually, I take

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that back. I deserve to have a good time, okay!” The candor and genuine grace they extended
themselves was a common occurrence.
Others discussed their commitments outside of school and how going out to experience
nightlife was a coping mechanism or way for them to decompress. Nia explained:
In general, for myself, to inform the decision of going out, it would be—I would
use it as a way of a balance because I was doing a lot of research. I was doing a
lot of work outside of school, working two jobs. I was in a position to use that as
an outlet. I was like, ‘If I have time, and I need a break, I’m going to do this on a
weekend,’ maybe one day out of the weekend or two days out of the weekend,
maybe Friday, casual, bar drink situation.

Many participants frequently shared about this balancing act that was critical in their academic
and social life. They saw going out and having fun as something they deserved to partake in.
Several participants reflected upon their desires to have fun and described how they also enjoyed
being in community with their friends outside of the classroom. Specifically, they wanted to
create fun memories outside the confines of a college or university setting. Taylor stated, “I just
want to experience life with my girls; looking and feeling good.” Other motivations for going
off-campus to experience nightlife included similar sentiments to Taylor’s. Tara shared:
I think the decision of going out was mostly about…if it is a social thing that I can
have a good time and if…I have the emotional and mental energy to socialize
then, Yeah, I’m down. Let’s go dance!

Overall, participants consistently affirmed that Black girls deserve to have fun and some
specifically stated that experiencing nightlife was also a form of taking care of themselves and
“letting lose.”
“I’m Exploring My Identity”
Exploring identity played a significant role in participants’ motivations to experience
nightlife around campus and off campus. Participants reflected upon the experiences they had
and discussed how they were “figuring themselves out” and seeing “where they fit in.” They

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wanted to learn more about their identities outside the confines of college and university life and
have the memories to reflect on. Participants did not necessarily consider how their Blackness
and womanhood would influence their nightlife experiences until they had negative experiences.
They emphasized the importance of having the opportunity to explore themselves. For example,
Sasha explained:
Having a good time away from all of the many responsibilities that we have as
college students is important but it’s more than that. For me, and I think many
other Black women in college, we’re just figuring it out. Like I grew up in a small
town with little to no Black people, let alone women that look like me. So when I
started to go out, it was because I wanted to try on a different look and different
feel if that makes sense.

Experiencing nightlife allowed them to try on different identities to discover the women they are
and want to become. Some even described this as “liberating.” It was liberating because it was a
chance to recreate themselves. Tia expressed similar views regarding this “trying on of identities
by explaining:
It’s like growing up, you always wonder what it would be like to go out to a bar
or club. And then you get there and you’re like what the hell is this? Everyone is
dressed up, you meet new people, it’s loud, and all that. But for me, I felt like it
was a whole new world and it was up to me to show people how I wanted to be
perceived. No one knew me and I liked that.

Black undergraduate women also frequently discussed how they dressed. Participants
frequently mentioned how going out to nightclubs requires a certain type of attire. Barry
explained:
For me, I never really wore heels or skirts or any of that. Not because I didn’t
want to but I just didn’t know what would look good on me. When I started going
out to clubs in college, my friends would encourage me to try different clothes on.
They’d be like “girl, show off them legs!” I still think heels are social
constructions to torture people who wear them, but I did learn how to be more
confident when I try different clothes on. I’m exploring my identity.

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Many participants indicated that going out into nightlife allowed them to try new things, such as
their clothing. This exploration of identity was “empowering” because it made them feel like
they could explore different parts of themselves. To be clear, not all participants discussed their
attire in this way but all of them made clear that “going out” was a place for them to try on
different identities.
“The Research Paper Can Wait”
As noted, participants were heavily involved in their respective colleges and universities
and extremely academically successful. They made clear that their studies were important to
them and oftentimes reminded me of their stories and how hard they worked to get to where they
are. This was evident in the passion they exuded when discussing their goals and where they see
themselves in the future. Nonetheless, they were transparent about how they do it and explained
that going out to the nightlife scene was almost a form of retention for them. This said, all
participants were authentically unapologetic when describing this balancing act that they do with
their studies and social lives. As Nia confidently said, “The research paper can wait.”
Participants came from a variety of different colleges and universities across the country.
Throughout their undergraduate experiences they participated in on campus organizations,
honors associations, community service projects, recreational sports teams, and their studies. I
was not only impressed but astounded by the way they balanced their many responsibilities but
also prioritized having fun and experiencing their social lives. Mariah shared the following about
managing her studies and nights out:
Like Drake said, “couple things due, but you always get it done,” and that is me and other
Black women. We always get things done no matter what. I mean like, we come from a
legacy of women who never made excuses and always came through. The paper will get
written. The lab report will be completed. The thing will get done, but ima still go to the
club though.

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This theme was repeated by almost every participant. They were confident that the “research
paper” could wait, but they always highlighted the brilliancy of Black women. Similar to that of
the previous quote, Mariah offered the following:
Sometimes I am amazed at what us Black women can do. It’s funny because
everyone assumes that I’m all about school, which I am. But like there’s more to
me and my identity. I love dancing and love going out with my friends. I will
obviously make time to finish my work but school doesn’t define me anymore.

Again, participants repeatedly discussed this balancing act that they engaged in throughout the
interviews.
“White Fraternity Parties Ain’t It”
Beyond their desires to balance their academic and social lives, Black undergraduate
women made clear that they were strongly against attending white fraternity parties. This theme
is important because participants mentioned that many white fraternities’ houses are close to
campus—often being the first point of nightlife some college students choose to experience.
There were a variety of reasons they stated this, but mainly they did not feel accepted or included
in such spaces. For participants who attended colleges and universities in rural and suburban
contexts, white fraternity parties were some of their only social options outside of bars.
However, they actively avoided attending white fraternity parties, in particular, but were more
inclined to attend Black fraternity parties, which are discussed in the next sub theme. A majority
of participants shared specific experiences that they had at white fraternity parties pertaining to
not being let inside, not being included in conversations, being ignored and looked over or
hypersexualized, or being verbally attacked. All of such experiences were limited to the first and
only time they attended white fraternity parties. This was because participants’ experiences were
extremely negative, so they avoided—and told their Black women friends—to also avoid white
fraternity parties.

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Participants frequently shared that white fraternity parties are not inclusive to anyone
who is “not a white, skinny, blond- or brown-haired girl.” When asked their motives for
attendings such parties, all participants stated they had been invited by a non-Black person of
color they had met in either one of their classes or extracurricular activities. Lana explained:
One of my classmate’s invited me to a fraternity party in one of the fraternity
houses off-campus. I was in my first year and wanted to experience what that was
like. I feel like a lot of first years think those parties will be like the movies, and
in some ways, they are. But not for Black girls. Like I felt so unwelcomed and
every one was staring at me like I did not belong. White fraternity parties ain’t it.

Unfortunately, many other participants also experienced similar encounters being Black women
at white fraternity parties. Nina mentioned:
It’s not like I’m going to go back to a white fraternity party again, but the point is,
nightlife should be open to everyone. I shouldn’t have to tell myself, ‘I hope they
are cool with Black girls here,’ before I attend a party just like any other college
student. It’s not right and it doesn’t make me feel good about myself. Being a
Black woman isn’t something to be ashamed of.

This narrative that being a Black woman is nothing to be “ashamed of” was an idea that all
participants consistently discussed. Throughout their collegian experiences, Black undergraduate
women were made to feel as if they had to be on pins and needles trying to be the “best” version
of themselves just to be accepted by spaces traditionally committed to misogynoir. In this way,
white fraternity parties were one of those spaces that participants refused to continuously engage
with.
Participants also shared some narratives about their times at white fraternity parties. All
of the participants recognized that these experiences would not have happened to non-Black
women. Tiana shares the following example of her negative experience at a white fraternity party
in the following:
White frats are just crazy. You can do whatever you want, and go wherever you
want. No one really cares, but, as a black woman, I did encounter a few issues.

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Sometimes these types of parties have lists. So, I was with a group of white
people. All my white friends had gone in front of me. There was like four of
them…three white men at the door saw me and they said, ‘Who do you know
here?’ I was like, ‘I'm here with my friend. Your friend is the one who invited all
of us.’ They said, ‘You cannot come in here.’ My friends had gone…No one had
waited to see if I had made it in. I had to have the campus cruiser take me back
home. Yeah. I had to take that home, alone back to the dorms, because I was not
allowed into this frat. Ridiculous.

All participants who discussed their experiences in white fraternities were adamant that white
fraternity parties were toxic spaces that reproduced misogynoir. In one participant’s
experience as a college student in the South, there were white fraternity members in her
classes who had parties on a plantation. Although Mia did not attend this particular party, she
was aware that parties on plantations exist. When calling out this fact during class, those
fraternity members rolled their eyes and made snarky comments. In this particular instance,
Mia’s campus-adjacent experience also followed her back into the classroom.
In addition, some participants also shared how white fraternity parties are unsafe for
Black women to attend. Daja discussed an instance at one of these parties where a man
threatened her with physical violence stating “Bitch, I’ll punch you.” In this instance, the person
was highly intoxicated and was upset that Daja accidently stepped on his foot while walking to
the restroom. After the man’s friend overheard the aggression, his friend interrupted and
apologized to Daja on behalf of the man’s behavior, explaining that his friend was heavily
intoxicated. Daja told him, “Yeah, but when you’re blackout, you don’t threaten to punch
women. Daja then expounded on the lack of safety and protection Black women have in nightlife
as she states:
Nobody’s on a white horse riding to save the day when this man is talking to me, a Black
woman, saying, “Bitch, I’m gonna punch you.” I was traumatized for a little while after
that situation because I felt like, okay, I’ve seen it play out in a big crowd—that
bystander effect. People chose to—actively saw me experiencing harm—verbal abuse or
threats of physical violence—and said nothing, did nothing, walked the other way. This is

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how Black women constantly experience the world—even something so simple like a
damn party.

Participants often discussed the lack of care or protection of Black women in nightlife, which I
detail further in the latter portion of the findings. These are just a few examples of the kinds of
experiences Black undergraduate women had with white fraternities in campus-adjacent
nightlife. Again, participants were not interested in attending white fraternity parties after their
first encounters.
“Where the Black Frats At”
Unlike white fraternities, participants reported that they felt the exact opposite when they
attended Divine 9 (D9) parties or Black fraternity parties. The Divine 9 consists of nine
historically Black Greek letter organizations (BGLOs) that collectively make up the National
Pan-Hellenic Council. Each of the nine fraternities and sororities have a long history, some over
100 years, of scholarship and service. Many of these D9 organizations, specifically the Black
fraternities are known for hosting campus-adjacent parties open to all students regardless of a D9
affiliation. Hence, all participants were not a part of the D9, but they were at least interested in
attending some of the D9 social events. For example, participants were clear that Black fraternity
campus-adjacent parties were not always their first choice of activity, as they preferred venturing
off-campus. However, when they did attend Black fraternity parties, they felt welcomed and
affirmed unlike their experiences at white fraternity parties. Although participants who were not
in historically Black Greek organizations did not always enjoy attending D9 parties because they
thought they could be too “cliquey,” they preferred going to D9 parties over white fraternity
parties. Tia stated, “I just never felt weird or like I would get kicked out at a D9 party. I really
had good experiences there.”

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Although participants did not necessarily seek out D9 parties, those spaces were the only
campus-adjacent spaces where they felt like their identities were accepted and celebrated.
Oftentimes participants noted that they the D9 organization members invited them to their parties
at campus welcome week, Black Student Union meetings, and other campus events. They
explained that this made them feel welcome and even if they were not interested in joining a D9
organization, they were thankful that the D9 organizations brought their Black campus
community together. To expand on this, Jamiah shared:
I remember when I first got to campus. I didn’t really know anyone and I felt so
nervous going to welcome week events. I walked past one of the D9 tables..I can’t
remember what organization they were in, but yeah, they were handing out flyers
inviting Black students to their party. And I don’t know, I just felt like they were
really nice and genuinely wanted to bring Black people together. Even the Black
sororities invited me to some of their campus events.

Many participants shared similar experiences as they discussed some of their first encounters
with D9 organizations were at welcome week or other campus events. Tia mentioned, “I mean
whether I wanted to actually join a D9 organization or not, I can’t lie, all of them were very
welcoming, which made me more inclined to attend their parties.”
When asked about specific differences between white fraternity and Black fraternity
parties, participants always mentioned the community. Iyana shared, “It’s like, when I walk into
a white party, all eyes are on me because I’m considered an outsider, but when I walk into a
Black party, eyes are on me because I look good, you feel me?” She proceeded to laugh as did I.
In addition, Mae shared an extremely detailed example of her experience at a white fraternity
party in the following excerpt:
Okay, so I remember walking into a white fraternity party, which I shouldn’t have
done in the first place. We only went because our friend from our writing class
invited us. But yeah, I was with a group of my friends—all Black girls. We get to
the front and I kid you not, they looked at us up and down and said, “wrong Alpha
house.” Cause ya know, the Black fraternity was also having an event that night

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and they’re also called the alphas. They literally laughed in our faces and we just
walked away. I’m glad it happened because I didn’t want to be somewhere like
that anyways, but that’s why I always tell, ya know…I tell other first year Black
girls to avoid those white frat boys. Where the Black frats at? Period.

Participants also shared concerns about their safety at white fraternity parties, which is also
discussed later in this chapter.
Aesthetic Judgment
As Black undergraduate women navigated nightlife while attending colleges and
universities, their physical attributes were discriminated against yet admired, depending on how
they presented phenotypically. This second major theme that emerged in this study relates to
what I refer to as aesthetic judgment. Participants named how their bodies were subjected to
phenotypic evaluation of their skin color, hairstyle, and body shape. In this way, their physical
appearances—almost always—were judged before they entered nightclubs. As will be shown, all
participants overwhelmingly discussed that they were either aesthetically judged or know a
Black woman who was. Nonetheless, participants were highly aware of colorism, fatphobia, and
other Eurocentric standards of beauty. They shared both personal experiences and the
experiences of their college Black women friends who also had similar narratives. It was not
uncommon for participants to inquire whether they were allowed to share experiences of their
college Black women friends. It is also important to note that this finding and the others to
follow, strictly refer to participants’ experiences in nightclubs, not campus-adjacent nightlife.
“My Body is Not Up for Judgement Now or Ever”
Participants frequently rejected the idea of aesthetic judgement loudly, proudly, and
authentically. Many participants enthusiastically spoke about their experiences in nightlife and
how they thought Black women were constantly judged. They continuously mentioned how

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Black women are phenotypically judged beginning at a young age. Crystal provided thoughts on
the hypersexuality of Black girls and women in the following example:
I’ll put it like this…Black girls and I say Black girls because from a young age,
we are hypersexualized and judged on our bodies. I remember men commenting
on my body and cat calling me as I walked home from school, and I was like
thirteen. But yeah, Black girls don’t have the luxury of being seen as human
beings who deserve to be respected. Our agency is stripped from us before we
even have the chance to explore who we are because we live in a society that does
not respect or care for Black women.

Participants spoke passionately about their experiences being aesthetically judged from a young
age. Nia even shared that “Being Black and a woman means you have to constantly think about
how you are being perceived. It could very well mean your safety. Similarly, to Nia and Crystal,
another participant, Teyana shared:
I just feel like I always have to worry about what I wear, where I am, who I’m
with. I mean…women, in general, have to think in this way. But, I really do think,
Black women have to think three times as much. When I was fifteen years old, all
my teachers called me “fast,” just because I had large breasts and boys would
stare at me in class. Like as a young girl I felt like I was doing something wrong,
but in reality, my teachers should’ve taught boys about toxic masculinity instead
of hypersexualizing my body.”

Many participants shared brief anecdotes similar to this about their experiences in middle school
and high school. Other participants also spoke negatively about their experiences with their
bodies being hypersexualized from a young age, following them into their collegian days.
This type of aesthetic judgment continued as Black undergraduate women ventured into
nightlife in their collegian journeys. They consistently shared that their first encounters with
aesthetic judgment began far before they reached the nightclub doors. Participants explained that
many nightclubs no longer use RSVP lists, but rather, they hire promoters to use their social
media platforms to bring a particular “type” of an audience to their establishments. The
intertwining of misogynoir and promoters are discussed further in theme five. However, as

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participants note, this form of aesthetic judgment includes promoters explicitly seeking a
particular “look” of a woman. Trina explains that this “look” might not always include Black
women:
So, me and my friends saw this flyer on Instagram for this club event. We DM’d
the promoter on the flyer and he told me to come through. But he asked me to
send pictures of my friends I was bringing…also…I am obviously privileged in
having lighter skin...I just think that’s important for me to say…I sent photos of
my friends and he never responded. We decided to go anyways. When we got to
the door, the promoter let me in but said “only you.”

This instance of colorism is discussed in the next subtheme, but this participant’s experience
being asked to send photos of her friends was a common occurrence. Another participant, Carina
shared:
Okay, so to be real, I came to college thinking my nights out would be just like
the tv shows and stuff. But being a Black woman attending a white school, which
I think is most of our experiences…I just didn’t expect that racism would follow
me to the club. Like, I had this promoter find me on Instagram and invited me out
to this local club…But he asked me to send him pictures of my friends…I thought
that was weird…When he saw pictures, he never responded. I messaged him
again and he foreal responded, “sorry, love. Your friends don’t look like you.”

In this particular example, the participant continued to share that she, similar to Trina’s
example, has features that more so align with “Eurocentric beauty standards.” As Kyrah stated,
“You can get in the club as a Black girl, they just want you to look a certain way, which is light
skin, curly hair, and thin.”
This rhetoric of being a “certain type” of a Black girl was referenced in almost every
interview. In addition, when asked what this “certain type” of Black woman phenotypically
looked like, all participants stated, “the slim thick light skin, curly-haired Black girl.” Regardless
of how they looked, all participants were aware that their skin color, hair type, and even body
shape played into their treatment in nightlife. This central theme echoed across interviews as all

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42 participants were keenly aware of how different phenotypes of Black women influenced their
experiences. Lana further explained:
It really irritates me when people, specifically men, say this shit doesn’t happen.
Because it does. When I saw your study, I was like, “oh my gosh,” someone is
finally talking about this. My body is not up for judgement now or ever. Also, just
because you might see one dark skin woman in the club, doesn’t mean nightlife
doesn’t have biases against Black women because we can really get into it.

Participants honestly shared that they feel their experiences are rarely listened to or taken
seriously. They were all mindful of their positionality and how their lived experiences might not
be the same as another Black woman’s. Nonetheless, they consistently made clear that aesthetic
judgment related to Black women is a significant issue in nightlife and other spaces in society.
“The Guest List is the Paper Bag Test”
As previously mentioned, participants discussed how they experienced aesthetic
judgment about phenotypical features such as skin color, which they referred to as colorism. All
participants talked about their experiences with colorism or their thoughts about the topic.
Colorism was a topic that was frequently revisited throughout the interviews as participants
believed it was a significant factor that Black women face in nightlife and society. Mariah shared
the following:
I 100 percent believe that darker skin Black women experience the world
differently, just even their daily lives, it's different. The guys that approach them
are different. The way that they speak to them is different. There’s nothing in me
to doubt that their experience is different.

Although Mariah was not a darker-skinned Black woman, she and other lighter-skinned
participants explained that they witnessed the colorism darker-skinned Black women face. The
students consistently indicated that they had either personally experienced colorism or been there
to witness it. A common colorist experience that participants discussed, was attending a

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nightclub with a group of all Black women, and the lighter-skinned Black women would be
allowed entry, but their darker-skinned Black friends would not be. For example, Keisha shared:
There was another time I did go out with literally just a purely group of Black
girls, and I can’t remember the name of the club we went to. I can’t remember the
name, but I remember that my fair-skinned friends were being treated differently
than me and my darker-skinned friends from the staff of the club. One of my
friends realized that I couldn’t get in, they would say, “We’re going home.” They
wouldn’t be like, “Oh, let’s try and bribe the bouncer.” It’s like, “No.” If a place
is colorist, we will leave.

In this situation and other similar examples, participants made clear that if they experienced or
witnessed colorism, they chose to leave the venue.
Other Black undergraduate students spoke negatively about nightlife culture and how
they experience nightlife staff participating in colorist behaviors. Rachelle provided the
following example of such an instance:
I’ve literally witnessed nightlife staff like promoters or bouncers let lighter-
skinned girls in. The crazy thing is, they had just told me that they were at
capacity, but it’s like, “no, you’re at capacity for me, a darker-skinned Black
woman.” It was so uncomfortable going out to clubs being the only darker skin
Black girl. I feel like clubs everywhere, especially more upscale clubs, have a
guest list and the guest list is the paper bag test.

The topic of colorism was prevalent throughout each interview as participants thought about the
many ways they had witnessed it. To be a Black undergraduate woman in nightlife was to learn
the ins and outs of nightclub culture. Marissa shared:
It’s no secret that these nightclubs want to fit an image and they believe the
lighter a woman is the better the look for the club. It’s unfortunate so many
beautiful Black women have been neglected in a past time everyone gets to enjoy.
We are denied access to upscale events because we don’t fit the “look” everyone
so desires.

Similar to Marissa’s story, it was routine for participants to share their narrative and make it a
point to state they were with “beautiful Black women.” It appeared that since they had negative
experiences meeting racist and sexist beauty standards, they felt they needed to validate their and

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their friend’s beauty. Further, Black undergraduate women also discussed that the issue with
colorism is also within the Black community. They explained that both bouncers and promoters
shared a role in their negative experiences with aesthetic judgment, and sometimes, bouncers, in
particular, were also Black (i.e., Black men). It appeared that colorism was prevalent in their
nightclub experiences regardless of the race of the bouncer or promotor. In one vivid example,
Jada shared:
Me and friends were waiting in line for this club for so long and when we got to
the front we were denied entry because apparently the club was at full capacity
but as we were leaving I saw the bouncer…a white man…letting in more Latina,
white and light skin girls. When I came back to ask why he lied to us he pretended
to not know us and told us to get to the back of the line if we wanted to enter. We
didn’t feel welcome and didn’t want to wait in line—again—and I thought this
was typical racism and colorism so we left to look for something else. The sad
thing is that same night we decided there’s no point going to establishments that
are against our skin color so we decided to go to a Black club. When we reached
the front of the line the dude at the door…a Black man who also co-owned the
spot…told my brownskin friends to look out for me otherwise I’d go missing
inside the dark-lit club. He was talking about my darker skin tone and played it
off as a joke when I challenged him…he saw I was getting upset by the “joke”
and told me “aggressive” behaviors from women weren’t allowed inside so he
denied me entry.

Jada’s narrative was one of many accounts of Black undergraduate women experiencing
colorism from all races of men. Lastly, participants never once stated they had ever experienced
colorism or other forms of aesthetic judgment from women in nightlife spaces. Perhaps this is
because many women can relate to being judged on their appearance and do not want to
participate in the same practices.
In addition to experiencing or witnessing colorism from promoters and bouncers,
participants also noted that such colorism went beyond the different shades of Black. They
frequently explained that colorism included lighter non-Black women being treated differently
than Black women. Cassie shared:

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One of my good friends got invited to be on the flyer for and “host” an event at a
nightclub in Atlanta. You would think a city known for having a large Black
population and culture would be better about discrimination, but no. As part of the
deal…she and her guests got to share a large section with the promoter. In the
course of the night they exhibited colorism, racism…and the promoters were
extremely standoffish toward the women in our group, particularly those who
were darker skinned and not “racially ambiguous.” Throughout the night they
proceeded to overcrowd the section by inviting a host of non-Black women into
the section who apparently had the “look” they wanted. The tension and obvious
prejudice was so high and uncomfortable that many of us, including myself and
the host, left the section for the rest of the night. The promoter text my friend who
was on the flyer after the fact to make negative comments about the women she
brought. Needless to say, she went off on him. He had the same…narrative about
it being “just business” rather than acknowledging it for what it was…blatant
discrimination all around.

Participants discussed how lighter non-Black women fit the “look” that nightclubs were looking
for throughout the interviews. Participants repeatedly brought up this theme (i.e., lighter-skinned
non-Black women as the “new” beauty standard). When speaking about beauty standards as they
relate to colorism, Mariah stated:
I think there are Eurocentric beauty standards everywhere. But it’s interesting. Me
and my friends were just talking about this. Growing up, the beauty standard was
super white. Typical white girl, blonde hair and blue eyes and skinny. Now, it’s
like the new beauty standard is light skin, slim thick, straight or curly hair, and I
hate to say this word, but “exotic looking.” That’s why you hear rappers always
say, they want a “foreign.” So I think, there’s this new beauty standard that
glorifies non-Black women that fit that look. Look at every girl on a nightclub’s
flyer or social media and I kid you not, they all fit that look.

Like Mariah, participants made clear that they thought Eurocentric beauty standards still apply in
nightlife spaces, but they witnessed a shift in the type of “look” nightclubs seek. This “look” is
continuously discussed throughout this chapter.
“It’s Literally Just Hair”
Another aspect of aesthetic judgment that participants discussed was the idea of hair and
hairstyles. To be a Black undergraduate woman exploring nightlife also means that one of the
first things they thought about before leaving for a night out was their hair. Not only were

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hairstyles a significant determiner in how Black women were treated, but hairstyles were also
something Black women were intensely aware of. Aja shared:
Yeah, so when I am getting ready to go out, if my hair isn’t done or laid, girl, I am
not going out. Like, I’m not going to walk out of the house looking crazy and I
also know that these clubs already act weird towards Black women. And I mean, I
guess Black women always have to think about our hair and how we are going to
style it. Not only do we think about this in the workplace, or in class, but also
when we go out to have fun.

Aja’s experience was shared amongst other participants as they also asserted that their hair was
something they thought about before going out. Other participants even shared that their hair was
a determining factor in their decision to go out in the first place.
Further, more participants discussed similar experiences observing how Black women
were treated based on their hairstyle or hair type. For example, Ciara shared:
Speaking on my personal experience, I feel like if my hair is freshly straight and I
have on a nice outfit, I can easily get in. But if I wear my hair curly and wear like
a more “ethnic” outfit, I have literally been turned away at the door or told by
promoters not to even come. So ridiculous. It’s literally just hair.

Some participants went as far as to explain which types of hair are more “acceptable than
others.” Jada shared that her lighter-skinned friend, who had “type 3A hair and colored eyes, and
long eyelashes,” was granted access to a nightclub. For context, type 3A hair is typically curly
springy hair with loops—out of all the curly hair types, 3A might be considered more appealing
to Eurocentric beauty standards. However, Jada explained that she and her other friends were
“regular looking Black girls,” and they were not allowed entry to the club. They decided to leave
and go back to campus. This example was a commonly shared experience amongst participants
as they witnessed how skin color, hairstyle, and hair texture influenced how Black women were
treated.

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As participants discussed, Black women often switch their hairstyles in myriad ways,
such as wearing their hair how it naturally lays or applying heat to straighten it, using hair
extensions referred to as “weaves,” placing their hair in protective styles to protect against heat
damage such as braids that are interwoven with both their natural hair and synthetic hair for more
extended wear, and more. As participants made clear, there are many styles that Black women
choose to wear their hair, and there is not one particular hairstyle that all Black women ascribe.
Lisa shared:
When my friends and I arrived to the club, there was a white male bouncer who
refused to let me and my party in. He said they one of the girls in our group had
an ugly weave. Mind you, she did not. She was just a Black girl with a blond wig.
Like he really turned us away at the door because he didn’t like her hair and she is
Black.

As participants continuously alluded to, male bouncers and promoters were in charge of deeming
who was worthy enough to enter these nightclubs based on how they look. As Black
undergraduate women often explained, they had to be hyperaware of how they wore their hair.
One participant, Arianna, stated that the “door people told me I could not get in because I had
braids in my hair.” However, Arianna saw a non-Black woman with braids be let in with no
issue. Kiara stated, “Having braids is only “ugly” until non-black women wear the hairstyle, and
us Black women wear braids as a protective hairstyle.” In the following example of braids being
discriminated against, Ebony shared:
The security guard was a light skin Black man who was taking orders from an
older white man. The white man looked at us and we can tell he wasn’t interested
in letting us in. And we figured it out: one of the black girls had box braids. This
one hair style is deemed as unacceptable, unattractive, and dirty...only when it’s
on a Black girl though. We wanted to leave, because it was so gross and
disrespectful, but we were there to celebrate our girl so we didn’t want to ruin the
night. Once we get in we do see Black girls, but a small amount and they either
have loose curl texture, are mixed, or have long weaves.

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Participants consistently shared that bouncers and promoters discriminated against their
hairstyles, yet, when non-Black women wear the same hairstyles (e.g., braids), they are not
treated the same way. Karima discussed a similar situation in the following:
I’m not one to disregard another woman’s looks but I’ve seen women who’ve attempted a
“curly” hair look which is just a frizzy situation, with body types like mine get different
treatment than I did. They just don’t like Black girls.

All participants spoke about looking their best but still being told they did not “fit the look”
because the look was always “anti-Black women.”
“Can We Talk About Fatphobia Though”
The previous subthemes discussed aesthetic judgment as it relates to skin color and
hairstyles. This next subtheme discusses body shape and type related to Black undergraduate
women’s experiences with body shaming in nightlife. When discussing body types, participants
frequently spoke of natural bodies and surgery as well as fatphobia, specifically as it relates to
Black women. Participants felt their bodies were hypercriticized and needed to look a particular
way for them to allowed access to nightclubs. Most importantly, the participants believed their
race and gender played a significant role in the ways they were perceived and treated by nightlife
staff. Oftentimes participants explained that they were “looking their best,” as a way to define
themselves from the discriminatory acts they endured. For example, Kira shared:
All my girls were dressed appropriately, hair done, and in club attire. Black women, do
not waste your time or money in these clubs. Go to parties or events that you know are
hosted by Black folks. Theses clubs definitely have a “type” and by that, I mean skin
color and if you feel like you don’t fit a certain “size” I wouldn't waste your time or
money here either.

Again, participants always discussed this specific “look” or “type” that bouncers and promoters
were looking for. When asked about women’s body shape that “fit the look,” a common response
was, “ya know, the typical features of a Black woman without the Black skin.” Other participants

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responded by stating, “slim women, and if you are thick, you have to be slim thick with curves in
the right places” One participant, Shanice, described her experience as a fat Black woman in the
following excerpt:
I have seen the drastic difference on how Black women and fat Black women are treated
in society and especially in nightlife. And yes, I am fat. People need to stop straying
away from that word. Like, can we talk about fatphobia though? So, I really think the
only reason I was granted access to these clubs is because my internship in entertainment
helped me make connections. So, I had a certain privilege working with clients that are in
the “scene.” They’d invite me places. I am a heavy Black woman and yeah, like, if I
didn’t have my connects, bouncers treated me horribly and showed super racist and sexist
behaviors to Black women of different shades and sizes. But let a Black woman with
curves show up, and you’re treated as if you don’t exist or as if you’re disgusting.

Participants felt that fatphobia was prevalent in nightlife against Black women and women who
were not Black. Tia mentioned, “regardless of race, the nightlife scene doesn’t accept fat or
curvy bodies. But I do feel like when you add the factor of race in; it is different.” Others agreed
with Tia’s sentiments explaining that Black women, specifically, face racism, sexism, and body
shaming in ways tied to the historical underpinnings of misogynoir.
Participants also commonly discussed the idea of surgery versus natural bodies and how
they experienced that playing out in nightlife. To explain, across locations, the participants
consistently noted that European standards of beauty are shifting. They described that such
beauty standards used to only include slim figures, but now, beauty standards are adopting
women with curves “in the right places.” Many participants discussed the Brazilian Butt Lift
(BBL), a surgery that removes fat from the abdomen and other areas to sculpt a body with a tiny
waist, flat stomach, large buttocks, and hips to give the appearance of a coke bottle type figure.
The sixth theme discusses the “BBL effect” in more detail. However, participants took issue with
this because they felt that BBLs and other forms of plastic surgery were modeled off the
aesthetic of a Black woman. However, when they attended nightclubs, they noticed that non-

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Black women with plastic surgery were treated with the utmost respect and granted access to the
venues, but Black women with natural bodies were not. For example, Daja explained:
I feel like a lot of Black women have natural bodies. When you go out to these
clubs, all you see are non-Black women who have altered their bodies to look like
Black women. Like they get BBLs to get bigger butts and fake curves, and look
like the typical lighter skin Instagram models. Yet, real Black women with real
bodies are discriminated against. I’m not saying all Black women have the same
body types but throughout history, our bodies have been curvier. We have hips,
butts and breasts. It seems like beauty standards have shifted from only accepting
slim bodies, to accepting slim bodies and slim thick bodies, if that makes sense.

It is also important to note that all participants made clear that they took no issue with women
who have surgery. If anything, participants mentioned they were pro plastic surgery. However,
they wanted to share that the reality is, there is a severe problem with nightlife venues practicing
misogynoir against Black women and their bodies, yet praising non-Black women who have
altered their bodies to a Black woman’s aesthetic.
Misogynoir
In addition to Black undergraduate women grappling with aesthetic judgment, they made
apparent that their experiences were rooted in misogynoir. This third central theme that emerged
in this study details misogynoir and how it showed up in participant’s on campus, campus-
adjacent, and off-campus experiences. As discussed in Chapter 1, misogyny refers to a form of
sexism defined as the hatred of women, but queer Black feminist scholars, Moya Bailey and
Trudy coined the term “misogynoir,” blending both concepts of “misogyny” and “noir,” which
means Black in French (Bailey & Trudy, 2018). Bailey and Trudy (2018) insisted that Black
women, in particular, experience anti-Black racist misogyny specific only to that of the Black
woman. Misogynoir is prevalent in the findings as participants consistently described that the
bouncers and promoters, as well as some of their peers, who were discriminatory against them,
were all men.

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“Misogynists on and Off-campus”
Misogynoir followed Black undergraduate women both on and off-campus. Regardless of
the spaces they occupied, they experienced discrimination based on their intersecting identities
frequently. Many participants sincerely recalled countless experiences of misogynoir in their
classrooms, their campus-adjacent social lives, as well as their off-campus experiences. In
addition to the various settings in which they navigated the complexities and harm of
misogynoir, they regularly explained that they were not discouraged by their negative
experiences, but they appreciated having the space to share their stories. Jada shared, “I just love
Black women providing the space for us to talk about us. But really though, there are
misogynists on and off-campus. They are everywhere.” As students indicated in the first major
theme, some of their first experiences with misogynoir were with white fraternity members in
campus-adjacent nightlife. However, other students shared that the misogynoir was also
prevalent in their classrooms. Jasmine shared:
I would not change being a Black woman. Ever…I also know I do maintain
privilege attending college. At the same time, I really do think Black women
experience racism and sexism everywhere we go…so, I was in class and this
white male student said…mind you, I’m in a predominantly white school and my
major is also mostly white. But this white male student said I sounded angry in
our group project when all I did was explain that I felt I was doing most of the
work. But ya know, Black women are always angry, right? He emailed the
professor complaining about me…the professor was also a white male. Not
surprising. But, the professor chastised me and didn’t even give me the
opportunity to explain my side because he didn’t care. It’s like we experience
misogyny everywhere we go, even in class.

Participants regularly mentioned stories about their on-campus experiences with misogynoir.
When asked questions about off-campus instances with misogynoir, they would often introduce
those experiences by first providing an example of a racist and sexist encounter they had on

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campus. Although this study is not focused on Black undergraduate women’s experiences on
campus, this narrative that misogynoir followed students on and off-campus appeared repeatedly.
As participants detailed their on-campus experiences with misogynoir, they also
explained that these instances either followed them or continued in their external environments.
For example, Raven stated, “Whether it’s at my college or outside of my college, I just feel like
my identity as a Black woman will always render me a target of discrimination. I wish people
understood that.” In another vivid example, Alyssa shared that misogynoir follows Black women
off-campus. She shared the following:
Me and my friends went out one night. We were a diverse group and all go to the
same university. Me and two of my other friends got in the club but my Black
friends didn’t get it. My friend told me that the promoter told her the other girls
couldn’t get in because they didn’t have the right “look.” The girls who didn’t get
in were Black. Those of us who did were my Latina friend, my mixed friend and
myself, and I’m Black but pass as mixed. It was definitely racism and they don’t
mess with Black women if they aren’t lighter with a certain look…I feel
uncomfortable going out to places like this but I like to have a good time. But it’s
always in the back of my mind that this is how these clubs are, and that I’m there
because of my own seemingly mixed-race appearance. It’s disturbing.

Other students also talked about misogynoir from Black male bouncers. For example, Destiny
stated:
Bouncers are pretty much always men. But there are also Black men who are
bouncers. I’ve seen Black men bouncers practicing misogynoir all the time by
making Black women pay more to get inside, making us wait in a long line but
fetishizing non-Black women that have the Black woman aesthetic, ya know
curves and big lips, which are oftentimes lip fillers. And sometimes these
bouncers, Black men included, just tell you flat out that you don’t fit the part.

Overall, participants experienced misogynoir on and off-campus, which exhausted them because
they felt this discrimination from all directions of their collegian experiences—including their
external environments.

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“There is History Behind All This”
In this subtheme, students believed there was a long history behind misogynoir. They
explained that society “does not care about Black women and everyone just needs to see that as
fact.” They provided remarks detailing the intricate ways that some Black women are celebrated
and accepted based on how they present phenotypically. In addition, participants in this
subtheme also speak about the history being Black women’s voices being silenced and not
listened to. Participants believed that it was imperative to discuss the history behind the hate
Black women receive because to them, “it all makes sense, and if you think about it, there is a
history behind all of this.” Kayla provides an excellent example of the “history behind all of this”
in the below statement:
Black women have faced misogynoir for centuries. Like even something as
simple as a nightclub and our experiences in those spaces can be traced back to
misogynoir. How were Black women treated throughout history? Horribly. Black
women have literally raised their abusers’ children, not been seen as human
beings…and not granted rights and privileges that their Black male counterparts
had. I mean, even the way that like…light skin Black women were in the house
during slavery and dark skin Black women were in the fields. This is a practice
that has been happening for years. That’s why you see light skin girls inside and
all the other Black women who don’t fit a certain vibe or look outside the club.
They judged our looks for centuries. Why would that stop now?

Many participants seemingly agreed with Kayla’s statement as they also explained that there is a
history behind how Black women are treated. Destiny noted, “colorism has been happening for
so long. It’s deeply rooted.” Participants were keenly aware about history and referenced history
when making sense of their experiences. In another example, Tara shared:
My mom told me stories about how her body was judged for being too curvy or
took dark or too this…or too that. We had a conversations about how like…Black
women have been securitized and judged for years. I just think that conversation
spoke a lot to me because it was almost a rite of passage. Like, it was just a
conversation that made me think that I’m probably going to have to talk to my
daughter about how Black women have and continue to deal with so much.

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Tara’s story illustrates how generational experiences are shared amongst Black women.
Some participants felt that whenever they tried to speak up about their experiences in
nightlife, they were oftentimes shut down or told they were being too “sensitive.” This was a
common trend as students oftentimes talked about how grateful they were to be able to have
transparent conversations with a Black woman researcher about their experiences. They
explained that Black women are often not listened to, which is actually a practice of misogynoir.
Laila shared the following:
I think Black women aren’t listened to. Our experiences are seen as less than or if
we are just making things up. Even when I saw this study, I thought it was really
cool that someone was finally talking about this. Every time I try to talk about this
type of situation and the experiences I’ve had, I feel like no one, other than other
Black women, listen.

Laila’s sentiments were shared amongst other participants as they explained that this study was
one of the first times they heard people discussing this topic. They felt included and valued as
they shared their narratives in these interviews. They explained that being silenced about the
discrimination they faced was also a form of misogynoir because “Black women have been
silenced throughout history.” To illustrate further, Daja said:
I remember trying to bring up this topic of Black women being discriminated
against in nightlife. I think I brought it up in one of my business classes, actually.
Yeah, I was talking about how all businesses should consider committing to
equity for moral reasons, but also because discrimination and being racist is bad
for business. I then shared my experience as a dark-skinned curvy Black girl in
nightlife. I kid you not, I literally had men in that class tell me I was being
dramatic or that my experience doesn’t happen everywhere. I felt so
dehumanized.

Black undergraduate women shared similar instances to that of Daja’s experience. They
discussed how society has committed to gaslighting Black women and not taking their lived
realities seriously.

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Black women in this study often spoke about society not listening to Black women as a
practice of misogynoir, as they explained their voices had been traditionally silenced for a
reason. Kyrah even suggested, “maybe Black women are stereotyped as loud because we had to
fight for our voices to be heard in the first place.” To further elucidate on the history behind
Black women’s voices being silenced or minimalized, Crystal shared:
During the civil rights movement…we see a lot of men. This doesn’t mean that
Black women weren’t fighting doing their thing. It means that Black women have
been…erased from so much of history to allow for Black men to have the
mic…I’m not saying I don’t value what our Black men did for or community. But
was guiding them…thinking with them…talking with them and supporting them?
Black women! So yeah…we have to remember that gender plays a huge role in
how all of society sees Black women. That’s why people don’t really care to
listen to our truths.

Nia echoed Crystal’s statement by stating, “if more people listened to Black women, the world
would be a better place.” Overall, participants of this study made clear that they understand why
they experience misogynoir or “the history behind all this,” but it does not excuse that fact that is
happens.
“You’re Not Seeing Me as Someone Who Can Be Hurt or Harmed”
In this subtheme, participants considered how misogynoir has impacted how Black
women are not perceived as “[people] who can be hurt or harmed.” Safety is discussed more in-
depth in the fifth theme, but this particular subtheme specifically highlights how misogynoir is
hurtful in other ways. Black undergraduate women frequently spoke of their experiences on and
off-campus with misogynistic behaviors directed at Black women. They often asked why Black
women are not seen as needing protection or “worthy of being protected.” One participant,
Teyana, provided an insightful synopsis on this shared feeling in the following statement:
I’ve heard and experienced so many instances of colorism and body shaming in
these clubs…and all these bouncers and promoters know exactly what they are
doing. They are going for a certain look of girl and that doesn’t include most

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Black women. But they don’t realize what they’re doing is disgusting and I wish I
could tell them, “you’re not seeing me as someone who can be hurt or harmed.”

The participants believed that society did not value them and other Black women, but
specifically men. However, they validated themselves by saying things such as, “Black women
are beautiful and powerful,” as a way to resist the misogynoir they faced. Black undergraduate
student Angel, further explained:
On campus, I feel like people either see me or they don’t see me. And it’s pretty
similar in my experiences in nightlife. I remember going to this club and a
bouncer looked at me up and down as to judge every part of me and then quickly
dismissed me by telling the non-Black girls behind me to come to the front of the
line. It was like…in that instance, I felt like he saw me, didn’t see any value in
me, and then chose not to see me, and just dismissed me. That’s why I only go out
to kickbacks or bar situations with a few close friends.

Narratives similar to Angel’s were quite common as participants commonly spoke about not
being seen as people who have feelings and are capable of being harmed.
“Black Women Should Own Clubs”
Many Black undergraduate women enthusiastically suggested that the biggest problem
facing nightlife venues was misogynoir. They were adamant and vocal that men caused all of
the problems they and other Black women faced in nightlife. Participants were clear that they
had experienced misogynoir from male bouncers and promoters, regardless of their race. When
asked about change and what would make them feel safe and valued in nightlife spaces, almost
all participants suggested that more “Black women should own clubs.” Even further, they
suggested that Black women should not only own nightclubs but that all their staff, including
bartenders, bouncers, and promoters, should also be women of color. The participants
consistently spoke about how exciting it would be to revolutionize and change the nightlife
arena. Cassandra imagined what Black women owning nightclubs would look like in the
following example:

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Oh my gosh, I’m getting exciting talking about this. Like I’m thinking that
everything would be so different. I even imagine that Black girls in college could
even partner with Black women owned nightclubs to host events and things. I
even think nightlife would look different down to the flyer. The flyers would have
Black women on them. They would be inclusive to all types of Black women and
encourage them to dress comfortably and be themselves. There would be Black
women DJs and bouncers and bartenders. And I guess men would be allowed
(laughs). As long as they are not problematic! It would just be different though.
Black women would be celebrated and loved out loud by each other. I also think
clubs like this would change how we see nightlife as such an exclusive thing. And
I know for me, as a college student, I would feel way safer going to a Black
woman owned club.

Some participants also discussed the pushbacks they have seen or heard when they had
expressed their experiences with misogynoir. The students indicated that although they would
like Black woman-owned nightclubs, they do not know of any. Although the lack of Black
woman ownership in nightlife saddened participants, they recognized institutional barriers that
made it difficult for this reality. Cassandra explained:
Of course, I want more Black women to own nightclubs. I want more Black
women to own everything…to be honest. But I also think about these men that do
own nightclubs and they’re mostly rich, connected, and white. They just hire
other people to run their clubs but they’re probably not actually there every night.
So I just think Black women have to navigate social capital, financial stressors
and misogynoir and all of these barriers make it hard to get Black women in the
pipeline to own clubs. I am hopeful though…I think change will come.

Other participants suggested that more Black women should own nightclubs, but they also
maintained that “problematic” nightclubs should change their practices. Chantelle shared:
I actually saw your tweet a couple years ago about nightlife and your experience.
I remember people saying “then don’t go to those clubs,” or “why would you go a
place where you aren’t wanted…give your money somewhere else.” I just feel
like that is beside the point. The point is that we should not accept misogynoir or
any type of discrimination. Why can’t we have more Black women and women of
color owned nightlife spaces and…at the same time, critique the already
problematic practices of many of these nightclubs? Why can’t we do both?

Black undergraduate women spoke passionately about changing nightlife culture by creating
local laws and policies that make this type of discrimination illegal. Imani asked, “Isn’t there a

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way that cities can have certain policies that do not allow for any discrimination, and isn’t there a
way we can regulate that?” Other participants asked similar questions and reimagined how to
make nightlife venues more equitable.
Safety
Black undergraduate women’s experiences with misogynoir and aesthetic judgment were
prevalent throughout the interviews, as was the issue of safety. For this reason, the fourth central
theme that emerged from this study is entirely related to safety. As discussed in the previous
subtheme, “you’re not seeing me as someone who can be hurt or harmed,” participants regularly
considered how men threatened their safety in racialized and gendered ways, tactics that
participants used to remain safe, and reasons why they had to worry about their safety in the first
place. Participants took their safety and the safety of Black women seriously, often explaining
that if, “we do not make sure we are safe, no one else will.” Overall, safety was discussed
amongst all participants as they detailed the various instances that they or their Black women
friends were threatened or not seen as “worthy” of being cared for.
“College Taught Me I’m Not Safe”
With being a Black woman in college came being hyper-aware of one’s safety. The
participants believed that their colleges and universities and external environments (i.e., off-
campus) were incredibly unsafe for Black women. They frequently thought their safety was at
risk because of the misogynoir that plagues a society founded in anti-Blackness. Jasmine said it
best as she explained, “Black women have to think about their surroundings at all times because
we not only are Black, but we are women.” Participants were hyperaware of their identities and
the dangers they might encounter. Many participants discussed instances where they were or felt

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unsafe on campus as a way to open up a conversation about these same feelings in their off-
campus environments. For example, Barry shared the following story:
I was on campus and the sun had just went down so it was a little late, I guess.
And as I was walking home, this group of three men, were following me. They
were definitely wearing school sweatshirts and looked my age so I know they
went to school with me. And yeah, they kept following me and laughing and
making remarks. I couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying but it wasn’t until
I ran into my friend—who was a man—that they quickly stopped following me
and turned around and walked the other way. College taught me I’m not safe.

This was one of many instances of participants sharing that they felt unsafe or were in unsafe
situations on campus. In another example of participants feeling unsafe, Leah provided this
story:
I live in the dorms next to my campus, so it’s basically like on campus but…yeah.
So, like, I was headed home from class and it was my late class. I remember
looking behind me and there was this guy yelling at me. He said something like,
“where you going?” and basically was cat calling me. And it was super
aggressive. I just started walking fast. The sad thing is that this experience almost
felt normal to me…I’ve been getting cat called since I was thirteen…wow, even
in college, this still happens. I just think colleges have so much more work to do
to keep their students safe, especially from men.

These examples were not isolated incidents as other participants discussed their
experiences with feeling unsafe and provided additional stories.
As participants detailed the many ways that they experienced unsafe situations, some
stories were especially blatantly racialized and gendered. Black undergraduate women discussed
how men verbally attacked them and specifically named their race in gender in such insults,
leading them to feel unsafe. Laila bravely shared the following story:
I was waiting on campus for the campus cruiser to take me home…I lived really
close to campus but I just didn’t feel safe walking home. But as I was waiting, this
man came up to me and started trying to make conversation. Long story short, I
didn’t want to engage so I just ignored him. And I know he attended the school
because he said something about just leaving class. I guess he didn’t like that I
wasn’t giving him the time of day because he said, “that’s what’s wrong with you
Black bitches…always having an attitude.” He made me feel so uncomfortable

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and like I wasn’t even safe waiting for a ride that was supposed to keep me safe in
the first place.

Again, Laila’s example was not an isolated incident as twenty-eight participants stated they had
been called a “bitch,” by men either on-campus or in off-campus in nightlife. Their references
did not include other contexts or instances in which they had been referred to in this manner. Of
these twenty-eight participants, fourteen stated they had been referred to as a “Black bitch.” It is
important to note that participants did not note the racial identities of the men who called them
this slur. Being called racist and misogynistic names was a common occurrence amongst the
findings. Participants explained that many Black women experienced at least one instance of
feeling unsafe because of their race and gender. Rachelle explained, “It’s sad because college is a
place for new experiences, but it’s like the older I get, the more I realize how much Black
women are not protected.” Rachelle’s sentiment echoed throughout the findings as participants
consistently named how their race and gender made them even more of a target of violence.
“Try Me If You Want To”
Although Black undergraduate women experienced unsafe situations on campus and in
their external environments, they were adamant that they were not going to be threatened by the
outside world. Participants were aware that their race and gender significantly influenced their
safety, particularly as they navigated their external environments, and took this seriously.
However, they were also clear that there were ways to be safe while also enjoying their lives.
They refused to live in fear that their identities would put them at risk for other unsafe situations.
Participants shared this level of awareness. For example, Kira shared the following:
It’s kinda like this, right…I know my Blackness as well as my womanhood will
always be things I think about…Like, I love who I am and I love other Black
women. I think we are amazing. At the same time, I know that like this world and
society hasn’t made this a safe place for people that look like me. But again, at the
same time, I’m not going to allow this to make me afraid for my…ya know…

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safety. I’m just aware So when I go out to the club or out in nightlife…it’s kinda
like, “try me if you want to.”

Participants also shared sentiments similar to Kira’s. They often discussed how their identities
empowered them despite the misogynoir they face due to their identities. For example, Destiny
stated:
Being a Black girl is lit. Like, I really like love everything about us Black women
and yeah, I’ve had negative experiences in nightlife, especially as a darker
skinned Black woman. But, I mean, like that doesn’t mean there aren’t other
places my Blackness can be celebrated, right? And with that also means that even
though I’ve had situations that make me feel unsafe, they aren’t going to ruin my
fun! People will always try to have us messed up but I’m living my best life.

This type of attitude was echoed amongst participants as they consistently dared the outside
world to continue practicing misogynoir; they refused to be intimidated or limited. In this way,
Black undergraduate women did not allow discriminatory behaviors to stop them from enjoying
their time in their external environments. This is to say that if Black undergraduate women were
denied access to campus-adjacent parties or off-campus nightclubs, they managed to find other
social activities. At times, these activities included having a “girls’ night,” inside their dorm
room or apartment with their friends, or finding new bars or clubs that were more accepting of
Black women. Overall, participants noted that as long as their women friends surrounded them,
often other Black women, they made the best of their social time together.
“We Move in Groups”
As discussed in the previous subtheme, participants understood ways to be safe while
also enjoying their time. They frequently spoke of going out to nightclubs with a group of friends
that made them feel safe and protected. In their interviews, there were countless stories of Black
undergraduate women attending nightlife venues with groups. Often these groups would consist

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of other Black women. Participants explained that they moved in groups because they felt safer
with a more significant number of women.
Additionally, participants explained that although they frequently moved in groups for
safety reasons, the more Black women they had in their group, the more discrimination they
faced. Sophia shared, “We move in groups…I always go out with friends in larger groups…this
makes me feel safe and I think alleviates me feeling unsafe, but you’re definitely treated a certain
way when you’re with all Black girls.” Others noted that attending nightclubs with all Black
women provides different experiences depending on what nightclub they attended. Trina shared
an excellent synopsis of her experience attending nightclubs with a group of her friends:
So for me…I invite or get invited to go out to clubs with my college friends. Like
someone might text the group chat and then we kinda just make it happen. And I
remember…this one time, we decided to go out and there were six of us…all
Black women. When we got there, we saw another group of Black girls that we
go to school with and they were just standing outside the venue…and like, yeah,
we talked to them and they literally told us, “don’t waste your time. They not
messing with Black girls here.” People probably don’t even believe stuff like this
happens but it does. And maybe this club….didn’t have a sign saying they don’t
let Black girls in but its just like…you have to pay attention to how the bouncers
and other men at the door are acting.

Trina’s account was not uncommon as participants continued to share their experiences moving
in groups for safety reasons, but the reality of what comes with that. Mariah shared:
I think going out in groups is the only reason I will even go out. I just like to be
safe and my mom always taught me to be extra safe because I’m Black and a
woman…I think that if you go out as a Black girl, you either have a good
experience or a bad one. I’ve had plenty of good ones but that’s because my
friends and me learned how to make that happen…we now know what places in
our college area make us feel safe and accepted and what places don’t. But it’s
sad we even have to think about that.

Mariah’s sentiment was also common as Black undergraduate women often spoke strategically
about how they maneuvered through nightlife. As such, moving in groups was a safety tactic that
participants frequently utilized.

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“I Swear Men Should Not Own Clubs”
Throughout the interviews, participants highlighted—what they considered—the main
reason they had to worry about their safety in the first place (i.e., men-ownership of nightclubs).
All Black undergraduate women in this study emphasized that the misogynoir and dangers they
experienced were from men. They never experienced any of the discriminatory behaviors from
other women. For this reason, participants were especially passionate about their opinions on
men owning and orchestrating misogynoir in nightclubs. Carina specifically stated, “I swear men
should not own clubs.” She was not alone in this consideration as other Black undergraduate
women did not feel safe, valued or protected in a male-dominated industry. At the same time,
participants explained that although nightlife is predominantly owned by men, nightlife would
not be what it is without women. To explain this, Lisa provided a thorough example of the
complexities of gender and safety in nightlife:
I have had a lot of experiences with men being predatory or making me feel
unsafe…even some of my peers on campus…but what’s crazy is this type of
behavior, especially towards Black women…doesn’t stop when you go off-
campus. So yeah, when I’m in like nightclubs…I just see how men dominate
everything. From the moment you show up, women are judged by their looks and
their bodies. Then…it’s like you see men decide which girls get in and on top of
that, if you’re a Black girl, you have to be extra careful that if you do get in, they
don’t try anything weird with you. I don’t know…. I think like I said…the crazy
thing is nightclubs put girls on flyers, want certain “pretty” girls to be inside the
clubs so that men can look at them, and half the time…us girls, just want to enjoy
ourselves with each other. Men really make nightclubs unsafe.

Furthermore, other participants agreed that they did not feel safe given the amount of men who
curate these spaces. They were extremely concerned about men owning nightclubs but also did
not see this changing in the future.

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In addition to participants discussing that men should not own nightclubs, particularly
men who participate in misogynistic practices, they were also realistic with their expectations.
For example, one participant, Ebony stated:
In an ideal case…men would just not own nightclubs and women would. But like
we were kinda talking about woman ownership…but especially Black woman
ownership in one of my classes. The thing is…men owning things is intentional
and it is not surprising that many industries are male-dominated, especially the
nightlife industry. I think nightclubs are heavily advertised for the male audience
and us women are used as props to attract the male gaze. So why would men
protect women in nightlife? Especially Black women? Not trying to be
negative…I just think that in order to change these problems, we need to create
our own spaces…women, that is.

Other participants also talked about the rebuttal they have received when mentioning men should
not own nightclubs or the racist and gendered experiences they encountered. For example,
Taylor shared:
If I say men shouldn’t be owning all these little clubs…I always hear, “well if you
don’t have a good experience at one club, then you should just not go there. Don’t
give your money to them.” And that’s not the point. I think Black women should
feel safe and feel welcomed wherever we go. I think it’s ridiculous that Black
women have to think about whether or not a club is going to mess with Black girls
or not.

Taylor and other participants noted that women-ownership, especially Black women-ownership,
would eradicate some discriminatory practices in nightlife. However, they also suggested that
current clubs, predominantly owned by men, should be redesigned to be equitable and inclusive
to women of all shades, sizes, and walks of life. Although they frequently argued that men
should not own clubs, they thought that was an unrealistic expectation. Overall, participants
agreed that society’s comfortability with misogynoir—often operationalized by men—was the
main issue plaguing nightlife.

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Rejection and Acceptance
In addition to safety concerns, Black undergraduate women grappled with feeling
affirmed and welcomed both on campus and in nightlife contexts. This fifth central theme that
emerged in this study relates to what I refer to as rejection and acceptance. Participants named
how they felt rejected in various spaces in their on-campus lives, and they also felt the same way
when they were in their external environments. Participants often explained that they felt the
most accepted and affirmed in on and off-campus spaces created, curated, and hosted by other
Black women. In this theme, Black undergraduate women discussed how their institutions
influenced their external environments, feelings of rejection before they even entered nightclub
doors, how they navigated which clubs to attend versus which ones they avoided, and how
geographical location influences misogynoir in nightlife.
“Black Girls at PWIs”
Although the institutional type was not included in the study’s criterion for participant
recruitment, it is essential to note that all Black undergraduate women in this study attended
predominantly white institutions (PWIs). For this reason, participants, again and again, drew
parallels between their on-campus experiences at PWIs and their off-campus experiences in
nightlife. The participants shared countless stories of how they experienced rejection in their
classrooms and external environments. For example, Tia shared the following:
I go to a PWI…so there are a lot of white people at my school…when I walk
around campus, I don’t see other Black people like that… sometimes I’m the only
Black person in a class…I’ve had so many discriminatory experiences because
I’m a young Black woman. And I feel like I have those same experiences off-
campus….When I went out with a group of friends to a local nightclub by my
college…they made me and all my Black girl friends stand in line. We watched
all these white girls come to the door and be let in for free and they were able to
cut everyone. It was like we were invisible but hyper visible. We ended up
leaving. And even on campus, I feel invisible sometimes. It’s like the anti-Black
womanness is everywhere, ya know?

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Tia was not the only participant who drew parallels between their on-campus experience and off-
campus experience. One other participant, Crystal stated, “Life of Black girls at PWIs is just
what you make it. The only time I really feel accepted anywhere is with other Black women.”
Tia and Chrystal’s sentiments were prevalent as participants repeatedly discussed how their race
and gender were rarely, if at all, celebrated and accepted both on and off-campus. Another
participant, Leah, offered the following comments:
When I walk around campus, it’s so hard not to feel isolated sometimes. I try not
to let it get the best of me, but it can be exhausting…This is why I love unwinding
on the weekends. It’s so annoying and problematic when me and my Black
friends go out somewhere and it’s the same thing. The same, racist, sexist stuff
that we stay dealing with in our classrooms...and on our campuses. It’s like, we
really doing this?

This type of narrative was widespread amongst participants as they detailed the many parallels
between their on-campus experiences and external environments.
“I’m Not Sending Pictures to Get into A Club”
In addition to participants drawing parallels between their discriminatory experiences
both on and off-campus, the theme of rejection also appeared before Black undergraduate
women even entered nightclubs. As mentioned in the second theme of “aesthetic judgment,”
some participants explained that promoters would reach out to them, inviting them to club events
but asked for photos of the women friends they would be bringing. It is also important to note
that the participants reached out to by promoters via social media were always of a lighter skin
tone. However, these participants were aware of their lighter-skinned privilege and often shared
their experiences versus their darker-skinned friends’ experiences. Further, participants who
received personal invitations from promoters were always asked to provide photos of their
friends before attending the nightclubs. Participants explained that being asked to send pictures

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was also part of the misogynoir that promoters participated in. One participant, Aja, provided an
example of this particular occurrence in the following narrative:
So sometimes, I’ll get people reaching out to me…promoters or whatever. And
they’ll invite me to their club events. And every single time, they ask if I can send
pictures of my girls who I’ll be bringing. And the reason they do this is because
they are trying to see what the girls look like. And yeah, at first…ya know, they
ask you and you’re just like “ok, I guess I’ll send?” But now I know that this isn’t
ok. They just want to see if the girls look a certain way.

To Aja’s point about women looking a “certain way,” participants explained that if Black women
are of a darker skin tone or heavier, they do not “fit the look” that I discussed in earlier themes.
As promoters asked for pictures of women before the club events, participants explained
that this made them feel rejected and disgusted. Although the promoters contacted participants
who did not experience the same discrimination that others endured due to their lighter skin and
phenotypical look, they still witnessed discrimination against their friends. Witnessing this
discrimination often led participants to acknowledge their privilege and use it to advocate for
other Black women. For example, Marissa stated:
I wanted to participate in this study because I see a lot and hear a lot behind the
scenes…I am a light skin woman with curly hair and a slimmer figure…I know
exactly what this means and I see how my looks makes people…especially men
treat me different from my friends who are thicker than me or have darker skin
than me or even have a different hair texture to mine. Ya know, I see why this is a
problem. So if promoters ever invite me out…I don’t sent pictures of my
friends…not because of how they look but because I’m not sending pictures to get
into a club nor will I participate in that type of thing.

Marissa was not the only participant who recognized her privilege and was self-aware of how her
experience might differ from other Black women’s experiences in nightlife. Participants’
consistent reflection of the diverse experiences of Black women was recurrent.

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“Promoters Are the Worst but It’s About Who You Know”
Similarly, to participants discussing the rejection they faced from promoters, they also
spoke of their experiences with acceptance based on person and place. As participants described,
promoters were responsible for many of their discriminatory experiences and the bouncers.
However, participants also spoke about the relationships that they or their friends created with
some bouncers or promoters that accepted and welcomed Black women. Although these
particular promoters and bouncers were rare to come by, Black undergraduate women were
keenly aware of what they referred to as the “game” they had to play to access specific nightlife
venues. Some participants spoke about their experiences with acceptance from certain promoters
and bouncers and specific places. In the following example, Shanice shared more about this
subtheme:
Now that I think about it, there are definitely people I go to. Like one of my now
homies is a promotor at a popular nightclub like 25 minutes away from my
campus…He’s the only promotor that I know is cool with Black girls, like if you
just stand outside the doors of a club…you will see non-Black girl after non-
Black girl be welcomed with open arms. Honestly, it wasn’t until I made friends
with a promotor and realized he wasn’t like the rest…that I would invite my girls
to come out because I knew he didn’t discriminate against darker skin or thicker
Black women.

Shanice’s example was one of many, as participants mentioned they created relationships with
certain promoters or bouncers or their Black women friends had done so. Relationship building
was an ongoing theme as Black undergraduate women described how they navigated nightlife.
To make such relationships, some participants stayed in contact with promoters via social media
or text messages, so that promoters would invite them to future events. By doing so, they
leveraged the relationships they built with bouncers and promoters to help them gain access to
nightclubs. Destiny shared a similar story as she stated:

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All of my friends are different shades and sizes of Black women…Black girls
don’t all look the same! So, yeah, there are places I don’t feel like will accept me
and my friends. So we just started going to different events and clubs until we
found promoters or bouncers that were cool with us…and like, now, if we ever
want to go out, we just hit up one of the bouncers or promoters guys...But the fact
that we even had to do that is like, crazy. Promoters are the worst but it’s about
who you know.

Throughout the interviews, participants shared similar narratives. Some participants actually
explained that although they knew building relationships with promoters and bouncers would
help in gaining access to some clubs, they were not comfortable doing so. Tia explained, “I don’t
want to fake being cool with someone just to get inside a club. I don’t want to feel like I’m
begging to be accepted.”
While knowing promoters and bouncers who accepted and appreciated Black women
alleviated some of the discrimination participants faced, Black undergraduate women also
discussed how they felt rejected by certain clubs altogether. They frequently spoke of “high-end”
nightclubs as exclusively reserved for non-Black women, and the Black women that these spaces
did accept were always women who “fit the look.” Relatedly, participants shared that there are
“just some clubs you don’t go to…we just know where not to go.” In this regard, participants
navigated the nightlife scene to understand better which nightclubs to avoid; some participants’
experiences caused them to avoid nightlife altogether.
“I Think This Happens Everywhere”
As participants spoke of the acceptance and rejection they faced, they did not think their
experiences were isolated. When asked if they thought Black women experienced misogynoir
and discrimination in nightlife solely where their college or university was located, they argued
that Black women face discrimination in nightlife across the U.S. As noted, this study allowed
for an array of different experiences from Black undergraduate women regardless of the location

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of their college or university. One of the main reasons that participants argued that rejection of
Black women occurred in nightlife, regardless of the location, was because of their experiences
or the experiences of other Black women. They frequently explained that regardless of the
location, the nightlife industry’s main audience is men who have adopted beauty standards that
are not inclusive of all Black women. To further explain, Raven shared an excellent synopsis in
the following:
Yeah, I think this happens everywhere. There’s no way it doesn’t! Some of my
college friends and I have taken trips to Miami and Vegas and a few other places.
Some clubs accept Black women more than others…but seriously, we have had so
many racist and sexist and just problematic experiences when we go out to have
fun…I mean the reason I say location doesn’t matter is because nightclubs are
built to please men…men like women…clubs want conventionally attractive
women to appease their clientele and the clientele is men…when have Black
women ever truly been celebrated for our beauty other when people appropriate
us? So no, clubs don’t want a bunch of Black women in their clubs unless their
clientele like us. I’m not saying Black women aren’t ever accepted in
nightclubs…that’s not what I’m saying. But I am saying, other than any other race
of women, we are not celebrated and accepted out loud.

Other participants echoed Raven’s narrative. They explained they had experienced misogynoir in
nightlife in the cities their colleges and universities were located in and when they had traveled
out of town. The participants who did not travel and experience nightlife outside of their college
setting shared their general knowledge of nightlife based on what they had heard from other
Black women. Often, they shared experiences with a friend who attends a college or a university
in a different state. For example, Laila explained:
I have friends from high school and we don’t go to the same college but they’ve
told me stories about their nightlife stuff…one of my friends goes to a college in a
diverse town with way more Black people than my school…she was saying that
certain clubs in her area are super colorist. She’s a dark skin Black woman and
her friends are too, so she said they’ve had some negative experiences, forsure.

Laila’s example was prevalent throughout the interviews as participants spoke of the experiences
of their Black women friends who attended colleges and universities in different locations.

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When participants argued that Black women are discriminated against in nightlife
everywhere, they did name some “hotspots” of particular cities that they think are especially
harmful towards Black women in nightclubs. Although this study’s focus was not identifying
discrimination based on location, participants mentioned the following cities quite often: Atlanta,
Los Angeles, Vegas, and Miami. In some scenarios, participants traveled to those locations. They
witnessed first-hand the treatment of Black women in nightlife, whereas, in other scenarios,
participants had heard of the misogynoir in those locations from Black women friends. They
explained that Los Angeles, Vegas, and Miami are “hotspots for nightlife, and many of their
nightclubs are well-known high-end places. Tiana stated, “The more poppin’ the city is, the more
exclusive the nightclubs are going to be. The more exclusive they are, the more racist they are to
Black women.” Even though not all participants were located in these areas, it was common
knowledge amongst Black women that misogynoir was everywhere in nightlife, especially in
bigger cities.
Appropriation
The sixth and last central theme of this study is appropriation, a topic that participants
spoke passionately about throughout each interview. In this context, appropriation refers to the
adoption of Black women’s culture and identity while also discriminating against them in the
process. Their enthusiasm was coupled with sarcasm and many laughs as they detailed the
nuances of changing beauty standards and the influence of Black women in pop culture and
mainstream media. Throughout this theme, Black undergraduate women shared their passion
about Black culture and the significant role that Black women played in everything from beauty,
music, fashion, body shape, and more. This last theme encompasses the paradox between the
misogynoir that Black women face and the apparent imitation they receive from mainstream

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media. As participants discussed their experiences in nightclubs and nightlife, they emphasized
that they saw themselves in the music nightclubs played, they saw their body aesthetics
replicated on non-Black women, and their fashion, language and style celebrated on people that
do not look like them. They consistently spoke of the ways they felt that the nightlife industry
and society has appropriated the very people they claim to discriminate against (i.e., Black
women). I detail this this last theme in the following four subthemes.
“It’s the Hip Hop for Me”
As participants detailed how they witnessed Black women’s bodies, styles and more
appropriated in nightlife, they discussed music. Black undergraduate women often explained that
they gravitated towards nightclubs that played Hip-Hop/Rap, R&B, and Black music and artists.
They talked about the deep appreciation they had for Black music and Black artists. When it was
time for them to enjoy a night out, outside the confines of their college or university, they sought
out nightclubs that played this type of music. Kayla stated, “I don’t like to go to places that play
EDM. Nothing against those artists, but I like to listen Hip Hop and rap music when I go out. It’s
the Hip Hop for me!” Kayla’s sentiments were shared amongst other participants as they also
enjoyed listening to a specific genre of music when going out. However, they always mentioned
the irony of Black music being played in nightclubs that practice misogynoir. To explain further,
Raven shared:
I was standing in line at a club, right…and I kept seeing a bunch of non Black
girls getting to the front of the line and walking in like nothing. And I kept asking
myself why I even went out because I know clubs are so weird towards Black
women…But you know what I heard?... one of my favorite artists, Kendrick
blasting over the speakers. And as I waited, I heard Black artist after Black artist.
It’s just crazy that these clubs blast Black music but treat Black women like we
don’t matter.

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Raven’s experience was heavily shared amongst other participants as they also discussed how
many Black artists are always played in nightclubs, yet their occupants are not inclusive to Black
women. Angel stated, “Clubs are equitable in their music taste but not their practices.” In another
similar example, Mae shared:
When I’ve been inside nightclubs, a lot of them do play Hip Hop and Rap, unless
you go to clubs that are having an EDM night or that’s just what they’re known to
play…and that’s what attracts people to go places…the music, right? I’ve looked
up and have seen a bunch of non-Black people partying to Black artists without
Black people in the club…or at least not a lot of us.

Black undergraduate women explained that music is for everyone to listen to, regardless of the
artist’s race. However, they felt that if Black artists were welcome in nightlife, there should be
no reason Black women are not celebrated and welcomed in the same way.
Relatedly, Black undergraduate women also used music as a way to transition into
discussing gender. Although the interviews were geared towards capturing their nightlife
experiences, other relevant topics did emerge at times. To explain, participants realized many of
the Black artists they heard in nightclubs were Black men, and they wished the DJs played more
Black women artists.
“Everybody Wants to Be Us but Nobody Wants to Be Us”
Black undergraduate women also discussed appropriation broadly. The saying,
“Everybody wants to be us, but nobody wants to be us,” was one of the most reoccurring topics
brought up by participants. There were many occasions where participants said this saying
verbatim or said the same thing in different words. As they expanded on this idea, Ebony said, “I
see nightclubs and that they want a Black woman replica without the Black skin. It’s absurd.”
This quote describes perfectly what Black undergraduate women spoke about in each interview.
They explained how they witness Black culture, specifically Black culture influenced by Black

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women, appropriated and welcomed as long as it is not on Black women. Sasha provided the
following example:
We saw that while all these white girls are dancing on these Black guys to Black
music in the absence of Black women, we saw the truth of nightlife. It is both
anti-Black, but mostly anti-Black women…Having braids is only “ugly” until a
non-Black woman wears the protective hair style. They want our bodies, our hair
styles, our style, our lingo, our culture...but without the stereotypes and societal
isolation…it’s a disgusting culture that needs to be exposed.

Diamond’s description of society glamorizing non-Black women for appropriating Black women
distinctly illustrates participants’ position on appropriation. All participants spoke about Black
women’s influence.
In addition to Black undergraduate women’s discussion around everybody wanting to be
them but nobody wanting to be them, they also brought up the differences between Black men
and Black women in nightlife. Some participants reported that they do not think that Black men
face nearly as much discrimination in nightlife as Black women. Daja stated, “Black men and
Black women are positioned differently in society but in nightlife, too. I never see Black men
treated the way Black women are treated in nightlife.” Although, other participants
acknowledged that cover charges are higher for men, but they are not racialized cover charges.
As Jamiah stated, “Sometimes clubs charge men more than women, but that’s a known fact. Not
saying it’s acceptable or fair though.” However, Iyana shared a detailed explanation of key
gender differences in nightlife in the following:
Black men are hypersexualized and I think statistically are the most desired by all
races along with white men. But Black women and Asian men are the least
desired, statistically…so Black men don’t face all the beauty standards and
physical evaluations that us Black women do…For us Black women, we have to
think about anything and everything from our clothes, hair, skin color…and even
body shape when we go out. I see Black men welcomed in clubs all the time and
Black girls are waiting in line.

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Other participants also agreed that Black men are more welcomed in nightlife than Black women
and that gender is a significant factor to pay attention to when discussing nightlife experiences.
Also, as mentioned in prior subthemes, participants explained that some Black bouncers—
specifically bouncers—were some of the nightclub personal they experienced misogynoir from.
All of this to say, participants were incredibly intentional with making a clear distinction
between the experiences of Black men and Black women.
“The BBL Effect”
This subtheme discusses how Black women’s bodies have been appropriated through
what participants referred to as the “BBL Effect.” As mentioned in the study’s second theme,
“Aesthetic Judgment,” a BBL is currently an extremely popular plastic surgery. Again, a BBL is
a Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL), a surgery that removes fat from the abdomen and other areas to
sculpt a body with a tiny waist, flat stomach, large buttocks, and hips to give the appearance of a
coke bottle type figure. As previously discussed, participants saw a clear parallel between BBLs
and the physical aesthetic of Black women. Aja stated:
At one point, Black women were literally experimented on and paraded around
like zoo animals because white scientists were fascinated with the big lips and
large breasts, butt, and curves of Black women…In my gender and sexuality class
we were talking about this…And so the beauty standard was created…blond hair,
blue eyes, slim figure. Basically, the complete opposite of a Black woman’s body.
But now, we see everyone wants to have what Black women have…A BBL is
literally creating a shape that Black women were once ridiculed for. And I have
no problem with plastic surgery. But it’s a larger problem when non-Black
women are praised for getting surgery to look just like us, yet Black women are
still discriminated against.

Again, participants never shamed other women for getting surgery. Instead, they were
highlighting a theme that they noticed, “the BBL effect.” Crystal sums up what the BBL effect is
in the following:

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I think social media made BBLs something that a lot of girls want now…So now,
when you go out to nightclubs, especially high-end ones, all I see is non-Black
girls with BBLs treated like they are royalty or something. Like they get to the
front of the line… I’m just saying I think it’s messed up that Black women’s
bodies are appropriated on non-Black women and you can see the drastic
difference between how we are treated.

As participants discussed how mainstream beauty standards are changing to include the “BBL
effect,” participants again returned to the idea that Black women are celebrated as long as their
aesthetic is on non-Black women.
It is also important to note that many participants felt comfortable enough to discuss their
body type. Oftentimes, participants shared their thoughts and experiences around this subject.
For example, Keisha stated:
I don’t have the big butt and curves in the right places like some Black
women….not all Black women have the same types of bodies but at the same
time, bigger features like our lips and breasts and butts are common. That’s why
there are stereotypes that all Black women have big butts…So even though I
don’t have that thicker body, I still see how our general features are praised on
other women who aren’t Black.

Other participants also considered how the BBL effect has turned into an appropriation of Black
women’s bodies. They explained that although beauty standards are shifting to encourage
women to have larger buttocks, these same beauty standards remain racist and colorist.
Participants frequently shared that they saw these “new” beauty standards at play, especially in
their experiences in nightlife.
“Black Girls Are Trendsetters”
As participants detailed the many ways that their culture and identities were appropriated
by non-Black women in nightlife, they were clear that their concerns were not with other
women. Tara explained, “I don’t think Black women are concerned with non-Black women
appropriating us, it’s more of a larger conversation around how society and mainstream media

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appropriates us.” Participants distinguished between the micro and the macro as they talked
about how mainstream media, in general, has a history of celebrating Black women when it is
convenient. Yet, the same media, does not give Black women credit for their artistic, intellectual,
and social impacts. To this point, Lana shared the following:
Like there are always viral videos of Black women saying hilarious things and
then non Black women take them and try to make it their own without even
recognizing Black women…like you’ll see Instagram models who aren’t Black
women using Black women slang all the time…and it’s the same thing in
nightlife…You’ll see non Black girls that are wearing the same outfits that Black
women started rocking first, the same long nails that we were called “ghetto” for,
the same braids we were called “ratchet” for, and literally the same aesthetic we
have. Black girls are trendsetters. We literally create so much.

Although participants discussed how non-Black women appropriated Black women, they knew
the root of the appropriation. As Nia explained:
Black women set the tone and set the pace for a lot of pop culture and popular
media…but the reason we aren’t given credit is by design. People copy
us…people appropriate us because secretly everyone is fascinated by our
creativeness and what we have to offer. But our society is also anti-Black and
super patriarchal…so it makes sense why our features and styles and everything is
celebrated on non-Black women…don’t agree with it or like it…but I know
society would be nothing without me and my fellow Black girls.

Black undergraduate women knew their impact and recognized the long history of Black women
that came before them that paved the way for their styles and ways of being. Despite the
frustrations of visibly seeing themselves appropriated in various settings, participants were aware
of the deeply embedded racist and sexist history behind such appropriation.
This subtheme also accounts for the ways that participants celebrated themselves. Even
though they grappled with the reality of appropriation and what that meant for their lived
experiences in nightlife, they were also incredibly proud to be Black women. Not only were they
proud of their identities, but they were excited to talk about how Black women are trendsetters.
Their faces lit up, and their body language changed as they shared their love for how innovative,

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unique, and talented Black women are. Some participants even shared some of the creative
projects they were currently working on as we discussed how Black women are constantly
creating and impacting culture. Overall, Jada said it best, “Yeah, imitation is the best form of
flattery, but give Black women our roses.”

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CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS
The summary section of this chapter provides an overview of the purpose of this study,
research methods, conceptual framework, limitations, and key findings that emerged from this
inquiry. After the summary, I provide a discussion, in which the six themes of the findings are
put in conversation with previous literature on Black undergraduate women in college. Finally,
this chapter concludes with recommendations for practice and research.
Summary of the Study
The purpose of this study was to discover and examine how Black undergraduate women
experience their off-campus lives using nightlife as a space for empirical investigation. As
previously mentioned, this study was less concerned about college women broadly and more
concerned with the off-campus encounters Black collegian women had while in college. Since
nightclubs operate as potential off-campus spaces students engage with, the primary research
question guiding this study was the following: (1) How do Black undergraduate women in
colleges and universities navigate their off-campus experiences in nightclubs? I also explored a
supplementary and related question: (2) How do Black undergraduate women characterize
nightlife culture, specifically their racialized and gendered encounters with nightclubs?”
These questions capture the lived experiences of participants and their relationship with
their external environments by design. Higher education researchers, Black women, in particular,
have contributed much to the academy’s understanding of Black undergraduate women’s
experiences in colleges and universities (Collins, 2002; Croom et al., 2017; Patton & Croom,
2017; Patton & Njoku, 2019). However, limited attention has been paid to how external
environments, or the off-campus arena, impact this population’s experiences. In this way, this
study is a direct response to Patton and Njoku’s (2019) call to women of color researchers to

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continue finding innovative ways to center Black women collegians in research inquiries.
Further, this study fills a critical gap in the literature by providing an in-depth understanding of
the multiple spaces Black women students traverse (Patton & Ward, 2016). Additionally, the
findings of this study also fill the gap in the literature by centering on an often overlooked and
understudied population in new ways. The study offers valuable insight into the role of external
environments and how they shape student’s experiences—a topic higher education researchers
have not extensively explored (Stokes, 2020).
The conceptual framework that guided the design and completion of the current study
consisted of two components: one theoretical perspective used as an analytical tool to actively
decenter patriarchal voices and a social theory that explains how society positions Black women.
In this way, I used an amalgamated framework—which combines concepts from Critical Race
Feminism (CRF) and Black Feminist Thought (BFT). A composited framework using CRF and
BFT assists in analyzing the misogynoir that significantly influences the lives of Black women.
Since my research topic has not yet been explored, especially in the context of higher education,
coupling CRF and BFT is an intentional theoretical and analytical decision as its explicit
assumptions are rooted in combatting discrimination against Black women.
Critical Race Feminism highlights the importance of centering the experiences of women
of color, in theory, to analyze how race and racism function in the U.S (Evans-Winters &
Esposito, 2010; Wing, 1997). Due to critiques of Critical Race Theory (CRT) not intentionally
and meaningfully mentioning gender in its theoretical underpinnings, CRF emerged as a branch
of CRT. In this way, CRF’s core principles are also linked to Critical Legal Studies (CLS) and
feminist jurisprudence (Wing, 1997). Although CRF adopts all tenets of CRT, it intentionally
differentiates itself through its analytical nuances of the legal status and rights of women of

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color. Critical Race Feminism was used to provide an analytical guide to the sensemaking
process. It also provided a rationale for examining the specific experiences of Black
undergraduate women both on and off of their respective campuses.
In this current study, Black Feminist Thought provided an intellectual framework to
understand how Black women, in particular, are situated within systems of dominations and
subordination (Patton & Croom, 2017). The field of higher education has traditionally centered
theories that do not account for the holistic and specific experiences of Black women.
Consequently, BFT emerged to acknowledge the distinctive racialized and gendered realities of
Black women while also asserting that all Black women have diverse and differing experiences.
This study mainly utilized BFT to situate all Black women as intellectuals, recognize that Black
women face ongoing social challenges and changes, and highlight that Black women continue to
face misogynoir in their fight for liberation. Overall, while BFT is utilized for its underlining
theoretical principles, the tenets of CRF are used as analytical tools to analyze the findings.
Qualitative research methods (Creswell, 2013) were utilized to explore how Black
undergraduate women experienced their external environments, particularly in off-campus
nightlife. Specifically, I selected a phenomenological approach to uplift participant’s voices by
making space for their racialized and gendered off-campus experiences in nightlife. Although
phenomenology demands a level of objectivity from the researcher, my theoretical and analytical
framework demanded otherwise. For this reason, I utilized CRF and BFT in conjunction with
phenomenology. CRF allowed me to build meaningful relationships with participants while
centering their voices and multiple identities (e.g., race, gender, class, etc.). I also utilized the
theoretical strengths of BFT to resist the ongoing disenfranchisement of Black women’s
experiences by acknowledging how their environmental contexts are valuable to understanding

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their holistic experiences as students. CRF’s and BFT’s epistemological underpinnings informed
my interview protocol, data collection, and analyses.
Using a criterion sampling technique for participant recruitment (Creswell, 2013; Patton,
2002; Noy, 2008), I secured 42 Black undergraduate women to participate in this
phenomenological study. I utilized criterion sampling in conjunction with social media
marketing, which proved highly successful. I posted a recruitment flyer on the social media
platform Twitter. Within the first five days of posting the flyer, 34 participants had signed up for
a 60-minute Zoom interview. Also, the other eight participants were referred by other
participants who encouraged their peers to sign up for an interview. Again, the criterion of
participants in this study was the following: (1) attend a 4-year college or university or have
attended within the last three years, (2) self-identify as a Black undergraduate woman, and (3)
interested in discussing nightlife experiences. Although the study’s criterion for participant
recruitment did not include the institutional type, all Black undergraduate women attended
predominantly white institutions (PWIs). The implications section further discusses institutional
type.
Through semi-structured, one-hour interviews, I engaged participants through various
questions related to their identities and off-campus experiences in nightclubs. COVID-19 caused
strict operational restrictions on nightclubs, bars, and other nightlife facilities during the data
collection process. For this reason, I initially opted to utilize photo elicitations in the semi-
structured interviews. I was hopeful that photo-elicitation interviews (PEIs) would “sharpen
participants’ memories,” leading to more comprehensive interviews (Epstein et al., 2006).
However, I quickly learned that participants’ eagerness to story tell made the semi-structured

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interviews engaging and rich in descriptive interactions and narratives without the assistance of
PEI as a method. Hence, I stopped attempting PEIs after the seventh interview.
Methods prescribed by Creswell (2008) guided the primary method of data analysis in
this study. First, all interviews were professionally transcribed to prepare the data for a thorough
analysis. Second, I got familiar with the data by reading through the transcriptions to get a
“general sense” of its meaning. Third, I looked at the data and allowed themes to emerge
organically. These themes were then used during the coding process. I also utilized “Tesch’s
Eight Steps in the Coding Process” to ensure a detailed coding process. Additionally, I used a
qualitative computer data analysis program, Dedoose, to identify critical practices, experiences,
and discriminatory instances that shaped the experiences of Black undergraduate women.
I employed several strategies to maximize trustworthiness in the findings, including
triangulation, member checking, reflective journaling, peer debriefing (Arminio & Hultgren,
2002; Jones, Torres, & Arminio, 2013), and the Participants Feedback Forum. First, I utilized
member checking. To member check, I sent a copy of each interview transcription along with a
summary to each participant and asked them to comment on my descriptions’ accuracy. Second,
I sought peer debriefers who were both familiar and unfamiliar with the study; they offered
different perspectives, innovative viewpoints, discovered unidentified gaps, and ultimately
strengthened the study. Third, I used reflective journaling to engage with my challenges,
emotions, biases, and even epiphanies about participants and their lived realities. Next,
triangulation of data from interviews with Black undergraduate women and peer debriefers
allowed me to envision if my interpretation of the data was sound and made sense. Lastly, I
hosted a Participants Feedback Forum to engage participants around my findings.

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Although the previously mentioned techniques were used to maximize the
trustworthiness of the findings, there remain several limitations of the current study that warrant
consideration. First, this study initially utilized photo-elicitation interviews (PEIs) as a method.
However, visual research methods are not commonly used in social research because images
have not been proven to reveal the “truth” behind a particular phenomenon (Epstein et al., 2008).
Relatedly, though the first seven interviews attempted to use PEIs, the rest did not. A second
limitation of the study is the researcher’s presence. In qualitative research, a researcher’s
personal biases can potentially affect the participant’s responses. The data collection and analysis
procedures and my personal biases, as a result of my experiences and personal history, shaped
my interpretation of the data. Regardless of how much I attempted to limit bias, the reality is that
qualitative research will always include this limitation. A third limitation to consider is the
participants attended colleges and universities across the U.S., so the findings are incredibly
generalized and cover a broad scope; thus, not allowing room to consider how location possibly
affects this population’s experiences. A fourth limitation of the study is that all participants
attended predominantly white institutions (PWIs). Although attending a PWI was not part of the
criterion to participate in this study, the study did not account for differing experiences for Black
undergraduate women who attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). A
fifth limitation of the study is that the interviews were conducted while still operating in a
pandemic. At the time of data collection, nightlife was not open, but now, it is. Now that
nightlife has reopened in many places, it might look different than it did pre-pandemic, leading
to different experiences (i.e., more positive or negative). Lastly, another limitation of this study
is that it centers typical normative representations of femininity as well as predominantly
heterosexual Black undergraduate women.

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As shown in Chapter 4, six main themes emerged from the data analysis. In the first
theme, Black undergraduate women detailed their first experiences in nightlife at campus-
adjacent nightlife events. “Campus-adjacent” describes nightlife events such as close or nearby
campus parties hosted by on-campus student organizations. In this theme, participants explained
that they enjoyed experiencing their social lives in the nightlife space to alleviate the pressures to
perform well in their studies; attending nightlife events was an opportunity to have fun and
experience their identities outside of school. Participants also explained their motivations for
experiencing their social lives in the nightlife space. In this way, participants discussed the
importance of balancing their academic work with their social lives at parties and nightlife, as
this was important to them. This finding also relates to the areas, contexts, and locations
participants engaged with. Black undergraduate women faced racist and gendered experiences at
white fraternity parties and felt more welcome at Black fraternity parties, given that the
population of students was also Black.
The second theme that emerged was participants’ experiences with the concept of
aesthetic judgment. As Black undergraduate women navigated nightlife while attending colleges
and universities, they reported their physical attributes were evaluated based on how they
presented phenotypically. They named how their bodies were subjected to phenotypic evaluation
of their skin color, body shape, hairstyle, and attire. Participants discussed issues of colorism,
fatphobia, plastic surgery, and Eurocentric beauty standards. They also clarified that male
bouncers, promoters, and other nightclub staff were all responsible for their experiences with
aesthetic judgment and that they did not encounter the same discriminatory behavior from other
women.

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The third theme emerging across the interviews with Black undergraduate women is
misogynoir. Misogynoir refers to a form of sexism defined as the hatred of women. However,
queer Black feminist scholars Moya Bailey and Trudy coined the term “misogynoir,” blending
both concepts of “misogyny” and “noir,” which means Black in French (Bailey & Trudy, 2018).
As the authors explain, Black women experience anti-Black racist misogyny specific only to that
of the Black woman. Participants experienced misogynoir both on and off of their campuses as
they shared multiple experiences of misogynistic and racialized behavior. Further, participants
were keenly aware of the history behind misogynoir and were convinced that in order to address
misogynoir in nightlife, more Black women should be provided proper supports to own
nightclubs. Additionally, participants were not seen as people that could be hurt or harmed, and
such misogynoir threatened their safety.
Fourth, Black undergraduate women were hyperaware of their safety and constantly
navigated how to stay safe on campus and off-campus. Participants regularly considered how
men, specifically, threatened their safety as they walked around their respective campuses.
However, they also discussed that the same threat to their safety continued in off-campus spaces,
such as nightlife. In order to stay safe, they made sure to travel in groups and were constantly
aware that their race and gender rendered them more vulnerable to violence and unsafe
situations. They took the initiative to prioritize their safety because they were unsure of who else
would, given the misogynoir that plagues this society. Lastly, participants were continuously
adamant that men should not own nightclubs as they explained this would make them feel safer.
The fifth theme detailed participants’ experiences with rejection and acceptance in PWIs
as well as in nightlife. First, participants had already experienced rejection as attending PWIs
was accompanied by isolation in their classrooms, feeling unwelcome on their campus, and a

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lack of Black representation. Although they became accustomed to the rejection on their
campuses, they also grappled with this same rejection in their external environments in nightlife.
Further, participants learned which nightclubs to attend and avoid and argued that geographical
location influences the presence of misogynoir in nightlife. Overall, participants were most
accepted and celebrated in spaces curated and hosted by other Black women.
The last theme that emerged across the data was appropriation. Black undergraduate
women experienced society adopting their culture and identities while simultaneously
discriminating against them. Black culture, particularly Black women’s influence on beauty,
music, fashion, body shape, and more, were appropriated in nightlife. This theme highlighted the
paradox between Black undergraduate women experiencing misogynoir in nightlife and seeing
their body aesthetics replicated on non-Black women. Their fashion, language, and style are
celebrated on people who do not look like them. Throughout this theme, the data shows that
Black women’s influence on popular culture and mainstream media is only celebrated when
convenient. Participants in this study did not experience their influence but relatively
experienced appropriation of such influence in the nightlife arena.
Despite the differences in location, all of these themes were salient across the data.
Although this study is not context-bound, the findings show that Black undergraduate women
experience misogynoir in their external environments that threaten their social lives, safety, and
right to experience equitable practices nightlife. The data has real implications for research,
theory, and practice. Before I discuss implications, I first provide a thorough discussion of the
findings related to my conceptual framework and previous research.

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Discussion
This qualitative research study examined how Black undergraduate women in colleges
and universities navigate their off-campus experiences, specifically how they characterized their
racialized and gendered encounters with nightclubs. Mainly, this study was designed to highlight
the off-campus encounters of Black collegian women when they were in college. The findings of
this study support many of the results emerging from earlier empirical studies on the experiences
of Black undergraduate women in college. However, these findings also provide new and
additional insights into the role of external environments and how they shape students’
experiences—a topic higher education researchers have not extensively explored (Stokes, 2020).
The historical erasure of Black women in higher education research has been well
documented (Collins, 2002; Ford, 2016; Harris, 2007; Haynes et al., 2020; Patton et al., 2016;
Patton & Croom, 2017, Porter & Dean, 2015). Specifically, scholars have called on higher
education scholars to expand research to include Black women in ways that do not
overgeneralize Black women’s experiences or reduce them to statistics (Harris & Patton, 2019).
Extant literature has investigated the experiences of Black women in higher education through
mentorship (Grant, 2012; Griffin et al., 2010; Patton, 2009), the connection between retention
and student organizations (Allen, 2019; Croom et al., 2017), racialized and gendered
microaggressions (McCabe, 2009; Morales, 2014; Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000), and the
overall racial campus climate for Black women on college and university campuses (Patton &
Njoku, 2019; Patton & Croom, 2017; Schwartz et al., 2003; Solórzano & Villalpando, 1998).
Other research has explored Black undergraduate women’s racialized and gendered experiences
in STEM (Dortch & Patel 2017), processes of their identity development (Porter & Dean, 2015),
and their academic engagement at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

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(Freeman, 2002; Harper et al., 2004). Although these bodies of literature are continuously
growing as more critical scholars enter the field, there remains a need to diversify and expand
our limited understanding of the experiences of Black women in higher education. Although the
findings of this study support what we know about Black undergraduate women, they also
suggest new ways of thinking through literature and theory. In this discussion section, I further
explain the findings by describing the patterns, principles, and relationships shown by the six
themes of this study by placing them in conversation with previous literature.
One aspect of the holistic understanding of Black undergraduate women’s experiences in
their external environments is that they enjoy experiencing life outside their respective college or
university. Understanding how Black undergraduate women experience the off-campus arena is
also to understand that Black women are multifaceted. Black women enjoyed stepping away
from the pressures of their academic activities by engaging in campus-adjacent nightlife as well
as off-campus nightlife. The findings suggest that experiencing off-campus nightlife could be an
enjoyable social experience for Black women collegians. It provides space for them to recharge;
take a mental break away from their academic and extracurricular responsibilities; and socialize
with peers, including other Black women. Therefore, the findings of the current study support
earlier conclusions that Black women are more than high graduation rates (Harper, 2014; Patton
& Croom, 2017). Although Black women, have represented two thirds of Black bachelor’s
degree recipients for the past two decades (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012), this
does not mean they do not navigate the difficulties of academic rigor, balancing their academic,
social and familial responsibilities, and more. As Harris and Patton (2019) asserted, the academy
cannot reduce women of color experiences to overgeneralized statistics and data. In doing this,
research contributes to the erasure of Black women in higher education research. This concept is

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critical as it illustrates the continued importance of reconceptualizing Black women beyond the
narrow scope of their on-campus experiences.
Also evident is the notion of Black undergraduate women experiencing discrimination in
predominantly white fraternities close to their campus (i.e., campus-adjacent nightlife). Black
women undergraduates became aware either through their experiences or experiences of other
Black women that they were not safe or welcomed in white fraternity parties held next to their
respective campuses. Black women, in particular, were either not allowed entry to these parties
or were treated in racialized and gendered ways once inside. Given that all Greek life entities
directly represent their college or university’s values—often, these values adopt principles of
equity and inclusion—no student should be turned away or treated differently based on their
identity.
Previous research on white fraternities shows that men in these organizations have a
history of sexist behaviors (Canan et al., 2018; Forbes et al., 2004; Jozkowski & Wiersma-
Mosley, 2017). Additionally, previous research studies found that men in white fraternities are
more likely to endorse rape-supportive attitudes than non-Greek men or sorority women (Canan
et al., 2018). In September of 2021, students across multiple U.S. campuses (i.e., University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, Northwestern University, and University of Massachusetts Amherst)
protested white fraternities as victims of sexual abuse came forward (Hartocollis & Heyward,
2021). In these protests, student activists were not fighting a single case of rape or violence
against women but a long history of such behaviors (Hartocollis & Heyward, 2021). Thus,
previous research and current events validate the historic inhumane treatment some white
fraternities have exhibited towards women. Although results of this study support Black women
undergraduate’s experiences with misogynistic behavior from white fraternities, this study calls

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for a more intersectional understanding. Differing from previous literature, this study found that
race and gender are critical components to consider when researching the practices of white
fraternities. This finding also suggests a robust investigation of the practices of white fraternities
and exploring how, and if, colleges and universities are holding such organizations accountable
for their actions.
Also apparent in the findings was participants’ commitment to experiencing
extracurricular activities in their external environments. In this way, Black undergraduate women
wanted to engage in activities outside of their campuses and sought opportunities to experience
activities such as nightlife, similar to other students. Findings here are consistent with earlier
assertions of the importance of college students engaging in social experiences (Astin, 1993;
Croom et al., 2017; Rendón & Muñoz, 2011). Literature shows that partaking in extracurricular
social activities cultivates satisfaction with the college experience, increases campus and
community involvement, establishes strong peer networks, and enhances intellectual
development (Astin, 1993; Hu, 2011). In this way, Black undergraduate women chose to
participate in social activities in nightlife to experience the collegian experience, meet more
people, and allow themselves to have fun. Although the findings are consistent with literature
detailing the importance of participating in social activities outside of the classroom, higher
education literature has not yet explored nightclubs as one of such spaces. Consequently, the
findings suggest that higher education scholars redefine what is considered extracurricular
activities. It is crucial to think about how higher education literature has limited our
understanding of what is categorized or considered an extracurricular space. Thus, allowing for a
broader conceptualization of what extracurriculars students partake in off-campus, enhancing our
understanding of all college student’s experiences outside of the classroom.

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Concerning identity, the findings of this study lend support to the notion that there is
diversity in Black undergraduate women’s identities. Specifically, results of this inquiry reject
monolithic representations of Black women, similar to that of the literature. For example, higher
education literature has explored the experiences of queer Black women (Bradley, 2020; Kessi,
2018), working-class Black women (Johnson, 2017; Kessi, 2018), Black women athletes
(Ferguson & JW, 2017; Carter-Francique, Hart, & Steward, 2013) and Black immigrant women
(Griffin & McIntosh, 2015; Griffin, Mwangi, & Patterson, 2017). Such studies affirm that Black
women in college experience their higher education journey differently depending on their
sexual orientation, class, and more. Similarly, this study reinforces that Black women are
diverse; Black undergraduate women in this study acknowledge that they have different
experiences among other Black women based on their skin color, body type, or other aspects of
their identities. In this way, the findings suggest that Black undergraduate women use their
external environments as opportunities to experience or “try on” their identities. They tried on
their identities by exploring their attire, meeting new people, and letting go of societal
expectations of Black women. Further, external environments serving as catalysts in students’
identity development is an aspect that traditional higher education student development theories
(Chickering & Reisser, 1993; Evans et al., 2010; Jones & Stewart, 2016; Skipper, 2005) do not
consider. Thus, external environments are critical to investigate because they serve as contexts
for students to experience their identity in new ways outside of their collegian identities.
The findings of this study also support that Black women’s bodies are rendered to
phenotypical evaluation or aesthetic judgment rooted in anti-Blackness and misogyny.
Specifically, the results of this study indicate that Black undergraduate women are constantly
aware of the negative images of Black womanhood and their physical attributes. To be a Black

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undergraduate woman experiencing nightlife is to consider how one’s skin color, body type, and
hairstyle are subjected to gendered racialization. Although higher education research is limited in
its ability to support this finding, literature outside the field of higher education primarily details
the historical patterns of the phenotypic evaluation of Black women (Edwards, 1991, Jewell,
1993; Jones, 1982 Reynolds-Dobbs et al., 2008). In the era of slavery, Black women faced
hypersexual archetypes and were judged on how light their skin was, the texture of their hair, and
the shape of their bodies and faces (Jewell, 1993). Enslaved Black women were lined up, their
physical attributes evaluated, and sold at higher prices the more they aligned with Eurocentric
standards of beauty (Jewell, 1993). The same concept can be applied to the phenotypic
evaluation that Black women in this study faced while waiting outside nightclub doors. Before
Black undergraduate women entered nightclubs, they were subjected to men judging their bodies
and quickly categorizing them; such a practice is rooted in the cruel phenotypical evaluation of
enslaved Black women. By no means does being denied access from a nightclub have the same
consequences as the phenotypical evaluation during slavery. Instead, this example is meant to
highlight the “why” and “how” Black undergraduate women experienced racist gendered
aesthetic judgment and phenotypical evaluation.
The results of this study support earlier inquiries finding that Black undergraduate women
experience misogynoir, regardless of their educational status or contexts (Berry & Gross, 2020;
Collins, 2002; Commodore et al., 2018; Croom et al., 2017, Taylor, 2017). It is evident across
literature, that Black women face misogynoir on and off-campus because misogynoir is
embedded in American society (Crenshaw et al., 2015; Evans-Winters & Esposito, 2010; Everett
et al. 2017). Although finding the theme of misogynoir in this study is not surprising, this finding
does suggest that Black undergraduate women face discrimination in their external environments

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at higher rates than their non-Black women counterparts. For example, as Black undergraduate
women left their respective campuses to experience nightlife, they had to consider if the venue
they were heading to would be inclusive of Black women—an exhausting task to begin with.
Thus, the findings suggest that understanding how frequently Black undergraduate women
experience misogynoir in their external environments can generate a more in-depth
understanding of how to protect them and advocate for equitable social environments.
Patton and Njoku (2019) assert that Black women and girls are disproportionately likely to go
missing or be victims of violence. Higher education literature has also well-documented that
women on college campuses face ongoing threats of sexual violence (Fedina et al., 2018; Krebs
et al., 2007). This study indicates that Black undergraduate women face safety concerns due to
their race and gender, both on campus and in their external environments. The lack of safety that
Black women face is not new. Throughout slavery, reconstruction, the civil rights movement,
and the present-day movement for Black lives, Black women have been overlooked and
unprotected (Barnett, 1993; Berry & Gross, 2020; Cody, 1996; McGuire, 2010; Patton, 2019;
Robertson, 1996). In sum, the findings of the current inquiry imply that it is vital for Black
undergraduate women to have access to safe social, extracurricular activities rid of misogynoir.
This study also adds to the literature highlighting the importance of Black-women-
centered spaces for Black undergraduate women. Specifically, the results suggest that Black
women in college foster identity, feel welcome and accepted, and receive validation of their
identities from other Black women. The findings indicate that Black women felt most safe and
enjoyed events curated by and hosted by Black women, which is why many Black women in this
study advocated for more Black women to own nightlife spaces. Given that Black undergraduate
women experience positive peer encounters with other Black women, the findings of the current

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inquiry support the notion that Black women experience healthier and more fulfilling collegian
journeys when they can co-exist in community and flourish in spaces that celebrate Black
women (Allen, 2019; Croom et al., 2017; Thelamour et al., 2019; Winkle-Wagner, 2014).
The results of this study also support earlier inquiries finding that Black undergraduate
women face stereotypes and one-dimensional representations of Black women in the media that
make racial and gender identity development a nuanced and complex process for this population
(Collins, 2002; Fujioka, 2009; Patton & Croom, 2017; Hesse-Biber, 2010; Patton & Ward, 2016;
Porter, 2017; Stewart, 2015; Willie, 2003; Winkle-Wagner, 2014). Black undergraduate women
in this study grappled with seeing Black women’s features celebrated on non-Black women, yet
they experienced misogynoir and discrimination for the same body archetypes. Relatedly, in
Sastre’s (2014) celebrity studies article, they argued that non-Black women who have surgery to
enhance their curves do not contend with the same racial, classist, and sexist realities of Black
women. Thus, the results of this study also push this body of literature to consider how the
media’s portrayal of body politics and changing beauty standards affect Black women’s identity
formation and development in college. Additionally, this study’s findings support the notion that
anti-Black heteronormative beauty standards police black women’s bodies, but their hairstyles,
fashion, dialect, and overall cultural influence is celebrated when non-Black women appropriate
it. The results show that Black women’s culture is appropriated and only credited when
convenient. This finding suggests that Black women in college experience appropriation and a
lack of acknowledgment of their innovative ideas regardless of the location (i.e., on or off-
campus)—another exhausting and discouraging experience.
It is also essential to consider how this study’s findings can further inform Critical Race
Feminism (CRF) and Black Feminist Thought (BFT). About all of CRF’s tenets, this study

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supports the notion that women of color will always be vulnerable to discriminatory actions
because of their multiple identities and the endemic nature of racism. Specifically, the results of
this inquiry reinforce CRF’s tenet of intersectionality, given that Black undergraduate women
experience nightlife in different ways than their Black male counterparts. Additionally, CRF
supports the finding that discrimination in nightlife will not change unless nightclub owners and
staff have converging interests with Black women. Given that nightclubs are often private-owned
public accommodations, it is easy for them to escape allegations of discrimination. Nonetheless,
a CRF lens validates that Black women in this study experienced misogynoir in their external
environments and recognizes the specific experiences of Black women.
Similarly to CRF, the concept of BFT implies that there are ongoing social changes that
affect Black women and as times change, new racialized and gendered challenges arise. This
conceptualization is accurate given that nightclubs have changed to adopt racial and gendered
guest policies, and social media allows promoters to target women who align with their racist
beauty standards. BFT allows space to consider how Black undergraduate women’s external
environments impact them in everchanging ways. Further, BFT also accounts for the ways
Eurocentric beauty standards are changing, yet newer beauty standards still render Black women
susceptible to discrimination.
Although applying CRF and BFT are extremely useful theoretical and analytical tools,
this study suggests there remains room to expand the diversity in conceptualizing Black women.
I acknowledge the many women of color who have operationalized these insightful and
necessary theories. I also argue that the typical utilization of CRF and BFT in education research
unknowingly encourages a narrow-minded way of thinking about how Black women exist. These
theoretical concepts originated from the extreme need for intersectionality (Collins, 2002; Evans-

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Winters & Esposito, 2010; Wing, 1997), which was a significant need at the time of their
conceptions. However, as times are continuously changing, scholars need to be highly
interdisciplinary with their utilizations of CRF and BFT. CRF and BFT cannot merely exist in
education research to bring awareness to race and gender discrimination. Instead, this study’s
findings suggest, these theories should be used to support research on Black women and how
they experience their bodies, beauty, femininity, and masculinity. If such theories are
operationalized from an interdisciplinary perspective, CRF and BFT can deinstitutionalize higher
education’s limited view of Black women. Overall, the findings of this study elucidated how
higher education research needs to allow, encourage, and validate research and theory that shows
the multifaceted ways Black collegian women experience their gender, race, bodies, and
sexuality.
Conclusions
I argue that three significant conclusions can be drawn from the findings of this current
study. First, college campuses do not serve as the only contexts in which students experience and
form their identities. Although higher education scholars acknowledge that extracurricular
activities and social activities are essential for students (Astin, 1993; Croom et al., 2017; Rendón
& Muñoz, 2011), higher education research must not gatekeep what geographical locations are
considered useful and important spaces for empirical investigation. In addition, the term
“extracurricular” should expand to include social activities such nightlife, shopping, dining,
driving, and dating in off-campus environments. In this way, the six themes emerging from this
study detail how location impacts Black undergraduate women experience their race and gender,
primarily as they draw parallels between their discriminatory experiences on campus and off-
campus.

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Secondly, Black undergraduate women experience their off-campus, campus-adjacent,
and on-campus experiences in similar ways. This is to say, they face discrimination in various
contexts in their lives, regardless of the location. The findings show extreme parallels between
the lack of safety, presence of misogynoir, appropriation, rejection, and judgment that Black
undergraduate women experience both on campus and in nightlife. They characterize nightlife
and nightclub spaces as reproductive sites of misogynoir. Nightlife is too often full of anti-Black,
misogynistic, fatphobic, colorist, and body shaming practices specifically inequitable for Black
women. At the same time, Black undergraduate women experienced some of the same practices
in their classrooms, at campus-adjacent events, and other spaces on campus. Consequently, I
conclude that understanding misogynoir is to understand that it is omnipresent, which has real
consequences for Black undergraduate women.
Finally, the findings Black undergraduate women’s social lives are just as important as
their academic lives. The two do not need to compete with each other, nor should higher
education professionals encourage students not to safely engage in their social lives outside of
their campuses. Thus, higher education’s need to effectively become more interdisciplinary is
critical for Black undergraduate women and other minoritized populations. By doing so, the field
of higher education will further its commitment to holistically serving students. The current
study’s findings indicate that Black undergraduate women use nightlife to broaden their lived
experiences, explore their identities outside of academia, and recharge.
Implications for Practice and Research
The findings of this study have important implications for those who seek to
meaningfully and effectively advance the experiences of Black undergraduate women in theory
and practice. Thus, I offer a series of recommendations for practice and research in this section.

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First, I present a set of recommendations for faculty and administrators working with Black
women in higher education. Lastly, the chapter concludes with implications for the future of
higher education research.
Implications for Practice
Campus culture needs to be assessed and prioritized. Institutional leaders should
understand and consider the role their campus cultures play in promoting or hindering the
experiences of their racially minoritized students. Specifically, the study illuminates the
importance of campus-adjacent nightlife, as it is one of the first spaces where college students
experience nightlife. However, campus-adjacent nightlife events hosted by student organizations
are not always equitable and inclusive for Black women. As the findings illustrate, these
inequities exist across different campuses in the nation. Efforts to assess campus culture will
assist in identifying actionable steps each college or university must take to be more inclusive.
Relatedly, institutional leaders should provide additional funding to Black sororities and
fraternities to have housing close to campus. The findings indicate that white fraternities host
many campus-adjacent nightlife events. For example, here at the University of Southern
California (USC), an entire street is referred to as the “row,” with white fraternity and sorority
houses. However, Black fraternities and sororities do not have houses for them to occupy. As
white fraternities and sororities continue to pass on their houses to the next generation of college
students, Black Greek life faces challenges. Although I suggest giving Black fraternities and
sororities houses might aid in creating more inclusive campus-adjacent social events, this is not
always feasible. Given that Black Greek letter organizations (BGLOs) are governed by their
National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPC), the NPC would have to decide if they would assume the
liability of putting official BGLOs houses close to campus; this is not a university’s decision.

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Due to the challenges of giving BGLOs campus-adjacent houses, institutional leaders
should also consider financially supporting Black-centered spaces on and off-campus. Black
students, in particular, face tremendous hurdles and discrimination as they attempt to host parties
in campus venues or nearby. Given the overcriminalization of the Black community, a
recreational event, as simple as a party, comes with additional hurdles such as extra security.
Thus, providing physical spaces both on and off-campus for Black students to host events will
contribute to this issue. Understanding that securing physical space on campus for student use is
accompanied by its own set of hurdles, institutional leaders should also not shy away from
securing off-campus spaces. There might be opportunities for institutions to strictly secure co-
working spaces or event venues to provide opportunities for minoritized students to engage away
from their campuses socially. Overall, institutions should make a concerted effort to create and
support environments on and off-campus where Black women are not expected to identify non-
racist and misogynist social environments.
Participants in this study consistently suggested that Black women own more nightclubs,
which speaks to the importance of Black women ownership. Bachelors and master’s degrees in
business have a reputation for lacking gender and racial diversity (Ball, 2012). For this reason,
institutional leaders should make an intentional effort to ensure their business programs are
recruiting and retaining Black women and other minoritized populations. There should be an
essential focus to increase the racial and gender diversity among business students and faculty.
Implications for Research
While this study offers innovative insights into the realm of nightlife, the study prioritizes
Black undergraduate women’s experiences while in college. Using nightlife as an empirical
space for investigation, the study’s findings and conclusions assert that future research should

147
adopt external environments as part of the student experience. In exploring Black undergraduate
women in college, education researchers have often focused on the experiences of Black women
on their respective campuses (Commodore et al., 2018; Evans-Winters & Esposito, 2010;
Haynes et al., 2020; Patton & Croom 2017). The findings of this study suggest that the role of
external environments is vital in the social experiences and identity formation of Black women.
Future research might also consider the multiple external environments Black undergraduate
women face, such as restaurants, networking events, and social media. By including the role of
external environments in education research, researchers push back on traditional higher
education research while simultaneously contributing to a more holistic view of students and
their experiences.
As previously mentioned, a limitation of this research design is that it is not context-
bound or place-bound. Though this design allowed many Black women to participate, regardless
of their location, the findings are broad and do not account for differences in university type
(e.g., HBCU vs. PWI) or location (e.g., urban environment vs. college town). Although
participants in this study shared that they believed discrimination in nightlife occurs everywhere
regardless of city or state, the sample size is not large enough to firmly assume this. Therefore,
future research should consider how Black women in colleges and universities experience their
external environments in predominantly white college towns, predominantly Black towns and
cities, and diverse large metropolitan cities. Additionally, future studies might consider a case
study or ethnographic methodology to further investigate Black undergraduate women’s
experiences in their external environments.
Another limitation of this research study is that it centers on the experiences of Black
undergraduate women who identify with typical normative representations of femininity. Also,

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many of the participants shared that they identified as heterosexual. Such representation is
considered a limitation because it assumes all Black women ascribe to a particular representation
of femininity when literature acknowledges that Black women are diverse (Bradley, 2020;
Collins, 2002; Kessi, 2018). In addition, the literature consistently states that LGBTQ+ students
of color frequently feel like on-campus ethnic cultural centers fail to meet their needs as queer
students and LGBTQ+ centers appeal overwhelmingly to white queer students’ needs and
interests (Harper & Baxter, 2020). Further, little is known about how queer Black women
collegians experience nightclubs in which, presumably, the overwhelming majority of attendees
are heterosexual. Thus, gender non-conforming folks and the LGBTQ+ community of Black
women may have different experiences in nightlife than the participants in this study. Future
research should investigate LGBTQ+ Black undergraduate women’s experiences in the nightlife
to see what similarities or differences there are. Such a study can further inform the dearth of
literature on LGBTQ+ Black undergraduate women and a more intersectional approach to
theory-making.
Finally, this study echoes earlier calls to study Black women in colleges and universities
in innovative ways (Patton and Njoku, 2019; Patton & Ward, 2016), which requires an
interdisciplinary lens. Future inquiries should examine Black women in colleges and universities
by pulling from sociology, African American studies, gender and sexuality studies, and more. By
doing so, researchers resist the epistemological erasure of Black women in research and include
multiple historical perspectives from other fields and disciplines that inform Black women’s
identities. Further, higher education researchers, particularly researchers of color and their co-
conspirators, should also push back on what research is considered “rigorous.” This study does

149
not align with typical education research studies, but it encourages future researchers to think
critically about how students might experience this world.
Closing
This dissertation provided a comprehensive review of extant literature, explored
theoretical and analytical frameworks with Black epistemological underpinnings, and highlighted
the lived experiences of a minoritized population in higher education. Although higher education
is quite traditional as a field—in terms of the research and theory it deems scholarly rigorous—I
suggest it is time to engage overlooked external spaces of empirical investigation; the growing
diversity of college students and their interests calls upon it. Thus, I argued that nightclubs are
among the few off-campus public accommodations where Black women in college socially
engage, making them important spaces of empirical research. Further, no studies have contended
with misogynoir related to this $19.9 billion industry (May, 2014), let alone through a CRF and
BFT lens.
Since creating meaningful connections through social engagement is crucial for college
students (Astin, 1993; Croom et al., 2017; Rendón & Muñoz, 2011), it makes sense that future
research would seek where these engagements occur outside of the campus arena. Black feminist
scholars make clear that Black women face misogynoir throughout their everyday experiences.
Consequently, scholarship must remain aware of such ongoing social changes, regardless of the
locations in which they take place (Collins, 2002). Empirically studying nightclubs through
Black collegian women’s perspectives advances how higher education theorizes off-campus
spaces, rejects traditional research designs and makes space for future researchers to embrace
interdisciplinary epistemologies. We know that information on Black women “is not always
contained in books and research articles” (Patton & Ward, 2016, p. 332). Hence, my dissertation

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study is an opportunity to investigate the implications of off-campus gendered racism by
problematizing our limited understanding of Black collegian women’s social experiences.

151
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Appendix A: Phenomenological Study Interview Protocol (Semi-Structured)

Interview Protocol: The Personal is Political: Black Undergraduate Women’s Off-Campus
Experiences in Nightlife
General Questions:
1. Can you talk to me a little more about what identities are important to you?
1. What makes them important and why did you highlight them?
2. How have these identities shaped your on-campus experience as an undergraduate
student?
1. What was your first experience in nightlife? Was it on or off-campus?
1. Can you provide an example of your first nightlife experience?
3. Can you recall the last time, if at all, that you attended a nightclub?
1. What was this experience like for you?
2. Can you provide an example?
3. How did the experience personally affect you?
4. Do you feel that your experiences in nightlife have been equitable? In other words, have
you ever felt discriminated against?
1. If so, can you please provide an example?
5. Do you feel that your peers have also experienced your same experience in nightlife?
1. If not, how might theirs differ?
6. There are few well-known nightclubs in various major cities with yelp reviews that state
these venues are racist and sexist. What are your thoughts about such yelp reviews?
1. Do you believe these instances of racism and sexism occur? If so, why do you
think that is?

175
7. Have there been times when you felt your off-campus experiences have influenced your
college or university experiences?
1. If so, can you please provide an example?
8. Where do you feel the safest to partake in recreational activities? Are those spaces on
campus or off-campus?
1. Is there any particular space you avoid? If so, please provide an example.
9. Does your campus provide physical space(s) for you to feel safe and your identities
validated?
10. Is there anything you would like to ask me?

176
Appendix B: Study Participant Consent Form for Exempt Research

University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
3470 Trousdale Pkwy, Los Angeles, CA 90089

INFORMATION SHEET FOR EXEMPT RESEARCH

STUDY TITLE: Black Undergraduate Women's Off-Campus Experiences in Nightlife

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Sarah Toutant, M.Ed.

FACULTY ADVISOR: Dr. Shaun Harper

You are invited to participate in a research study. Your participation is voluntary. This document
explains information about this study. You should ask questions about anything that is unclear to
you.

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to investigate Black undergraduate women’s off-campus experiences
in nightclubs. We hope to learn more about how your external environments impact your overall
college or university experiences. You are invited as a possible participant because you attend or
have attended in the last three years, a college or university, self-identify as a Black woman, and
are interested in sharing your experiences in nightlife.

PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT
Participants will be asked to sign up for a 60-minute interview with the researcher. In this
interview, participants will be asked about their experiences in college and in nightlife.
Interviews will be recorded, strictly for transcription purposes. Participants may decline having
their video on.

If you decide to take part, you will be asked to participate in a 60-minute interview, and provide
demographic information (e.g. name, chosen pseudonym, college or university, age, ethnicity,
and sexual orientation).

PAYMENT/COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION

You will receive a $50 Amazon gift card for your time. You do not have to answer all of the
questions in order to receive the card. The card will be emailed to you after completion of the
interview.

CONFIDENTIALITY

177
The members of the research team, and the University of Southern California Institutional
Review Board (IRB) may access the data. The IRB reviews and monitors research studies to
protect the rights and welfare of research subjects.

When the results of the research are published or discussed in conferences, no identifiable
information will be used.

All research procedures including data collection will be conducted in a private virtual setting.
All data will be electronic and stored with appropriate electronic safeguards such as
usernames/passwords and limited to authorized study personnel.

The interview recordings will be deleted within a month of the interview. The interview will only
be sent to a professional transcription service. They will provide written transcriptions of the
interview.

As a participant, you have the right to review the final interview transcripts. Your identity will be
anonymous and you will be able to choose your own pseudonym.

INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about this study, please contact Sarah Toutant toutant@usc.edu 562-
665-4202

IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant, please contact the
University of Southern California Institutional Review Board at (323) 442-0114 or email
irb@usc.edu.

Abstract (if available)

Abstract The problem addressed in this study is that scholars have underexplored Black women’s off-campus lives. In fact, higher education research remains limited in its understanding of how all students experience the off-campus arena. Extant literature has investigated the experiences of Black women in higher education through mentorship (Griffin et al., 2010), retention through student organizations (Croom et al., 2017), racialized and gendered microaggressions (Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000), and the overall racial campus climate for Black women on college and university campuses (Patton & Croom, 2017). As the literature demonstrates, broader societal issues of gendered anti-Black racism, classism, and other forms of oppression impact the campus experiences of Black women. However, there is currently a dearth of academic literature regarding Black collegian women’s off-campus experiences. In this dissertation, qualitative research methods were employed to conduct a phenomenological study using nightclubs as an empirical space of investigation to create an empirical nexus between Black women’s experiences with higher education and their external environment. A total of 42 semi-structured individual interviews with Black women currently enrolled or recently graduated from a college or university were conducted. Findings indicated that Black undergraduate women navigate safety concerns, identity politics, and misogynoir in their off-campus environments. Implications for future research and recommendations for improving Black undergraduate women’s off-campus experiences are discussed in the concluding chapter.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Toutant, Sarah (author)

Core Title Into the night: A critical race feminist approach for understanding the off-campus experiences of Black undergraduate women in nightclubs

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Urban Education Policy

Degree Conferral Date 2022-05

Publication Date 02/04/2022

Defense Date 11/15/2021

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Black,critical race feminism,Nightclubs,OAI-PMH Harvest,qualitative methods,Race,Students,undergraduate

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Harper, Shaun (committee chair)

Creator Email sarahmarietoutant@gmail.com,toutant@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC110618318

Unique identifier UC110618318

Legacy Identifier etd-ToutantSar-10378

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Toutant, Sarah

Type texts

Source 20220207-usctheses-batch-911 (batch), University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

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Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu