Overcoming the “Trash Talk in Your Head”: Extending an Ethic of Care to Students Experiencing Intersectional Stigma in Community College

Abstract

Intersectional stigma is experienced by individuals who share both a minoritized identity and a socially stigmatized identity. This study examines not only both types of intersectional stigma (e.g., homelessness, addiction, history of incarceration) that exist among students but also how campus personnel have extended an ethic of care to assist these students in changing their self-perceptions or “looking glass selves” to persist and succeed in community college. Recommendations for institutional improvement include flexibility in hiring staff with the expertise of lived experience, extending social support, improving access to campus and community resources, and horizontal peer mentoring for students with stigmatized identities.