Harassment & Violence Against Muslim Women: Twice Racialized Intersectional Victimization

Abstract

Since 9/11, few studies have critically assessed how gender-based harassment of veiled (hypervisible) and unveiled (invisible) women both experience distinct forms of verbal abuse (hate speech) and physical violence in public spaces. Muslim women navigate street harassment from a unique intersectional position where they encounter a spectrum of interpersonal stranger violence, including social surveillance, verbal attacks, and physical assaults. Based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with Muslim women across racial/ethnic and immigrant identity (n = 27), this article examines the unique vulnerability of survivors during the first Trump Presidential Administration (2016–2020). Findings indicate that Muslim women are targeted in various ways due to their specific marginalized statuses or social identities perpetrators associate with them: as women, as racial/ethnic minorities, and as real or imagined immigrants. Utilizing a theoretical framework of twice-racialized intersectional victimization, this study contributes to understanding invisible violence and intragender interpersonal harassment.