Racialized Sex-Based Harassment: A U.S.-Based Intersectional Framework for Understanding Harassment of Black Women and Men

Abstract

Although scholarship has long called for attention to the intersection of race and gender in workplace harassment, the experiences of Black Americans remain insufficiently theorized. Existing frameworks often assume harassment to be gender-based in ways that center White women’s victimization, leaving limited conceptual space to understand how Black women and Black men are targeted. In this essay, we synthesize research on racialized sex-based harassment (RSBH) to illustrate how harassment directed at Black Americans is shaped by cultural narratives that simultaneously sexualize, criminalize, and devalue them. Specifically, we introduce sociohistorical archetypes (e.g., Jezebel, Mammy, Sapphire, Mandingo, Brute, Uncle Tom) as cultural mechanisms through which RSBH is enacted, rationalized, and normalized within organizational contexts. We argue that RSBH functions as a mechanism for enforcing racialized gender hierarchy: it draws on sociohistorical meanings attached to Black femininity and masculinity to mark certain identities as inherently available, threatening, or subordinate. We further review evidence linking RSBH to psychological distress, social identity threat, physiological strain, and career stagnation, as well as factors that shape vulnerability and adaptation. By conceptualizing RSBH as a patterned and predictable form of identity-based harm, grounded in the lasting impact of sociohistorical archetypes, rather than a variation of generalized sexual harassment, this work advances theories of harassment and race in organizations. We conclude by outlining implications for measurement, organizational policy, and intervention efforts aimed at disrupting the reproduction of racialized gender inequality at work.