Racialized women largely take two tacks to addressing (or not addressing) racist and sexist content online. Both approaches take a toll. iStockPhoto // Prostock-Studio

the wages of digital emotional labor

How do online interactions mirror societal norms? A recent Social Psychology Quarterly article reveals that even those online spaces that are collectively supportive against racism and sexism are rife with the sorts of limiting societal expectations imposed on racialized women in the offline world.

Using interview data from 18 Black and Asian women, Paulina d.C. Inara Rodis identifies their two primary responses to racist or sexist content online: either refraining from response or taking on an “educator” role. Despite advocating for the latter, interviewees more frequently opt for the former. Their decisions, while not diminishing their commitment to anti-racism or anti-sexism, stem from an awareness of the consequences of speaking up. These ramifications include increasing their already heightened visibility as racialized women in society and inviting the considerable emotional toll of carefully crafting a response, managing their emotions, and finding direct and often altruistic reactions to racist or sexist content—what the author labels “digital emotional labor.”

Racialized women are aware that their actions and digital profiles may evoke and reinforce certain controlling images—stereotypes and tropes used to justify their othering and discrimination. Thus, they carefully consider not only how they wish to be perceived but also how their actions (and inactions) might perpetuate cultural biases and contribute to the marginalization of other women of color.