The Sociostructural-Intersectional Body Image (SIBI) framework: Understanding the impact of white supremacy in body image research and practice

White supremacy and racial inequities have long pervaded psychological research, including body image scholarship and practice. The experiences of white, heterosexual, able-bodied, cisgender (predominantly college) women from wealthy, Westernized nations have been centered throughout body image research and practice, thereby perpetuating myths of invulnerability among racialized groups and casting white ideals and experiences as the standard by which marginalized bodies are compared. Body image is shaped by multiple axes of oppression that exist within systemic and structural systems, ultimately privileging certain bodies above others. In this position paper, we highlight how white supremacy has shaped body image research and practice. In doing so, we first review the history of body image research and explain how participant sampling, measurement, interpretive frameworks, and dissemination of research have upheld and reinforced white supremacy. Next, grounded in inclusivity and intersectionality, we advance the Sociostructural-Intersectional Body Image (SIBI) framework to more fully understand the body image experiences of those with racialized and minoritized bodies, while challenging and seeking to upend white supremacy in body image research and practice. We encourage other scholars to utilize the SIBI framework to better understand body inequities and the body image experiences of all people, in all bodies.

Medical students' perspectives on racism in medicine and healthcare in Germany: Identified problems and learning needs for medical education

Objective

Against the backdrop of considerable lack of research, this study provides the first exploration of medical students' perspectives on racism in medicine and healthcare in Germany. The aim is to identify problems and learning needs for medical education. We address the following research questions: - How do medical students perceive racism in medicine and healthcare in Germany? - How do they address, understand, and discuss different aspects of racism in this context? - What are their expectations regarding the role of medical education?

Methods

Semi-structured online focus group discussions were conducted with 32 medical students from 13 different medical schools in Germany. The discussions were transcribed and analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

Results

Based on the analysis of the focus groups, four main hypotheses could be formulated: 1. Medical students perceive racism in medicine and healthcare in Germany as a ubiquitous phenomenon. 2. They have problems to identify racist behaviour and structures due to conceptual knowledge gaps. 3. They are insecure how to deal with racism on a situational level. 4. They hold medical education accountable to tackle racism in medicine and healthcare on various levels.

Conclusion

Our study raises specific learning needs for addressing racism in medicine and healthcare in Germany. Research from the US-context might inspire innovative approaches for German medical education but needs to take national specificities into account. Further research is needed to prepare the implementation of antiracist training in German medical education.

A Framework for Developing Antiracist Medical Educators and Practitioner-Scholars

With an increasing awareness of the disparate impact of COVID-19 on historically marginalized populations and acts of violence on Black communities in 2020, academic health centers across the United States have been prioritizing antiracism strategies. Often, medical students and residents have been educated in the concepts of equity and antiracism and are ready to tackle these issues in practice. However, faculty are not prepared to respond to or integrate antiracism topics into the curriculum. Leaders in faculty affairs, education, diversity, and other departments are seeking tools, frameworks, expertise, and programs that are best suited to meet this imminent faculty development need. In response to these demands for guidance, the authors came together to explore best practices, common competencies, and frameworks related to antiracism education. The focus of their work was preparing faculty to foster antiracist learning environments at traditionally predominantly White medical schools. In this Scholarly Perspective, the authors describe their collaborative work to define racism and antiracism education; propose a framework for antiracism education for faculty development; and outline key elements to successfully build faculty capacity in providing antiracism education. The proposed framework highlights the interplay between individual learning and growth and the systemic and institutional changes needed to advance antiracist policies and practices. The key elements of the framework include building foundational awareness, expanding foundational knowledge on antiracism, embedding antiracism education into practice, and dismantling oppressive structures and measuring progress. The authors list considerations for program planning and provide examples of current work from their institutions. The proposed strategies aim to support all faculty and enable them to learn, work, and educate others in an antiracist learning environment.

White Supremacy and Counseling Psychology: A Critical–Conceptual Framework

The mainstreaming of White nationalism in the United States and worldwide suggests an urgent need for counseling psychologists to take stock of what tools they have (and do not have) to combat White supremacy. We review the rise of social justice issues in the field of counseling psychology and allied helping professions and point to the limits of existing paradigms to address the challenge of White supremacy. We introduce transnationalism as an important theoretical perspective with which to conceptualize global racisms, and identify White racial affect, intersectionality, and allyship as three key domains of antiracist action research. Finally, we suggest three steps for sharpening counseling psychologists’ approaches to social justice: rejecting racial progress narratives, engaging in social justice-oriented practice with White clients, and centering White supremacy as a key problem for the field of counseling psychology and allied helping professions.

Measuring Whiteness: A Systematic Review of Instruments and Call to Action

The psychological study of Whiteness provides one avenue for researchers to help combat racial injustice in the United States. This article is a call to action for counseling psychologists to engage in much needed scholarship and critical examinations of Whiteness. In this systematic review and content analysis, we provide an overview of 18 quantitative measures focusing on various aspects of Whiteness published between 1967 and 2017. We summarize the constructs and psychometric properties of these measures. Our content analysis indicated that constructs assessed by Whiteness measures have shifted in focus over time across four themes: (a) Attitudes Toward Black People/Integration, (b) Modern Racism, (c) White Racial Identity, and (d) White Privilege and Antiracism. We conclude with suggestions on how advancement, development, and use of Whiteness measures could further our knowledge through research examining present-day racial justice issues. The issues highlighted include police brutality, xenophobia, immigration, White supremacy, activism, and training in the field.

Whiteness and Serendipity

The current focus on Whiteness is timely, as the papers included in the Major Contribution extend the discourse first presented by The Counseling Psychologist in 1993. The articles explore the evolution of White allies in a naturalistic and phenomenological way, as there is heavy reliance on current allies telling the story of their sojourn toward becoming relevant. Although mentoring played a critical factor in the evolution of many allies, serendipity best described the nature of a person’s epiphany, trigger, or turning point. There is irony in the fact that most students enter counseling psychology with a tendency to emphasize a color-blind or universalist perspective about the nature of humanity, yet most counseling psychology programs may actually reinforce these attitudes by exposing students to theory suggesting people are more alike than different with regard to intrapsychic and personality dynamics.

The Challenges of Becoming a White Ally

The four articles in this Major Contribution represent a major step toward defining, identifying, discussing, and analyzing the many internal and external challenges faced by White individuals on their journeys to developing nonracist and antiracist identities. I attempt to extract important White ally themes from the contributions, indicate areas of concern, stress that being nonracist is not enough, and point to an important area of preparation that would aid White individuals in becoming allies in the struggle for equal rights.

Roles and Responsibilities of White Allies: Implications for Research, Teaching, and Practice

In this article the authors introduce the Major Contribution addressing the roles and responsibilities of White allies in counseling psychology and related fields. To provide context for the three articles that follow, the authors define White allies, describe potential pitfalls and roadblocks for psychologists involved in racial justice ally efforts, and note scholarly criticisms of White ally work. The authors provide a brief overview of each of the three articles that comprise the Major Contribution, all of which apply concepts associated with White allyship to multicultural psychology research, education, and clinical practice.

The Challenge of Making Whiteness Visible: Reactions to Four Whiteness Articles

In a series of four articles, the authors described the experiences of White researchers, teachers, and practitioners in addressing multicultural issues, which sometimes included racism. Yet, the authors focused very little attention on the benefits of their internalized Whiteness as impediments to fulfilling their scholarly and professional goals. Moreover, the authors did not use any theoretical formulation to guide their examination of White multicultural experts who seek to intervene in contentious topic areas. In this reaction, I suggest that the authors use White racial identity theory to examine some of the racial dynamics that they encounter and to deconstruct Whiteness as it occurs in the types of situations that they described. Examples illustrate the implicitness of White identity theory in virtually all of the articles. In addition, while acknowledging that White people are the ultimate authorities on Whiteness, the author proposes some initial ideas for how White allies might begin to deconstruct Whiteness.