2025/10/02 by Vanessa Gonlin, Chelsey D. Adams, Elaysha K. Brown · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Race, History, and American Society #Racial and Ethnic Identity Research #Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
paper · doi:10.1080/01419870.2025.2560501
openalex publication_date 2025/10/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/14
While interracial relationships are often lauded as promoting unity and multiculturalism, they may also be viewed as threats to racial boundaries. In 2021, eighty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted with Black women from across the United States describing their experiences dating and/or marrying white men. Thematic analysis reveals over one-third (N = 30) of interviewees believe their interracial relationships trigger intra-racial boundary policing by Black community members. Interviewees believe such backlash enforces conformity to racial and gender scripts. Perceived failure to conform increases emotional distress and threatens to compromise the effectiveness of their work in race-centered spaces. This in turn impacts community ties. Black women resist identity invalidation and work to communicate their legitimacy as group members in personal and career contexts. This paper emphasizes the conditions under which perceptions of the boundary-making process can challenge group cohesion, and how a group facing marginalization resists.