“The Medical System Is Not Built for Black [Women’s] Bodies”: Qualitative Insights from Young Black Women in the Greater Toronto Area on Their Sexual Health Care Needs

Gurman Randhawa (), Jordan Ramnarine (), Ciann L. Wilson (), Natasha Darko, Idil Abdillahi, Pearline Cameron, Dianne Morrison-Beedy, Maria Brisbane, Nicole Alexander, Valerie Kuye, Warren Clarke, Dane Record and Adrian Betts
Additional contact information
Gurman Randhawa: Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5, Canada
Jordan Ramnarine: University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada
Ciann L. Wilson: Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5, Canada
Natasha Darko: Dodowa Health Research Centre, Greater Accra P.O. Box DD 1, Ghana
Idil Abdillahi: Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada
Pearline Cameron: Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5, Canada
Dianne Morrison-Beedy: The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Maria Brisbane: University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Nicole Alexander: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Ottawa, ON K1Y 1E4, Canada
Valerie Kuye: CAYR Community Connections, Newmarket, ON L3Y 3E3, Canada
Warren Clarke: University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB R3B 2E9, Canada
Dane Record: Peterborough AIDS Resource Network, Peterborough, ON K9H 1G5, Canada
Adrian Betts: AIDS Committee of Durham Region, Oshawa, ON L1H 4G7, Canada

Social Sciences, 2025, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-26

Abstract: While often framed as historical or ‘post’colonial, the pervasive legacies of anti-Black racism, rooted in the afterlives of slavery and the dehumanization of African, Caribbean, and Black (ACB) voices, continues to shape the health experiences of young ACB women in Ontario, Canada. Using an intersectional framework, this qualitative study utilized focus groups ( n = 24) to understand factors influencing access to sexual and reproductive health services for young ACB women in southern Ontario. The findings reveal that fostering ACB youth engagement in the design and facilitation of healthcare programs will be vital for creating more responsive spaces to fully express sexual health concerns. It also demonstrates that Eurocentric biomedical frameworks continue to obscure young ACB women’s needs, emphasizing the necessity for culturally relevant care. Lastly, the findings indicate that internalized colonial narratives around health practices perpetuate intergenerationally, further complicating young ACB women’s access to adequate sexual and reproductive healthcare. This examination illuminates the need to address the colonial legacies within healthcare systems that continue to pathologize and hypersexualize young ACB women’s bodies. The study concludes by advocating for intersectional, youth-centered, and culturally competent approaches to dismantling the barriers young ACB women face in accessing sexual and reproductive health services.

Keywords: black women’s health; intersectionality; sexual and reproductive health equity; participatory research; stigma (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/10/581/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/10/581/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:14:y:2025:i:10:p:581-:d:1759466

Access Statistics for this article

Social Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Yvonne Chu

More articles in Social Sciences from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().