Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2018, Counseling Psychology

This study begins the process of attending to the street harassment experiences of Black women in the U.S. To examine how Black women define and describe their experiences with street harassment, this phenomenological study utilized semi-structured interviews. Eight Black women were recruited to participate in this study. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed by the author and an additional reviewer. The subsequent data was coded, then reduce to categories and themes. The results of this study provided a definition of street harassment and discussed the negative experiences and consequences that come from this phenomenon. The findings of this study included the following six themes: Description of Street Harassment, Behavioral Responses, Negative Emotional Experiences, Meaning Making, Heightened Harassment in Certain Contexts, and Hypervigilance. These themes contained fourteen subthemes that further describes Black women's experiences. The results of this study has some important implications for future research and practice. Specifically, conducting participatory action research and crafting bystander interventions with community members is a logical next step from this study. Finally, there are some implications for the proposed theories of street harassment. Black women's experiences did not fit neatly into previous theories. The results of this study elucidated some cultural components that influence the negative emotional outcomes that Black women experience as a result of street harassment within their community.

Committee: John Queener Dr. (Committee Chair); Ingrid Weigold Dr. (Committee Member); Suzette Speight Dr. (Committee Member); Margot Gregor Dr. (Committee Member); Huey Li Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; Counseling Psychology; Cultural Anthropology; Psychology; Urban Planning