The Duality of Invisibility and Hypervisibility

In school environments, Black girls’ behavior and bodies are hypervisible, yet their

academic achievements, opinions, and need for support are invisiblized by school staff. Black adolescent girls, unfortunately, encounter gendered racial differential treatment, which may hinder academic performance and well-being. Existing literature exploring maltreatment of Black girls in academic spaces focuses on criminalization, discipline, and achievement gaps (Ibrahim et al., 2022; Martin & Smith, 2017), with some examining how Black girls can feel unheard or silenced (Evans, 2019; Opara et al., 2022). However, there is no known qualitative research centered on the dual experience of invisibility and hypervisibility (DIH) for Black girls in high school settings.

This paper used data from a study that interviewed Black girls in high school (N=13) and

employed the grounded theory methodology to illuminate how these opposing struggles operate simultaneously, which is essential to deepening our knowledge about the complexities of Black girls’ day-to-day experiences in high school settings. With the use of the intersectionality framework, we aim to thread these contrasting experiences to understand how oppressive social forces influence the wellness of Black girls, along with providing evidence that schools employ harmful mistreatment rooted in gendered racial stereotypes.