“It takes a lot of energy”: Surviving sexism

Women are disproportionately faced with sexism and a plethora of cumulative losses incurred through oppressive experiences in male-centered spaces across their lifespan. Losses are exacerbated for racial and ethnic minority women who contend with the intersecting forces of gendered and racialized forms of prejudice and discrimination. Yet, in the face of historical and contemporary unacknowledged losses (Doka, 1989) and suffocated grief, women have persisted in their quest for survival and justice. Drawing from research and case examples, this chapter describes women’s experiences with trauma and loss in patriarchal contexts dominated by male-centered spaces and presents strategies instituted by women, female youth and allies to foster coping and resilience.