title: Fear of a Black femme: The existential conundrum of embodying a Black femme identity while being a professor of Black, queer, and feminist studies.
abstract: Although a Black femme identity has been defined and embodied by many as an identity with Black feminist roots and revolutionary potentials, Black femmes are still rendered hypervisible and invisible through racist and heteronormative politics. Similarly, embodying a Black femme identity as a professor in academia often engenders these same pretenses of hypervisibility and invisibility. This essay explores what this existential conundrum has been for me as both a Black femme and professor of Black queer and feminist studies, while illuminating the mix of forces within academia that have attempted to stifle my chosen sexual identity and gendered performance.
authors.affiliation: a The University of Louisville.
authors.forename: Kaila Adia
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Story
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D005086:Existentialism; D005178:Faculty / Q000523:psychology*; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D019513:Feminism; D005783:Gender Identity; D018452:Homosexuality, Female / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D000072339:Sexual and Gender Minorities / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Black feminism; Black queer studies; Femme; sexual politics; visibility