The politics of respectability continues to inform the messages that Black women receive from family members across a range of experiences, from comments on their hair and body to expectations around dating and marriage. In the current study, we explored Black college women’s perspectives on the types of respectability messages they received in familial contexts from girlhood through emerging adulthood. We used Black feminist theory and consensual qualitative research methods to analyze semi-structured interview data from 48 Black college women (18–24 years old) attending predominantly White institutions. We identified four themes of respectability socialization: (a) perpetuating gendered racialized scripts, (b) policing appropriate appearance, (c) protecting virtue in a patriarchal society, and (d) promoting a “lifting as we climb’’ mentality. Our findings indicate that family members try to prepare Black women for gendered racial stereotypes and oppression by tasking them with behavior modification starting in girlhood. We consider gendered racial socialization practices in Black families that can simultaneously disrupt the pressure to reinforce respectability politics and support Black girls’ identity development, even amidst the anti-Black and misogynoiristic realities of the United States.

尊重的政治继续影响着黑人女性从家庭成员那里收到的各种经历的信息，从对她们头发和身体的评论到对约会和婚姻的期望。在当前的研究中，我们探讨了黑人大学女性对她们从少女时代到成年初期在家庭环境中收到的尊重信息类型的看法。我们使用黑人女权主义理论和一致的定性研究方法来分析 48 名就读于白人为主的机构的黑人女大学生（18-24 岁）的半结构化访谈数据。我们确定了尊重社会化的四个主题：(a) 延续性别种族化的脚本，(b) 监管适当的外表，(c) 在父权社会中保护美德，(d) 提倡“向上攀登”的心态。我们的研究结果表明，家庭成员试图通过从少女时代开始就要求黑人女性进行行为矫正，让她们做好应对性别种族刻板印象和压迫的准备。我们认为，黑人家庭中的性别种族社会化做法可以同时瓦解加强尊重政治和支持黑人女孩身份发展的压力，即使在美国反黑人和厌恶女性的现实中也是如此。