Social Anxiety Looks Different on Black Women
Link to video: https://youtu.be/RsXPVVvaPQg
Watching the video footage of Summer Walker timidly accepting her award for Best New Artist at the Soul Train awards brings me back to my middle school days. In Ms. Turberg’s sixth grade class, I stood in front of my peers to present a book report when suddenly, it felt like the sound had turned off except for the loud thudding of my heart. My stomach started doing summersaults in place and my face was burning hot as if I had a fever. I was completely unaware of the words coming out of my mouth, but I just kept moving my lips until the kids in my class started laughing and my teacher told me I could take a seat. Like many young, Black girls, I did not have a name for what had just happened to me. We didn’t talk about mental health at home and I had no concept of anxiety as a medical condition. Yet these strange symptoms followed me through the years, getting me kicked out of class in high school because the teacher mistook my nervous ticks for mocking, framing me as the “Angry Black Woman” in college because I wore my heart on my sleeve, and eventually creating a perception in the office that I was “unfriendly” because I kept to myself and preferred not to attend company outings.
Summer Walker has been the center of controversy in the past few weeks because of her public struggles with social anxiety. Recently, her team announced that the remainder of her tour would be canceled as a result of the singer’s difficulty with performing in front of large crowds, public speaking, and inability to follow through with fan meet and greets. The internet has not been kind to Walker, age 23, with many suggesting that she should have picked a different career if she wasn’t ready for the limelight, while others accuse her of being a fraud for not being able to follow through with the traditional duties of stardom which involve catering to her fanbase. There has been a notable lack of sympathy for the young, singer, for whom fame came quickly and unexpectedly. Perhaps this is because there is little sympathy for Black women who suffer from social anxiety, with mental health stigmas and cultural taboos that suggest that Black women are impervious to social anxiety and generalized anxiety, when in fact the opposite is true. Studies show that African Americans are 20% more likely to experience mental health problems than the general population. Social anxiety may not look like the Hollywood stereotype of a faltering voice or nailbiting in Black women. In fact, because of skewed perceptions of Black women, symptoms can be perceived as aggression and attitude rather than a call for help. The stereotype of the strong Black woman translates in everyday life to Black women generally not being allowed to be vulnerable or display too much emotion without being regarded as a threat.
One of the main symptoms of social anxiety, according to Mayo Clinic, is the fear of being judged or entering situations where others might judge you. For Black women, the reality is that negative judgment is commonplace. Some internalize the anxiety, often leading to physical health repercussions as well as deteriorating mental health, while others externalize anxiety. Jaynay Johnson, Marriage and Family Therapist and author of Dear Teen Self, a book aimed at addressing the mental health in teen girls, confirms “Anxiety presents differently in young Black women as anger and attitude. This is mainly because there aren’t spaces where Black girls aren’t being judged.” It's common for Black women and girls to act out anxiety in the form of aggression or anger, an emotion that is socially expected and in many cases acceptable to the mainstream. From a young age, this can result in suspensions from school and social isolation.
Pervasive mental health stigma and a general lack of knowledge on mental health in marginalized communities causes many women to keep quiet about social anxiety, fearing the labels of “crazy”, “weak” or “soft”. There is also the issue of limited access to affordable mental health services, which means many individuals go undiagnosed.
The tides are certainly changing in the fight for increased mental health awareness in communities of color. With the age of social media, mental health advocates, therapists, and mental health organizations are reaching the screens of more people than ever. Therapy is no longer a taboo word in many millennial circles, and #selfcare has become a worldwide phenomenon. In the words of Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett, professor of Psychological Sciences and director of the Program for Research on Anxiety Disorders among African Americans at Kent State University,
“Slowly, the stigma associated with seeking help for anxiety is disappearing. Women have begun to understand that an anxious Black woman is not crazy, she is simply anxious and with assistance can reclaim her life.“
I’m living proof that social anxiety is a condition that can be managed with the right self-care and mental health routines. Over the years, I’ve gone from stumbling through a sixth-grade presentation to being on podcasts, conduct workshops, and doing public speaking engagements on mental health and wellness. No one can judge anyone else for where they are in their journey with anxiety or dictate what symptoms one can experience at any given time. Anxiety does not make you any less worthy of your dreams.
Summer Walker is living her dream and her nightmare all at once. Social anxiety is only a part of who we are as individuals. It’s possible to be a famous singer and also be completely terrified by crowds and strangers. We should allow Summer Walker, a young Black woman, the space to be multilayered and complicated. The symptoms of social anxiety present in Black women throw played out stereotypes for a loop because truly acknowledging the legitimacy of social anxiety as an issue in our society means seeing Black women as both vulnerable and strong at the same time.
Do you ever experience anxiety? Let me know in the comments.
For more resources, check out Grad School Hub.
