Internalised racism is the acceptance, by a stigmatised, marginalised member of a non-elite racial group of negative societal beliefs, stereotypes, racial prejudices, or discriminatory behaviour about them, which might further lead to the rejection of cultural or religious practices of their own racial group. Though individual may or may not be aware of their own acceptance of those racial prejudices about them, other components considered part of racial, gender expression and sexual identity doubt, are also considered part of the construction of internalised racism. Internalised racism is a psychological process that might affect all non-elite racial, gender and sexual groups. It involves the acceptance of the typical conventional representation of race, gender and/or sex which places racial, gender, or sexual minorities beneath the elite privileged racial groups conforming solely to socially constructed hegemonic expressions of gender and sexual identities.
Such a tolerance of negative stereotypes or prejudices about one’s racial, gender, or sexual group lead to self-degradation and self-alienation incorporating shame about one’s racial, gender, sexual identity. Specifically, acceptance of prejudices about one’s ability, beauty, sexuality, gender expression, body, or intellect worth. One of the manifestations of internalised racism is the abandonment of natural characteristics associated with one’s racial, gender, or sexual identity in favour of an elite racial group’s culture or values, or in favour of the hegemonic expression of gender and sexual identity in an effort to acculturate to a racist or homophobic society. So, this could lead to devaluation of the heritage of one’s racial, gender, or sexual groups in favour of acculturating to hegemonic conservative cultural or religious beliefs that has been shown to have negative impacts on the health and well-being of racial, gender, and sexual minorities.
