“The Medical System Is Not Built for Black [Women’s] Bodies”: Qualitative Insights from Young Black Women in the Greater Toronto Area on Their Sexual Health Care Needs

Randhawa, Gurman; Ramnarine, Jordan; Wilson, Ciann L.; Darko, Natasha; Abdillahi, Idil; Cameron, Pearline; Morrison-Beedy, Dianne; Brisbane, Maria; Alexander, Nicole; Kuye, Valerie; Clarke, Warren; Record, Dane; Betts, Adrian

doi:10.3390/socsci14100581

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“The Medical System Is Not Built for Black [Women’s] Bodies”: Qualitative Insights from Young Black Women in the Greater Toronto Area on Their Sexual Health Care Needs

by

Gurman Randhawa

^1,*,†,

Jordan Ramnarine

^2,*,†

,

Ciann L. Wilson

^1,*,

Natasha Darko

³,

Idil Abdillahi

⁴,

Pearline Cameron

^1,5,

Dianne Morrison-Beedy

⁶,

Maria Brisbane

⁷

,

Nicole Alexander

⁸,

Valerie Kuye

⁹,

Warren Clarke

¹⁰,

Dane Record

¹¹ and

Adrian Betts

¹²

¹

Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5, Canada

²

University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada

³

Dodowa Health Research Centre, Greater Accra P.O. Box DD 1, Ghana

⁴

Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada

⁵

Thrive HIV Prevention and Support, Kitchener, Waterloo, ON N2G 2P1, Canada

⁶

The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA

⁷

University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada

⁸

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Ottawa, ON K1Y 1E4, Canada

⁹

CAYR Community Connections, Newmarket, ON L3Y 3E3, Canada

¹⁰

University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB R3B 2E9, Canada

¹¹

Peterborough AIDS Resource Network, Peterborough, ON K9H 1G5, Canada

¹²

AIDS Committee of Durham Region, Oshawa, ON L1H 4G7, Canada

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^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Soc. Sci. 2025, 14(10), 581; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14100581 (registering DOI)

Submission received: 11 July 2025 / Revised: 7 September 2025 / Accepted: 15 September 2025 / Published: 26 September 2025

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Equity Interventions to Promote the Sexual Health of Young Adults)

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Abstract

While often framed as historical or ‘post’colonial, the pervasive legacies of anti-Black racism, rooted in the afterlives of slavery and the dehumanization of African, Caribbean, and Black (ACB) voices, continues to shape the health experiences of young ACB women in Ontario, Canada. Using an intersectional framework, this qualitative study utilized focus groups (n = 24) to understand factors influencing access to sexual and reproductive health services for young ACB women in southern Ontario. The findings reveal that fostering ACB youth engagement in the design and facilitation of healthcare programs will be vital for creating more responsive spaces to fully express sexual health concerns. It also demonstrates that Eurocentric biomedical frameworks continue to obscure young ACB women’s needs, emphasizing the necessity for culturally relevant care. Lastly, the findings indicate that internalized colonial narratives around health practices perpetuate intergenerationally, further complicating young ACB women’s access to adequate sexual and reproductive healthcare. This examination illuminates the need to address the colonial legacies within healthcare systems that continue to pathologize and hypersexualize young ACB women’s bodies. The study concludes by advocating for intersectional, youth-centered, and culturally competent approaches to dismantling the barriers young ACB women face in accessing sexual and reproductive health services.

Keywords: black women’s health; intersectionality; sexual and reproductive health equity; participatory research; stigma

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MDPI and ACS Style

Randhawa, G.; Ramnarine, J.; Wilson, C.L.; Darko, N.; Abdillahi, I.; Cameron, P.; Morrison-Beedy, D.; Brisbane, M.; Alexander, N.; Kuye, V.; et al. “The Medical System Is Not Built for Black [Women’s] Bodies”: Qualitative Insights from Young Black Women in the Greater Toronto Area on Their Sexual Health Care Needs. Soc. Sci. 2025, 14, 581. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14100581

AMA Style

Randhawa G, Ramnarine J, Wilson CL, Darko N, Abdillahi I, Cameron P, Morrison-Beedy D, Brisbane M, Alexander N, Kuye V, et al. “The Medical System Is Not Built for Black [Women’s] Bodies”: Qualitative Insights from Young Black Women in the Greater Toronto Area on Their Sexual Health Care Needs. Social Sciences. 2025; 14(10):581. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14100581

Chicago/Turabian Style

Randhawa, Gurman, Jordan Ramnarine, Ciann L. Wilson, Natasha Darko, Idil Abdillahi, Pearline Cameron, Dianne Morrison-Beedy, Maria Brisbane, Nicole Alexander, Valerie Kuye, and et al. 2025. "“The Medical System Is Not Built for Black [Women’s] Bodies”: Qualitative Insights from Young Black Women in the Greater Toronto Area on Their Sexual Health Care Needs" Social Sciences 14, no. 10: 581. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14100581

APA Style

Randhawa, G., Ramnarine, J., Wilson, C. L., Darko, N., Abdillahi, I., Cameron, P., Morrison-Beedy, D., Brisbane, M., Alexander, N., Kuye, V., Clarke, W., Record, D., & Betts, A. (2025). “The Medical System Is Not Built for Black [Women’s] Bodies”: Qualitative Insights from Young Black Women in the Greater Toronto Area on Their Sexual Health Care Needs. Social Sciences, 14(10), 581. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14100581

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“The Medical System Is Not Built for Black [Women’s] Bodies”: Qualitative Insights from Young Black Women in the Greater Toronto Area on Their Sexual Health Care Needs

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