A Rhetoric of Respect: A Theoretical Heuristic for Improving Communication Between Health Practitioners and Black Women

Abstract Black women in the United States die from pregnancy-related causes at far higher rates than white women, even when complications occur at similar or lower rates. Disparities research rarely engages the history of medical racism, and the disrespect Black women describe in clinical encounters is seldom examined as a rhetorical problem. This article proposes a rhetoric of respect, a theoretical heuristic for changing how practitioners communicate with Black patients. Drawing on the philosophical distinction between directive and evaluative respect, the framework holds that persuasion without respect is coercion and identifies three tenets: acknowledgment, deference, and reciprocity. Using a Black feminist epistemological approach, the author analyzes interviews with Black women about their experiences with OBGYNs, treating participants’ experience as wisdom rather than data awaiting interpretation. Close readings of four narratives show how dismissed concerns and pressured consent reflect recognition without acknowledgment, and how each tenet could have changed those encounters. The article also considers the framework’s use in other settings of unequal privilege and consequence.