Ruby is set in a Texas that still harbors segregation and racial violence from its past as a state of enslaved peoples. All the Black residents of Liberty Township experience the consequences of historical and present racism, but the novel’s Black female characters are subjected to the additional dimension of misogynoir. Misogynoir refers to the intersection of racism and sexism experienced by Black women. Ruby’s experiences are heavily informed by the misogynoir she encounters everywhere she goes, even in her own community.

One of the hallmarks of misogynoir is the dehumanization of Black women. In Ruby, this dynamic allows abusers to exploit Black women and girls without guilt. When Ruby arrives at the Friends’ Club, Miss Barbara quickly indoctrinates her with the idea that white girls are good girls while “Negro girls [start] bad” (141). Ruby’s and Tanny’s johns inflict worse violence on them than they would on white girls, culminating in Tanny’s brutal murder. Ruby also hears relentless vitriol from her clients, who refer to her using derogatory terms for women and sex workers, as well as racist slurs.

The abusers’ language shifts the blame for their crimes onto Ruby and implies that by simply existing as a Black girl, she is the instigator of her own abuse.