How Can We Create More Power Couples If You Don’t Want Her To Have Any Power


Via FreshXpress - Sexism has a unique way of subordinating Black women. It is a Black woman’s duty, so we are told, to suppress our urges toward equality. Black women have always been expected to prioritize the components of their identity so that race takes precedence over gender. If feminist implications arise that may offend our Black men, even in gender’s relegated position, they are expected to be ignored in favor of Black manhood. The effects of this phenomenon are that Black women have spent considerable time ignoring their feminine needs in an effort to emphasize their race. Consequently, the expression of their womanhood is frustrated and often comes out in an “angry Black woman” kind of way. Most attempts to assert our equality are construed as an “emasculation” of our Black men. Justified through theories of divine order or threats of indefinite loneliness, Black men still re-enforce the obligation of Black women to prioritize and solidify Black manhood.

Every so often, I run across comments by Black men that remind me how stealth and active cultural sexism still is. As an undergraduate, one such comment served as the entire basis for my honor’s thesis. In summation, a Black man commented on the radio “I don’t see how Black women can vote for Hillary Clinton. If you’re voting based solely on demographics you have an obligation to vote for Barack because you’re Black before you’re a woman.” I sought confirmation of my outrage from my two bosses at the time (both Black males) who replied “umm duh Shy! You ARE Black before you’re a woman. You didn’t know that?!” They seemed puzzled at my reaction as if I had missed some quintessential Black community belief.

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