Blacking out in School Pt. 2: Gender Constructions on Black Youth Development
The effects of living in lower SES levels was analyzed for its impact on black youth in school and in life throughout part one of this survey. These are sensitive subjects and such analysis places a spotlight on larger social forces affecting black and brown communities for generations. Although members of low-SES backgrounds exhibit self-destructive behavior, their accoutability is equal to the plethora of governmental and social degradations implanted into these communities for centuries. Playing the blame game is unavoidable in America so fault is inevitably placed somewhere. In my estimation, it is difficult comprehending middle and upper class rationalizations to what happens on the margins of society where many black families and youth live. The impacts of low SES have devastating consequences on the abilities of youth and families' to simply live healthy lives, much less succeed in school and we must abolish blame politics and begin to solve issues by addressing both psychological and physiological needs.
It seems politically indifferent citizens need to hear statistics or sob-stories to validate the experiences of so many Americans relegated to poverty as a way of life. Multiple sources of research assert increased positive psychological, health, education and family outcomes being directly linked to higher levels of Socioeconomic Status (SES) for youth. Positive development outcomes such as optimism, self-esteem, and perceived control over one’s life accompany most youth in stable home and social environments. Additionally, realistic and authentic gender and cultural norms also accompany secure populations. Particularly, communities that socialize men to be providers for family units effectively create quality home environments generation after generation. Conversely, marginalized communities inconsistently produce stable home environments given the general inability of men of color to be providers for wives and children.
The nature of black love relationships has evolved as the political status of the black community changed from enslaved laborer to current times. Black gender relations can be characterized in similar fashion to black employment, incarceration and healthcare. Part one introduced black marriage rates having dropped by nearly fifty-percent since the onset of integration. For blacks living amongst lower SES-levels, intimate relationships carry higher rates of sexual abuse and domestic violence. Increased domestic unrest places barriers between parents' ability to prepare their young for school and life.
The Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community releases the following information to the viewing public as a snapshot on domestic violence in portions of the black community and are provided here for consideration:
Risk factors for domestic violence*
Risk Factor: When income and neighborhood characteristics are controlled for, racial differences in Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) are greatly reduced.
Risk Factor: When neighborhood and income characteristics are not controlled for, drastic racial disparities exist.
Status Quo: Black Americans accounted for a disproportionate number of intimate partner homicides. In 2005, African Americans accounted for close to 1/3 of all intimate partner homicides in the United States.
Impact: Battered women are at increased risk of attempting suicide, particularly if they were physically abused as a child. Additionally, battered women are at increased risk for being depressed and suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Risk Factor: Intimate partner violence among African Americans is related to economic factors. Intimate partner violence among blacks occur more frequently among couples with low-incomes. Low-income homes, residing in poor neighborhoods, in which the male partner is under-employed or unemployed, and most specifically when the male partner is not actively seeking employment report the highest rates of domestic violence.
Status Quo: By 2005, black women were 2.4 times more likely than a black male to be murdered by their partners. Over this period, intimate partner homicides declined by 83% for black men vs 55% for black women.
Impact: Black women who are battered have more physical ailments, mental health issues and are less likely to practice safe sex. Additionally, battered women are more likely to abuse substances, particularly during pregnancy than black women without a history of partner abuse
Risk Factor: Alcohol problems (alcohol abuse, binge drinking and dependency) are more frequently related to intimate partner violence for African Americans than for white or Hispanic communities.
Additional Statistics
On par with other men, African American men who batter show higher rates of jealousy and the need for power and control in the relationship.
Among black women killed by their partner, close to 1 of 2 were killed in the process of leaving the relationship (highlighting the need to take precautions at the time of departure)
Black women comprise 8% of the US population but in 2005 accounted for 22% of the intimate partner homicide victims and 29% of all female victims of intimate partner homicides
*http://www.idvaac.org/media/publications/FactSheet.IDVAAC_AAPCFV-Community%20Insights.pdf
Constructions of black femininity and masculinity sginificantly contributes to the social and intellectual development of black youth. Danielle M. Wallace, M.A. African American Studies at Temple University published her black youth gender study: “It’s A M-A-N Thang”: Black Male Gender Role Socialization and the Performance of Masculinity in Love Relationships” in the March 2007 edition of the Journal of Pan African Studies. Wallace addresses the historiographical constructions of the black female-male relationship that shapes today's black popular culture, media and spirituality. There are two very essential gender messages that are instilled into black youth throughout their formative years and adolescence that help shape attitudes toward education, relationships and self-image. Wallace begins with the over-arching constructions of black masculinity. These definitions influenced the historical relationships of black men and women since American enslavement.
INSTITUTIONAL DEFICITS
Because black men lack the control to institutionally discriminate against women in the larger society (professional world, local, state or national government and/or civil society) then it is functionally difficult, if not impossible, to consider black men sexist.
TRADITIONAL BLACK MACHO
Black men were robbed of the status of “provider” due to enslavement and legalized discrimination for generations. Black women should then allow men to lead community structures and organizations in lieu of the historical emasculation of men of color.[endif]
Special attention must be given to gender constructions because they are, arguably, the first social mores that young people internalize and then subsequently perpetuate. Before young people develop spending or saving patterns, voting patterns, religious habits or attitudes, they execute gender roles.
Black gender constructions mirror the larger Euro-American society and represent, along with Christianity, one of the most successful black acculturations from the dominant white American society. The historically graphic and elongated political violence plus economic exploitation inflicted on the black community provided strong incentives for black Americans to internalize Euro-American gender, economic, beauty and psychological values. The degree of freedom America would allow would reflect the exact degree to which blacks infused Euro-American values into black institutions, religious organizations and residential communities. Acculturation was impossible if blacks maintained antithetical notions of economics, gender and religion to the dominant culture
Whosale integration into white society was never possible, post-Emancipation or otherwise. The black community was compelled to adopt the "gradualism" approach in exchange for the promise of incremental rights protection after the Civil War. Gender provided a convenient mode for black society to display it’s advancement towards Euro-American standards of living, despite the impacts to black women and children. Black male leaders, ever hopeful to barter acculturated progress into greater privileges and notoriety for themselves, benefitted from the chauvinism of American gender norms. However, wealth, property or political advancement nationwide was minimal for rank and file black Americans although the gender appropriation throughout all classes of the black community was near complete by turn of the twentieth century America.
Moreover, it is interesting to note that the same dichotomy of male superiority versus female inferiority served as the template outlining the racial superiority of Europeans over people of African descent. Williams addresses this very phenomenon in detailing the black community’s internalization of the interlocking nature Euro-American gender and racial constructs:
Euro-Americans have consistently made the distinction between men and women based on the idea that men are strong, rational beings that are generally expected to be “aggressive, uncompromising, factual, lusty, intelligent provider(s) of goods, while women are weak, emotional creatures that are “retiring, gracious, intuitive, attractive, consumer(s) of goods. White males have always been the face of all that is good and right about human civilization. White males have been credited with the best and most important discoveries known to humankind and in that, are the best that humankind has to offer. White women, on the other hand, have also been viewed to be good (in comparison to Black men and women) but less than good in comparison to white men due to their lack of rationality. With European men positioned as the symbol for humanity, European women have become something other than human. This dichotomy itself is reminiscent of the dichotomy posed by European thinkers concerning the differences between Europeans and Africans in which Europeans are viewed as rational and intelligent humans and Africans as emotional, irrational, unintelligent and animalistic (Ani, 1987; 1994)
For young black boys, then, the first and most stringent expression of their masculinity is the rejection of everything resembling the feminine, including nurturance, emotion and flexibility. Williams notes this essential quality of black male masculinity by saying:
In accordance with the larger European definitions of masculinity, young boys in American society are typically socialized to think that they must refrain from displaying emotion in order to avoid being thought of as weak or feminine. Those boys that do show any emotion other than anger are often told that they must “Stop being such a punk”, that they are “acting like a little girl” or that “boys don’t cry”. Boys and men are ridiculed for their lack of masculine behavior by being called wimps, sissies and girly-men. From a very early age, American boys are taught that the worst thing for a boy to be is “girly”, for in the male/female dichotomy, to be female is to be less than human, less than respectable.
The repudiation of all female gender constructions in adherence to dominant culture mandates leaves young boys with a massive personality void to fill. If not preparing to take on intuitive, nurturing or leadership roles for their families, male personality spaces once reserved for emotional competency are filled by directives that breed very consumptionist behavior patterns in black men. Filling the void of imbalance, young black boys are indoctrinated with Americanized constructs of hyper-sexual activity, encouraging men to consume and experience women rather than to treasure, protect and cooperate with women. Wallace characterizes the “sex sells” message as confusing to young boys and girls in America when she writes:
The emphasis placed on sexuality for young boys helps to draw the inference for boys and girls that manhood and masculinity are inherently sexual matters and that for one to become a man, one only needs to engage in sexual intercourse (belle hooks, 2004). The inconsistencies about what cross-gender behavior can be tolerated and in what context it will be accepted…affects both Black boys and girls in that it makes certain behaviors acceptable only in certain circumstances, and as a result, the socialization process provides them with contradictory and confusing messages about masculinity and femininity.
Although the most dominant, sexual promiscuity is not the only conflicting gender standards presented to young black boys and girls. Denied the entire spectrum from which develop, young boys are compelled to compensate by exaggerating the remaining traits deemed acceptable by the dominant society. Young black girls are also conditioned to accept the remains of stunted development afforded their male counterparts. Over-aggression and violence are made readily available to black males of all ages. But unlike the message of aggression given to men of the dominant culture, Wallace argues that:
…Black boys are taught to be aggressive, dominant, and sometimes violent to be true men. Like black girls, they also receive a secondary message which warns them that as Black men in American society, they cannot be too aggressive or dominant because of repercussions from white racists (Franklin 1984). The interesting thing about Black male socialization is that while they are inundated with the “man as the aggressor” role, they are not given the complete message that is given to young white males that outlines not only aggression as masculine, but the idea as “man as provider” which requires that men act as sole or primary provider for their families. Historically, this has been a role that Black men have been unable to fill due to issues such as high rate of unemployment or the underemployment of Black men—issues which serve to show that the “man as provider” role is not only a luxury, but largely a matter that only white men and women grapple with.
The concentration of unemployment, aggressiveness, violence and over-sexualization within the black male socialization do not make even odds for companionship and reciprocity for black women seeking to fulfill their gender-specific roles as domestic nurturers, partners and providers. By the time black youth are of school-age, cooperation between black boys and black girls is minimized through internalized gender constructs that reflect age-old racial and class stratifications. By the time that schooling commences, there is a tendency for young people, particularly young boys to develop aversions working with, befriending and maintaining balanced relationships with their girl counterparts. Oversimplified social acceptance of male aggressiveness towards girls as "he just likes you" begins the female obligation to coping with dysfunctional gender perceptions within boys. To compensate for the dearth of well-rounded black men as black girls mature, Wallace states black women are:
…told by parents to expect that they will be left alone without a mate at some point in life and they must be able and ready to provide financially and economically for themselves and their family. However, they are simultaneously given the larger message that as women, their goal is and should be to “snare” a Black man who will take care of them (Franklin 1984)[5].
More than two decades ago, Clarence Lusane described in his account, African Americans at the Crossroads: The Restructuring of Black Leadership and the 1992 Elections, the near, if not full-blown crisis black women face in securing eligible, educated and employed black male husbands. He argues that increased rates of disease, unemployment and incarceration significantly aid to declining marriage rates in the black community and the trends are not improving. By the early 1990's, statistics of more black men in prison than in college became prevalent calls to the alarming trend of our communties' inability to consistently produce men with the fortitude to withstand social ills of crime, racism, drug dependency and unsafe sexual practices. I myself, coming of age in the 1990's, was constantly bombarded in church, school and on television with the fact that there were more black men in prison than in college. Almost a scared-straight tactic, concerned citizens sang that refrain as if the problem produced itself out of thin air. Very rarely did they accompany that unnatural reality with any sort of explanation that the gendering of black men in their youth, combined with holdovers from America's investment in the disabling of the black community accounts for an initial mindset that is a potent mix of internal and external traps for young black men.
Yet again, I attempt fend off attacks that this is a work of fatalism. Talking heads, indoctrinated by mainstream American narcissism defend this 'melting pot' and the systems within it, particularly its effects on communities historically coerced from the mainstream of American society. Present-day Americans look at bloated criminal, poverty and employment trends in a vacuum. I don't blame them that much. If they viewed them historically, it would be hard to maintain such outdated paradigms. Americans prisons, of which black men populate upwards of 45% are not filled with victims, they say, but with the callous fiends who preyed on honest American citizens. Their rotting in jails and prisons is the product of their decrepit morality and we are all the more safe because of their incarceration.
This inane blame game obscures realities that are three centuries in the making. We continue to believe that criminal behavior is innate within individuals and reject any contextualization of the forces that contributed to present norms. Birth of a Nation is one of the best examples of how turn-of-the twentieth century pop-culture was heavily invested in describing former slaves as criminal, hyper-sexual, lazy and unwilling to learn-- the exact stereotypes that plague the image of black men today. Yet that film, and countless others stand as classics in a culture that marginalizes, demonizes and justifies inequality as "the good old days." Millions of posters, poems and novels published in post-Civil War America labeled black men as rapists and black laborers were vehemently discriminated against and forced into various forms of involuntary labor for a century after Emancipation. Politically correct Americans most assuredly divorce the fact that black culture was forged during the very same centuries that the American government and society were heavily and directed invested in its exploitation. Racism fundamentally affected the lives of black Americans in economic, political, psychological and physical ways. Yet, the methods to end America's systems of misogyny, racism and fraud miserably fails to redress the myriad of ways in which they were instituted.
Although black Americans are not victims, it does not mean general American society is not exploitive. And it was a necessity for blacks to make concessions to American society to gain small concessions of acceptance and normalization. Despite the internalization of sexist gender norms to better acculturate to American society post-slavery, one aspect of traditional manhood was denied black males. Relegated to the most menial of labor positions, black men en masse did not fulfill the mandate of provider for their families. It was always a necessity for black women to work to help support the average black household. This is a fact. In post-WWII society, after the publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, middle-class white women demanded inclusion in the the professional world. Yet 2 of 3 black women were already employed out of the sheer necessity to make ends meet. America has a scant perception that culture, wealth and social norms are the result of historical trends. Such misunderstanding goes a long way to explain America's amnesiatic relationship to it's excricuating past. Preparation for prison, unemployment or minimum-wage rarely require advanced degrees, unles you are a white-collar criminal. Its the American way. Stay tuned for a look at culture and how that also impacts blacks youth in school and throughout the entirety of their development.
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