Thus, men experience social and cultural pressures to conform to the ‘tough guise’ and those who fail to conform are negatively labelled as pussies, whimp, emotional, bitch, fag and queer (Katz, 2013). Likewise, in their book “Cool Pose: The Dilemmas of Black Manhood in America” Majors and Bilson (1992) argues that the term ‘cool posing’ is a coping mechanism formed by black men in order mask the oppression of white patriarchal supremacy and in turn, construct their male identity. Furthermore, the ability to mask the harsh realities of oppression and limited opportunities to social and economic resources enables black men to convey the idea of power and control (Majors and Bilson 1992). Equally, in her work “We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity”
An Exploration of the Dynamics of Ghetto Masculinity and the Upholding of Negative Representations in Training Day
When looking at the landscape of Hip-Hop among African Americans, from the spawn of gangsta rap in the mid 1980s to current day, masculinity and an idea of hardness is central to their image and performance. Stereotypical to Black masculinity, the idea of a strong Black male - one who keeps it real, and is defiant to the point of violence - is prevalent in the genre. This resistant, or even compensatory masculinity, encompasses: the hyper masculinity rife in the Western world, misogyny, and homophobia, all noticeable in their lyrics, which is in part a result of their containment within the Black community. The link of masculinity and rap music was established due to this containment, early innovators remaking public spaces in their segregated neighbourhoods. A notion of authentic masculinity arose from the resistant nature of the genre, but the move to the mainstream in the 90s created a contradiction to their very image - resistance. Ultimately, this in part led to the construction of the masculinity defined earlier, one that prides itself on its authenticity. I’ll be exploring how gender is constructed and performed in Hip Hop, beginning with a historical framework, with the caveat of showing that differing masculine identities in the genre, including artists
In cotemporary America, cultural text such as films form many conceptions of race, gender and social for the people who watch them. This paper argues four Key and Peele skits “Substitute Teacher”, “I Said B*tch”, “Phone Call” and “Proud Thug” to challenge and complicate gender norms by highlighting the ways in which gender, race and class are performed in public and private settings. When you critically examine these texts there are stereotypes that underlay the film that are obvious, but are portrayed as comical. The intersectionality between gender, race and class are often addressed in many of these short skits. Often the films or skits engage in patriarchy and the main characters are men. In order to further examine the topic first we must address intersecionality, patriarchy, poverty, and class to grasp a better understanding.
Young African American males are burdened with a significant disconnect between their enthusiastic display of adolescence and the intransigence of authority. Below the surface of the Pull Up Your Pants laws is the lack of hope the black youth feel about their future and place in American society. African American children were not yet born when their parents and grandparents did all the heavy lifting in the preliminary stages of social reform. Reform is slow to embrace today’s society and stories continue to surface of African American youth being subjected to harsh and sometimes unfair treatment. Stories such two Tennessee black teenagers arrested at Bolivar Central High School and jailed for 48 hours for indecent exposure because of their sagging pants (Deutschmann, 2015). In, 2008, then Senator Barak Obama had a unique point of view regarding the Pull Up Your Pants argument during an MTV interview, ‘The saggy pants law is a waste of time…having said that brothers should pull up their pants (Sirianni, 2012 P. 762). Obama went on to speak about wanting to see African American males presented in a respectable manner. There is push back from the confrontational versus conciliatory points of view comes from the African American music industry influence over black youth and promoting Baggy/Saggy Pants as a major social statement. America’s apparently are unwilling to accept the uniqueness of African American street culture and are clearly without viable alternatives to offer these young
As the hip-hop battle rages on in the background somewhere between the black literati, consumers and observers, I stand objectively nodding religiously to Lupe Fiasco as he creates a narrative surrounding personified life of a housing complex each component, the legs, the chest, a different facet of living in the hood. Some would pose Lupe as a Hip-Hop alternative, glorifying his intellectualism and political consciousness, at the expense of demonizing other less academically articulate rap artists. Maybe they deserve it. Maybe they are ill educated and uncultured. But does that delegitimize their message? Understanding the messages of many gangsta rap artists is a complex task for those whose lived experiences don’t relate. We need to find an alternative way to comprehend and critique the music that we dismiss as garbage. What are rappers really saying? Michal P. Jefferies’ work Thug Life, provides us with alternative tools to answer this question. I seek to further explore Jefferies “complex cool” and how it allows for a thug masculinity to include love and other emotional sentiments.
In the portion "Gangsta Culture" from Bell Hooks' We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity
To conclude, the stereotypes that circulate in American society of young black men make it difficult for them to thrive and live peacefully in our society. These stereotypes cause issues in the business world, encounters with law enforcement and even everyday in the general public. It is unfair that young black men are only seen as statistics or stereotypes by the majority due to skin pigmentation. But as a whole, young black males suffer the consequences of the few imbeciles that play into these stereotypes. Though unfortunate and unfair but it is the duty of young black men to shift these negatives to positives. As well as, not play into these stereotypes and overcome.
To understand the congruence of disconnect being an African American male and Queer, in the Black community, one must view how their societal stance is typically disconnected within the community and how it’s disconnect pose as problematic to the archetypical construct of the Black Man. The perception of Black men amongst the Black community stems from the perception of Hyper-masculinity, “Hypermasculinity [amongst men] is...
In his essay, “On Being Black and Middle Class” (1988), writer and middle-class black American, Shelby Steele adopts a concerned tone in order to argue that because of the social conflicts that arise pertaining to black heritage and middle class wealth, individuals that fit under both of these statuses are ostracized. Steele proposes that the solution to this ostracization is for people to individualize themselves, and to ‘“move beyond the victim-focused black identity” (611). Steele supports his assertion by using evidence from his own life and incorporating social patterns to his text. To reach his intended audience of middle-class, black people, Steele’s utilizes casual yet, imperative diction.
In an interview I composed with my mother, I asked her “What were some challenges you had to face being a black woman in the south” which she replied “As a black woman, it was hard because you would be considered last on the totem pole, and we were seen as stereotypes such as barefoot and pregnant.” It hard to challenge these thoughts which Collins described as “controlling images” that society puts on you because of your race or sexuality (pg.1). The author Rhoda Jeffries touches on some black women struggles in her article Editor’s Introduction: Fortitudinous Femininity: Black Women’s Resilience in the Face of Struggle when she says “Jeffries and Jeffries further explore the role of mentoring among Black women and challenge mass media to carefully craft images that positively depict African American women in the various roles they play in “Mentoring and mothering Black femininity in the academy: An exploration of body, voice and image through Black female characters.” (p.82) Media has a huge impact on society, which is because of what people see on television or read on social media, since people aren’t use to or don’t understand something they tend to place it on a certain race or
In this narrative essay, Brent Staples provides a personal account of his experiences as a black man in modern society. “Black Men and Public Space” acts as a journey for the readers to follow as Staples discovers the many societal biases against him, simply because of his skin color. The essay begins when Staples was twenty-two years old, walking the streets of Chicago late in the evening, and a woman responds to his presence with fear. Being a larger black man, he learned that he would be stereotyped by others around him as a “mugger, rapist, or worse” (135).
Racism still exists today in this day and age. African American men are particularly stereotyped to be drug dealers, criminals, and gangsters. People have there on opinion about black men, if someone is sitting in their car, and a black man walks by they’re going to lock their door, because they’re scared there going to get robed. The stereotypes about African American men are not true. There are educated African American men just like any other race. Two articles “Black Men in Public Space” and “Right Place, Wrong Face” deal with the issue of two educated African American men that get treated differently, because of the color of their skin. The articles are focused on times when both
It is often the case that media and more specifically, film, perpetuates the stereotypes of black men. These stereotypes include not showing emotion, being physically aggressive, embrace violence, supposed criminality, associated with drug use, lack a father figure, sexually exploit women, and others. In the film, Boyz n the Hood, Tre’s father, Furious Styles, encourages Tre to demonstrate loyalty to other people in relationships, resist aggressive behavior, and foster and exhibit sexual responsibility. Thus, throughout the film, Tre challenges the society’s stereotyped norms of black masculinity and what it means to be a black man.
Hip-Hop is a vast and popular culture, one part of Hip-Hop culture is the popular genre of music with lyrics spoken by old school artists such as Tupac, Notorious B.I.G, N.W.A, Grandmaster Flash and modern artists including Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Logic and more. Lyrics written and produced depict the hardships and reality for the artists. Contrary, lyrics also showed violence and stereotypes, and portrayed a certain image for listeners. Looking deeper into the genre, evidence shows that hypermasculinity is embedded into lyrics, videos and icons of Hip-Hop. The image of Money, Masculine Fragility and Appearance are prime examples that support the connection to hip-hop and the negative male image it imposes.
1. Charisse Jones and Kumea Shorter-Gooden convey the fact that Black women in the United States still experience racism and sexism today. African American women have stereotypes and negative connotations attached to them causing them to experience oppression. In response to this, they undergo the “shifting” phenomenon where they alter themselves to fit into what society expects and wants from them. Black women undergo behavioral changes and emotional ups and downs in the face of bias. They feel stress trying to compromise their true selves. “Shifting” gives an insight of what it is like to jeopardize one’s true self in order to survive in society.