Race, gender, and class have always been prevalent in society since the beginning of time. The concept of superiority stems from these features that define human beings and thus, leads to a struggle of power and oppression. Slavery, antisemitism, and prejudice are some of many examples that have been derived from this concept of superiority. The readings posted for this critical assessment speak heavily on the natures and stereotypes that are based around the black and white males. The juxtaposition of violence and masculinity that plays a role in the lives of men resonates soundly with me and begs to ask the question “with such parallels among black and white people, why are the repercussions they face so different?”
The source that defines masculinity comes from similar forms of media across the two races, but the perception of how these sources affect the two races contrast heavily. “From BMWs to Bud Light,” speaks on the sources that affect young white males and these sources are that of athletes, artists, and various forms of entertainment media. Similarly, “Booty Call” represents an extremely similar, if not the same, sources. Eminem and Tupac, John Cena and Allen Iverson, these figures who these young males look up to exemplify similar ideals, but when applied to the reality of the world, one breeds violence, and the other justice. All of this is shown as a result in the article “Schematic Racism and White Paranoia.” The beating of Rodney King is an extreme example
Throughout the matriculation of a black boy 's’ life, there are many, (labeled natural, yet are culturally, socially and institutionally based) factors, that govern the holistic views and beliefs entailed to the child. From that moment on, challenging the social structures that these norms entail suggest a sense of sensitivity, homosexuality or weakness, ultimately emasculating the highly regarded social stigmas attached with being a man. Despite being indoctrinated into the minds of black boys from an early age, there are many long lasting effects of masculinity that are in turn reciprocated in the role of black fathers, husbands, brothers and friends. Black masculinity is the self-deteriorating idealisms that attack the identity and social positions black men ascribe to.
Violence is something that has always been associated with masculinity, particularly in the traditional patriarchal society. The strong expectations that are tied to masculinity frequently compel men to display certain attitudes and characteristics such as aggressiveness, power, and even vicious superiority over other men. Given the repression of African Americans, a significant amount of adolescent black men are suffering from a severe self-hatred and a frantic, consequential want to
Over the years, our generations’ stereotypical views over the issue on young black males being viewed as dangerous has grown significantly. There are different reasons why these stereotypes occur in our society. People feel on edge when running into them in dark passageways, whenever it’s late at night. Also, while they’re sitting at red lights and notice someone walking towards their cars, they instantly initiate down the door locks. People think stereotyping black men this way keeps them safer because they assume the worst. However; other people disagree with instantly judging who they see around them, it hurts more people as well as themselves by viewing black men this way. Brent Staples, the author of “Black Men and Public Spaces,” claims that he’s considered a stereotypical black criminal. In his essay, Staples succeeds because he successfully appeals to people’s emotions, is an expert on human behavior, creates common ground and offers a logical solution.
White, male, New York Times writer, Michael Ian Black in his article, “The Boys Are Not All Right” (Feb. 21 2018), claims that toxic masculinity and the lack of meninism to change old stereotypes of masculinity causes men to commit mass shootings. He supports his claim by first states that women are “redefining” what it means to be a woman while men have not, then by saying that there has not been a movement to help men “toward a full expression of their gender”, next by stating that men are “trapped “in “outdated… masculinity”, and finally by stating that men only have two options to “preserve” his masculinity: “withdrawal or rage”. Black’s purpose is to illuminate another causation of mass shooting that is being ignored in order to show a
Matthew Jones declares that black masculinity is defined in three overarching categories: perception, expectation, and representation (Jones). The stories, Fences, by August Wilson and A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest Gains, the main characters are forced to live with many hardships. Yet only a few of them can declare value of their lives, and redeem themselves, despite these hardships. The stories both of the main characters are unhappy angry men the only difference is that one of the characters progressed while the other stays the same. This paper will compare and contrast them both.
In the 1960s, Black masculinity was reshaped by the newly acquired political power of the Civil Rights era. Notions of the ‘good negro’ (or obedient/deferential negro) were purposefully destroyed and replaced with a more defiant/revolutionary representation. The 1960s-70s played a pivotal role in the creation of this aggressive male identity. Specifically, the combination of the media’s portrayal of the antagonistic Black Power Movement, and record crime rates in African American neighborhoods, created feared images of African American men (Milton).”
If the benchmarks of hegemonic masculinity highlight everything it takes for a Black man to be a man, “The Moynihan Report, 1965” exposes the Black man for everything he lacks. The benchmarks for hegemonic masculinity that Patricia Hill Collins discuses are eerily connected to the covertly racist allegations of the report. “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action”, also known as “The Moynihan Report,
Staples describes that fear of African American males can create a false sense of toughness in them, and soon afterwards can lead to death. Not only is this stereotype conflict bad enough alone, but it causes a domino effect in the minds of he young that makes them want to “embrace the power to frighten and intimidate” (543). Staples uses pathos to highlight his main point that race diversity and assumptions can create an undeniable
People like to believe their thoughts are their own, not subject to outside bias or prejudice, but this is rarely true. In the essay “Just Walk On By,” Brent Staples explores this topic of people unjustly applying broad stereotypes to individual people; he incorporates pathos and ethos in his writing to convey the message that labels culturally prescribed specifically to black men change others’ perception of them, therefore, affecting the way they must carry themselves.
Since the arrival of Africans in America the image in America for the African Americans both male and female have been portrayed in a negative light. Although African Americans today have risen up to some of the highest positions in America such as entrepreneurs, CEOs, and even as high up as the President of the United States of America being an African American man. Though there are many other top job positions being held by African Americans both male and female that prove that the African Americans have made their mark in America, the race of African Americans as a whole still has a long way to go. However, though both African American men and women are both viewed in a negative light the African American man is the one who is stereotyped most of all. A prime example of how the image of the African American man is still portrayed in a negative light is in the film world. The film world has only contributed to help produce the negative image of African American men and the roles they play inside of films. Films portray the African American men being the aggressors, delinquents, criminals and more, since some of the older films in America. Then with the African American male stereotypes still being relevant in contemporary films today. The film world has made these stereotypes come to life and be seen by the world on screen. In this paper I will discuss the birth of the black male stereotypes from early films to current films today and how the image of the black male and
1. I chose Bad Boys Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity because I felt an immediate connection once I read the title. The title seems to resonate with me, and I wanted to understand further the negative stigma associated with African American adolescents. Before coming to Auburn, I worked as a paraprofessional at a Title I school as well as a Track Coach. I devoted a great deal of time with young “at-risk” African American men. Furthermore, I was raised in an underserved community and was aware of the negative press African American adolescents receive. The central issue in underserved communities is providing the resources and motivation necessary to cultivate young African Americans in the public school system. Often educators and school officials are not prepared to serve at schools with diverse populations. These schools are often dubbed as the “prison pipeline” and boast high attrition rates. Bad Boys Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity provides perspective from the so-called “monsters” society perceives. The book aims to provide transparency on the issues of our young
The purpose of this essay is to explain and inform what African American men face every day. Staples do not believe that he or other African American men stop “to alter public space in ugly ways” because even if they are non-violent, the way they talk, walk, and body language make them look like aggressive and violent. Also, they inherit this kind of behavior from their family without knowing it. In addition, the society already has a wrong image of them; and most people think every African American men is a mugger or a rapist and it takes time to change the society. Staples suggests avoiding eye contact with pedestrians to minimize such kind of alienation. Also, he suggests making oneself less threatening by whistling popular classical
Gender bias, also known as sexism, is a full of attitudes, laws, taboos, preferences, and behaviors that differentiates and discriminates against either sex. These may be a position of which male dominance and female subjugation in the modern society. It could also be a form of sexual stereotypes between men and women, these are commonly experienced in employment versus other positions. A final place that discrimination is faced is the academic environment, the female to male ratios are not in sync in certain programs and courses because of this and it is pressuring men and women to not go into certain fields and do what they love and please. Most advertisements on Television, magazines, newspapers, online ad’s, use a charged sexually image with a female as the star. Women are to be a pleasure for men, and nothing else. Many people have different opinions on genders and sexuality and that is okay, but sometimes you just need to keep them to yourselves.
Our social justice issue is gender discrimination. Gender Discrimination is a major thing going on in our world today. Therefore, gender discrimination happens in things such as sports, education, health, employment, laws, and in different countries. Gender discrimination was a major thing in the past, and is still a major thing today. Men continually think women are weak, and so women are targeted more in crimes. They also think that women won't stand up for themselves, and women continually let men bring them down because they aren't brave enough. In jobs they believe women won't work, and that women aren't capable enough to do the job, so women end up getting paid less or have to work ridiculously short hours. Today in our century, women are targeted more than men because they are considered weak. Being labeled weak makes women are more vulnerable to at least one form of abuse. 1 in 3 women are abused in some form at a time of their life by a man. Women are targeted for crimes, such as home break-ins, because if they live on their own, they are thought to not be able to defend themselves that well. Women are also being killed all the time. In India, women are burned to death if they can't meet financial requirements, while men aren't. In Egypt, women are killed if they do something considered unclean in their family or outside their family. In South Asia more than 2 million baby girls are killed or abandoned to die because they are considered a financial burden to the
Gender discrimination against women is out of control across the world and seeps into many aspects of women 's lives. This discrimination harms women in two ways. First, women directly experience stressful events. The experience of sexism is so common that some research suggests women can experience one to two instances of everyday sexism. But women aren 't only harmed by sexism through the physical stress caused by others. They are harmed to the extent that they internalize and adopt these sexist attitudes that can manifest as poor self-concept. This negative self-concept often obvious on a subconscious level, as women and men will demonstrate automatic negative biases against women (Ferguson, 2013).