Imprisonment Without Bars: Racism and Sexism Holding Women Back
Many factors contribute to the displacement of black women. “Black women are seen as “hot in the pants,” tough and strong, able to withstand a lot of physical and emotional abuse, unfeeling... I find this to be demeaning, degrading, and unproven. Yet I find myself constantly trying to disprove them.” (Cecelia) Within our society black women lack unity with black me, recognition as being a female, and higher up advancement. Throughout this paper I will point out ways in which black women are still placed at a disadvantage. These placements are done through television, music videos, poverty, the work field and etc.
It seems that a long forgotten fact in the Black community is
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White women and Black people were all considered property and disallowed basic dignities award White men including property ownership, the right to vote and the right to inherit both wealth and land. This patriarchal system, where White men dominated White women, created male-dominated financial and political spheres that barred women from participation. The results of this are evident in the fact that Black men were allowed to vote before White women were and a Black male was elected president before a White female. This translates to a particularly dire reality for Black women. Because White women had access to resources (healthcare, money, education, etc.) through their White male counterparts, the effects of this affront to basic rights would not have had the same egregious effects as it would on Black women. Today, Black women are struggling to not only play catch-up after decades of disenfranchisement, but they are also battling to enter typically male-dominated spaces that are not particularly open to female participation. Black women are hardly ever seen in higher up work field. As a woman, she has to work and push herself …show more content…
Black women are 2.5 times more likely to be victims of intimate partner violence than their White counterparts and experience intimate partner violence 35 percent more. It is estimated that 29.1 percent of Black women are victimized by their partners — which is approximately every 3 in 10 women (Taffanie). According to Time magazine statistically speaking, Black women experience sexual assault and DV/IPV at disproportionate rates and have the highest rates of intra-racial violence against us than any other group. Black women are also less likely to report or seek help when we are victimized (Feminista). As Black people, we don’t always feel comfortable surrendering “our own” to the treatment of a racially biased police state and as women, we don’t always feel safe calling police officers who may are partners instead of helping us. Furthermore, according to Masked Racism: Reflections on the Prison Industrial Complex more than 70 percent of men in prison are Black males. When Blacks do speak out or seek help, we too often experience backlash from members of our communities who believe we are airing out dirty laundry and making ourselves look bad in front of White people (Feminista). Which brings to my attention that the white man or woman opinion is still so valuable and put into
As the years progressed from the 1700s into the 1800s, women started to see that they were not treated as equal as men even though they could do anything men could. During the late 1800s was when women first started to fight for more rights and equality. They started forming more and more women groups, and even went on labor strikes to protest the diversity. Although it seemed that as hard as they tried to gain this equality, the harder it was for them to obtain it. They were treated horribly and unequally to men. While African American men received the power to vote in 1870, women still did not have a chance at that right. Even though many people disagree that women were treated fairly, the studies show that they were discriminated against. The treatment of women in the late 1800s was discriminatory because they
When a black woman lowers her life standard, she invites outsiders to pose judgement on the entire group. These unethical behaviors of black women is capitalized off of by mainstream media. Shows such as VH1’s Love and Hip Hop keeps the negative stereotypes of a black woman alive. The black woman who rises above all adversity gains value and respect amongst the
Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Ed. By Patricia Hill Collins. (New York: Routledge, 2000. ii, 336 pp. Cloth, $128.28, ISBN 0-415-92483-9. Paper, $26.21, 0-415-92484-7.)
Patriarchy’s Scapegoat: Black womanhood and femininity – A critique of racism, gender inequality, anti-blackness, and historical exploitation of black women.
The primary issue of this article lies in the perpetuation of the “angry black woman” stereotype. The “angry black woman” stereotype can be seen as an extension of the matriarch and sapphire stereotypes, both derivative of the dominant ideology of the slave era that was created to maintain black women’s subordination. The matriarch stereotype is presented as a domineering, aggressive, masculine, and fiercely independent black woman whose forceful nature emasculates and demoralizes black men to the point that they abandon their families (Newsome, 37). This image functions to devalue, exploit, and subjugate African-American women through an idealized wielding of power that is in no way supported by the actual power structures of America (Newsome,
In the article entitled “Learning from the Outsider Within status: the sociological significance of black feminist thought”, Collins identified the challenges that the Black sociologists faced when they reconciled their perspectives and beliefs with the dominate academics. Collins examined the importance of researching marginalized groups of black women regarding their self-definition and self-valuation, the interlocking nature of oppression and the significance of the Black women culture.
Over the last one hundred and thirty years African Americans have little by little-gained freedom for themselves as slaves and domestic servants. Now as a culture they are legally capable of obtaining jobs and positions in all areas of private and public organizations, (Hayes, A. F., & Preacher, K. J., 2010). This particular ethnic group are known to be instrumental in holding their cultures together through times of constant struggle. They have used rallies, protests, silent marches and received help from volunteer organizations to fight for rights as well as obtain justice in a racist and sexist society. This work explores the troubles African Americans face in Americas society today, through stereotypes and how gender roles as African Americans differ from each other as well as the American population.
When a black man/woman is brought to court, the criminal justice system turns into a nasty and corrupt system that works to ruin the lives of minorities. This is a progressed notion from when black men were first freed from slavery. African slaves did not have any rights and thus were not protected or favoured by judges and juries. Consequently, this resulted in black men, especially, being repeatedly accused of crimes they did not commit, such as raping women who claim this to get out of trouble themselves. Consequently, black men/women go to jail or are condemned for a crime they haven’t commit and men who aren’t black get away for a nasty crime, if they harm a black individual. Evidently, it is certain that the criminal justice system
In conclusion, to both instances for women and black Americans there are norms that are broken. There are ideas and social structures being formed in new ways. Women in college and black Americans typically fought for similar rights in similar instances. The black male gained the right to vote, women protested and gained the right to vote. Black Americans had a hard time finding work typically in the South due to the fact that they were black and discriminated against, women had a hard time as well, with finding work because of their gender. They both took different approaches to each situation differently but still endured the discriminatory and injustice acts that were being displayed. They both can consider the battles they fought during
America has seen many civil rights movements. Yet, Americans cannot say that every race has gotten the civil rights many races have fought for. African American’s, in particular, have had a very hard time in America. On average a black job seeker must put in 15 applications to get a call back while whites only have to put in 10. This alone shows that America has not moved as far forward in civil and racial rights as some would like to think. To top that, African AMerican women are stereotyped and Sexualized. Due to the color of their skin, they are forced into a society who sees them for nothing more than sex and a “nice body”. Black women have to fight so much harder to live happily in American society due to the stereotypes that hang over their heads everyday. Not only are the stereotyped and sexualized, the tend to be forced into more promiscuous jobs, such as stripping or prostitution. Roughly 75 percent of the prostitution population, in Chicago alone, are black females. While 55 percent are young children, primarily young girls. Black are thrown into gangs and sex crimes due to the way they were shown how to live. They were not integrated into society as they should have been. Thus, showing that America has not come very far in Civil and racial rights.
This dominance is exerted through the vehicle of mainstream American cultural standards. These standards seek to devest the voice of the feminine in Black cultural perception and Black self-interpretation. These interpretations and perceptions subsequently do harm to the institution of Black womanhood physically and emotionally. These interpretations are overtly sexualizing the entity of Black womanhood—further denying the complexity of the Black feminine humanity and justifying the oppression and exploitation of Black female bodies. These perceptions of Black womanhood are stealing from the Black feminine their voice in the formation of their own identity—culturally and internally.
In the future, I aspire to design and implement new technologies in an effort to better our understanding of the world that we live in and increase the overall wellbeing of mankind. I currently participate in a variety of extra-curricular activities with varying degrees of leadership positions. Some of the activities I participate in do not offer specific leadership roles to members including ultimate frisbee club, church youth group, writing club, and German club. However, German club is supplimented by National German Honor Society, which I am a member of.
Journalist Silja Talvi’s Women Behind Bars: The Crisis of Women in The U.S Prison System is an overview of issues affecting incarcerated women. The goal of the book Women
Black Feminism sought to address the same intersectional issues (including misogynoir) facing Black women as Africana Womanism with a different approach. The Black Feminist school of thought is characterized by “an intersectional analysis: gender, sexuality, race, and class.” [BLACK FEM. IN THE US] In other words, “this erasure of gender among black men is matched by the erasure of race in white feminism.” [BLACK FEM. IN THE US] To combat this erasure and develop a sound analysis, Black women rest at the center of intellectual analysis. This is a similar manner to African people’s centered location in Afrocentric Theory. Black Feminist scholars also place emphasis on “analyzing social structure and political economy” in regards to theory development, creation of agency-producing works, and critique of existing frameworks in Sociology and Women’s Studies. [BLACK FEM. IN THE US] In a similar fashion to Africana Womanism, Black Feminism embodies Black nationalist ideals, such as self-definition. [BLACK FEM. IN THE US]
Black western feminist scholars have regarded the black female body as a foundation for conferring gender, race and power, but also as being socially constructed (Chapman, 7). One must consider the perception of gender in western culture. Women have been perceived second-class citizen’s for the entirety of our nations existence, crafting the female body a site for public discourse particularly when stressing the standards of beauty. Woman of all shapes and sizes, colors and heritages, have been fighting for a place of equality in America for over a decade. Yolanda Chapman, a scholar and graduate alumni of Georgia State University argues the fact that black race is not only socially constructed but also legally obligatory. Blacks in the United States are a legally created group through the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments (Chapman, 7). This means inhabiting a racially defined status that indicates a black identity in addition to gender indifference.