Does it seem as though, we as women and girls have to be the strong one in and out of the Black Community when it comes to protecting members within the community, gaining the respect we deserve at the work place, breaking glass ceilings, and being recognized for more than our physical features?
When it comes to the Black Community, throughout history, women and girls within the community had no choice but to stay strong when their ancestors were forced in the life of becoming an American slave. Within both the Black Community and White society, the "strong Black woman" stereotype has caused and still causes a lot of challenges among women and girls of color in the United States. If you feel this is true then this article is for you. In this article, I will be exploring these ideas and how we can remove this unneeded weight off our shoulders.
During the time of the Slave Trade that took place in the United States, the Europeans had already had their own standards of feminine beauty and acceptable feminine characteristics. Black women during that time did not fit those standards at all. Black women weren't even viewed as humans in the European eyes. They were reduced to only property, physical features, and the many types of labors they could perform for the Europeans. In Jordan-Zachery's text, "Shadow Bodies," she elaborates on the Europeans' views and their intentions for the Black woman' body. She states that the "Europeans' scripted Black women's bodies as different, highly sexual, and the "other" (Jordan-Zachery, 30). The slave masters and other Europeans viewed Black women's bodies as "ugly, exotic, different, sexualized, deviant, and dangerous" (Jordan- Zachery, 33). Black women of that time would also be known for their many physical features, for example; their lips, nose, and their butts. These features and titles will later become the well-known scripts people in both the White and Black communities will later use to describe and associate with the Black woman.
With these stereotypes surrounding Black women and girls for centuries, we as Black women and girls of color have to remind White society, members in our own community, and even ourselves that we are more than our physical features. Our features should be embraced, appreciated, celebrated, and seen beyond sexualization. Women and girls of color who recognized their worth can become so passionate about getting others to recognize the complete beauty of the Black Women and girls that outsiders see them as being "too strong." Well we are not being "too strong," we are just continuing a stand our ancestors started and what the White society once said was "ugly," "unhuman," "ghetto," and "non-feminine," among women and girls of color but is now considered modern beauty among White women. We are just reclaiming what has already been ours and will always be.
In schools and in work places, we have to create and maintain this so called "strong Black woman" stereotype image. There has been so many cases where Black women and girls were judged by our choices in appearance especially when it comes to the choice to wear our natural hair out in public, the thought of believing that we, Black people are "lazy;" which is another European created stereotype, and the false belief that we were not smart enough to become known for anything more than for the use of our bodies and the sexual things we could do with it to please men. With these believed stereotypes, we have to work harder than both our White and gender counterparts in order to be recognizable in the work place and in school settings as people of great value. These stereotypes also makes it harder for women of color to break the "glass ceilings" when they are trying to move up the ladder of their careers especially when they don't know nor seen anybody that looked like them succeed in the lifestyle and career of their dreams.
Since the introduction of television programing, social media, and other informational sources, people has been able to receive a lot of knowledgeable information that they wouldn't have otherwise been able to gain in the past especially once it enters mainstream media. But while having this new technology is a great source to have, Black women have had to push harder to overshadow negative images of Black women with positive and different ideals of what it means to grow up in America as a woman of color. This has been an important goal among members of the Black Community because they understand the large impact "racial representation" have on outsiders of that race and is responsible for the many created and believed stereotypes placed on people of color. Racquel J. Gates, the author of "Double Negative," speaks on this topic in her novel. She states:
"While on the surface, such declarations lay claim to the need for social change and the power of media to achieve it, these types of statements are based on several problematic assumptions. These include the notion that media representations have a direct and straight forward impact on people's ideologies, that media images matter more than histories of institutional oppression, and that audience always interpret images in predictable and knowable ways. These suppositions are rarely questioned in the public sphere, but, instead, are taken at face value as objective truth" (Gates, 12).
When women and girls of color see representations of people that look similar to them and living their dream lifestyles, attending colleges and majoring in various studies, breaking glass ceilings within one's careers, and participating in activities that are not normally see among women and girls of color; it inspires and motivates them to try new things after knowing that Black women and girls are participating in activities and living lifestyles that they never knew they could be apart of or live until they seen and met people who has. This is why I'm passionate in telling my stories to others and motivating Black women and girls to become the best versions of themselves. I want them to also know that their past does not define them and that they should always follow their passions in life because their passions will take them to a lot of places and will also create many opportunities for them while they inspire others around them too.
From Gates statement, she understands how easy for a representation shown on mainstream media can turn into what people's expectations is for any group of people especially when it comes to our group of people. Not only does these representations become other people' expectations, members from the group being represented will start to believe that they must participate in those expectations and make the stereotypes their own ideologies. Gates even mentions how inferential children are more likely to believe anything they see online and on television especially when it comes to race, gender, and sexuality (Gates, 21). It is important for people especially young children to see different types of representations within other communities of people and most importantly their own.
Representative imagery are shown to the public through many forms of media such as; photography, art, the internet, social media, television shows, movies, books, etc. In the beginning of the movie and television industries, people of color wasn't allowed to be seen on a stage, but the Europeans would make their own interpretations of the life of Africans and African Americans through black facing white actors. When producers started allowing people of color onto the screens and on stage, it was only Black men allowed to participate. These men also had to blackface themselves in order to hit mainstream media attention. The interpretations performed by both Europeans and African American men as blackface actors only kept the tradition of showcasing negative images of the Black Community through the art of comedy, melodrama, and reality television programing (Gates, 30).
When Black women were allowed to be seen on screens and on stage, they would experience discrimination in the roles selected for them to play. This discrimination would only create many assumptions of the life of a Black woman and how a Black woman or girl should be treated by the shade of her skin complexion (Gates, 112). Many of the first movies that allowed women of color to participate in and were usually based on the Slavery and Segregation time periods. They would play characters of house slaves or slaves that remained outside the masters' home completing tasks. These women also had to portray women who were always manipulated by others but would continue to help them. These actors also had to play very strong-minded women who couldn't show any vulnerability. These interpretations only supported the "strong Black woman" stereotype as well.
While representations play a huge part on how us, Black women and girls see ourselves and motivates us to becoming different versions of a Black woman; negative imagery and stereotypes that the Black community adapted and accepted also plays a role as well. Let's start with the images of Black women portrayed in the video, "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," by Three 6 Mafia. In the video, the rappers showed women of color as being promiscuous and as prostitutes. This imagery dates back to the Slavery days when European scientists and Physicians believed that women of color were highly sexual, exotic, and had ape-like sexuality (Atwater, 13). With Three 6 Mafia and other Black entertainers that promote this type of imagery about Black women are no better than the Europeans during the time of Slavery. People in the Black community, particularly the males within the community should be very protective and careful of the images they release about Black women and girls in mainstream media because whatever comes out from the Black Community about its members easily gets taken as face value and seen as fact among people outside the community. This also fits with the way Black women on reality shows are seen getting mistreated by their Black male counterparts. You would think Black men would stand up for us Black women more than what the majority of them are currently doing to make sure members of the White society don't believe the many stereotypes made about Black women that are either not true or only relates to a small population of us; especially when the Black woman has always tried and has protected and defend the men in their lives.
At the end of the day, viewers of these shows can come to believe that all Black men and boys are players while Black women and girls are seen as always being naïve. This makes it very easy for outsiders of the Black Community to believe that Black people cannot develop healthy romantic relationships and we always find ourselves in failed relationships. Because of these stereotypes and the negative imagery that supports them, there has been an ongoing movement of Black women demanding respect from both rap artists, the entertainment industry, and Black men in general, which society considers "sassiness" that has been included to the "strong Black woman" stereotype. One of those campaigns were, "Bury the Ratchet Campaign," it was founded by Michaela Angela Davis in hopes to end the number of problematic stereotypes found on reality television shows featuring women of color. It's important for both Black men and women to demand to society and members in the Black Community themselves, should get the respect and recognition we deserve.
In Jordan- Zachery's work, she mentions how the Europeans has always seen women of color as people who were "nonhuman" and "the other gender" to state that we were objects who displayed non-feminine characteristics, and were only for the benefits to others since the time of Baartman (Jordan- Zachery, 41-42). This just caused women of color to be stereotyped as the "strong Black woman." According to the Europeans, to be considered a "real woman," one must be "soft," "delicate," and "weak." This is when Black woman became known for their outspokenness that ended up being called "sass" to the White Community and eventually became another adopted script the Black Community adopted and adapted too.
In the text, "Black women writing Autibiography: A Tradition Within a Tradition," the author Joanne Braxton gives her readers a background history on where the term "sass" originated from. Braxton states that the term "sass" was a survivalist speech act that was utilized by Black women during and after slavery (Everett, 55-56). She also mentions how the slave women would use their
"sass" by stating that for slave women, it was their way of expressing verbal warfare and as a defensive verbal posturing as tools of liberation.
In today's time, women of color are still using their "sassy" language in the United States, their goals are reflective while uplifting the Black Community just as it was used among Black women during the Slavery and Segregation time periods. While many women of color and some Black men have been active on the fight to spread different ideals of Black women to add to the main stereotypes; a lot of women who has remained in popular media have had to continuously play the role of the "strong Black woman" in order to gain and keep the respect from both the White society and the Black Community. The "strong Black woman" stereotype ideal has been seen and expected from Black women during the years of Slavery through Segregation that now the Black Community expects it as acceptable and necessary quality Black women should have in order to be respected within the community.
During the time of Slavery and segregation, the reason why Black women have been expected to remain the "strong Black women" for the Black Community is because in the Black church, it was needed in order to deal with "the nation's problems" (Carey, 86-87). The Black women were seen as the "backbone" of the church so many felt as though they didn't have a choice but to remain strong at all times even outside the church. But, when Black women and girls show the other members within the community their vulnerability, they are rejected from being the community's voice and "backbone" (Jordan- Zachery, 128). While members of the Black community view Black women as the "back-bone" for the community, the rest of society portrayed Black women as "matriarchal and castrating and too strong to succumb to depression" (Jordan-Zachery, 131).
While being a "strong Black woman" may seem like a positive imagery to have for women and girls of color; carrying that title all the time is tiring and messes with one's health. For example, when it comes to the medical field, they use the "strong Black woman" stereotype in order for them to determine and reject women of color the proper treatment when they mention to their physicians that they are ill. So when and how are we, as Black women and girls, going to be able to take off our battle suits and remove the "strong Black woman" stereotype from remaining a required personality we must have in order to gain respect and recognition from both the Black Community and White society? Iyanla Vanzant believes that its possible for Black women and girls to do so.
Vanzant is all familiar with this topic and skilled in helping women of color to overcome difficult life situations and overcoming the belief of always having to be a strong Black woman. Carey quotes Vanzant's statements on how Black women will be able to complete their journey towards wellness. Vanzant says, "we must teach ourselves to crave out time and space for self-exploration to begin the healing process because their power source is inside of them." "We must teach ourselves the things we need to know that we have never been taught, and we need to remember those things we have forgotten"... "We need to redefine and describe our experiences, practices, and beliefs in the context of the experiences and traditions of our ancestors..." and "expand our traditional African concepts, ideologies, and understandings to make them conductive to the constructs and realities of our modern day psyches" (Carey, 55-56). Through Vanzant's statements, she encourages women of color to explore life in ways to help create your own ideals and meaning of what it means to live in the body of a woman or girl of color. She also mentions how we are the only ones to be able to tell our stories and concerns. This has been my overall goal when it came to writing my memoir. I hope to show a new ideal of a confident Black women who don't always have to be the "strong Black woman" in every situation and inspire others even men and boys on how to become the best versions of themselves.
As the Black Community, we as members, should be able to uplift and support one another especially when there are a lot of negative stereotypes and created ideals going against us. According to Atwater, the only way for us to become stronger as a community we must strengthen and rebuild our male/ female relations and families on the underlying understanding of mutual respect, equality, reciprocity and shared responsibility in love, life, and the struggle to end the evil and injustice events that surrounds us as a community (Atwater, 139-40). It is important for us as a community to come together and uplift each other because of the simple fact that Black youth looks up to the older members within the community for guidance and support. When young girls of color see certain images, they will easily be influenced to imitate such acts; if they are not given the proper education and not exposed to different ideals of representations of a Black woman, they will develop low self-esteem and believe that they must always act a certain way in order to be recognized and respected as a Black woman (Atwater, 140).
So Dear Black girl or woman,
You don't always have to be the strong one and I'm going to show and tell you why. Let's conversate and watch as you grow to become your own ideal of a confident Black woman.
Sincerely,
The Modern Aphrodite
Bibliography
- Atwater, Deborah F. African American Womens Rhetoric: the Search for Dignity, Personhood, and Honor. Lexington Books, 2010.
Carey, Tamika L. Rhetorical Healing: The Reeducation of Contemporary Black Womanhood. State UNIV OF NEW YORK PR, 2017.
- Everett, Anna. Digital Diaspora: a Race for Cyberspace. SUNY Press, 2009.
- Gates, Racquel J. Double Negative: the Black Image and Popular Culture. Duke University Press, 2018.
- Jordan-Zachery, Julia Sheron. Shadow Bodies: Black Women, Ideology, Representation, and Politics. Rutgers University Press, 2017.
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