Is Black masculinity getting in the way of healthy relationships?
The Black graduate student association here at Syracuse got into a riveting debate about relationships between Black professionals today. Among other things, we discussed how Black men can be threatened by Black women who hold more power (economic, political, etc) than they do. The general argument was: one of the many “roles” of a Black man is to provide for his family, so if a woman provides more than the man does-or worse if he’s unemployed and the woman is the sole breadwinner for the family(gasp)-then the man is emasculated because he is not fulfilling his role in the family structure. This is one explanation as to why, the higher up the socio-economic ladder a Black woman climbs, the less likely she will find a partner in a Black man.
Many people think that this is a prehistoric debate, which does not merit our attention or discussion-but don’t get it twisted, this is a very serious issue today. I would encourage anyone who wishes to become, or to engage in a relationship with, a Black professional to respect the relevance of this perspective-because there were several Black professionals in the room tonight, who validated it. And it is important to note that these dynamics of power are not exclusive to heterosexual couples-our homosexual brothers and sisters struggle with some of the same issues. So what do you think? Is Black masculinity getting in the way of healthy relationships?
Published on October 27, 2006 at 1:40 am.
14 Comments.
Filed under men's issues, women's issues/feminism.
