MrCrookedLetter
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White Women Are at Liberty to Explore the Full Range Of Womanhood, While Black Women Are Criticized When Motherhood and Marriage Are Prioritized
Stereotypes about Black women being promiscuous, procreating irresponsibly, and unfit for motherhood are perpetuated by a media that routinely presents disparaging images and narratives about Black mothers while rarely, if ever, presenting positive views.
That’s why the feminist response to first lady Michele Obama’s decision to be “mom-in-chief” is not surprising. In a Politico article by Michelle Cottle, entitled ”Leaning Out: How Michelle Obama became a feminist nightmare,” she quoted several feminists who were disgruntled over Obama’s choice to focus on raising her daughters and issues such as child obesity and education, instead of more politically hot-button concerns, such as abortion.
One columnist Leslie Morgan Steiner, author of Mommy Wars, asked “Are fashion and body-toning tips all we can expect from one of the most highly educated first ladies in history?”
Steiner continued: “I for one have seen enough of her upper appendages and her designer clothes, and read enough bland dogma on home-grown vegetables and aerobic exercise, to last me several lifetimes.”
Super pop star Beyonce recently came under fire and essentially had her feminist card revoked, for using “Mrs. Carter” - her husband Jay-Z’s surname – in the title of her world tour.
“There is almost something subversive about waiting until the strongest moment of your career, which is where Beyonce finds herself now, to do away with the infamous glossy mononym in favor of a second name your own husband doesn’t even use,” wrote Rosie Swash of the Guardian.
Black Women Are Not Expected to be Emotionally Vulnerable
Black women’s resilience dates back to the dawn of humanity and it was called upon during the painful history of enslavement and racial oppression, where they were subjected to abuse, violation and exploitation. Black women learned to survive dehumanizing conditions by becoming skilled in the balancing act of appeasing her slave master by complying with his demands, while still making sacrifices to meet the needs of those who were dependent upon her.
Researchers have suggested that the cultural expectation of fortitude in African-American women fuels the myth of the “strong Black woman,” which compels her to push for unrealistic levels of self-sacrifice, self-denial and ensuing emotional distress. White women have not had to bear this cultural burden.
Dana Stringer argues in her EURweb article, “Hidden Dangers of Being A ‘Strong Black Woman,” that because Black women are not permitted to be transparent about their personal suffering, the internalizing of pain, disappointment and unmet needs have greatly contributed to the “anxiety, stress, fatigue, anger, uptightness, irritability, insomnia, overeating, addiction, shame, guilt and depression” that so many of them suffer. This poses on of the greatest threats to their health and overall quality of life.”
http://atlantablackstar.com/2014/05/07/5-things-white-women-black-women-cant-get-away/
