I feel like one solution to address challenges would be to get rid of the negative stereotypes as much as possible in the media and promote positive helalthy relationships between black men and women. I feel like people are already attempting to do this. Another solution would be to increase support for success among black males within the family. If parents strongly encourage their children, providing them support and guidance to get college degrees (specifically men), many more black men will be more successful. I believe that this requires strong support from mentors, teachers, and would require an environment that promotes success as well. I think it is very interesting that black men are actually doing better economically. I hate to complain but there are some women who fit the stereotype of being mad black and independent as women. But I feel like they are in that situation because of bitterness from the past, and that they need to look past that one or two situations and try a new, different type of guy. I feel like many times black women attempt to compete with each other to find that perfect black man, who ends up being a dog. At the same time while I say all this, there are many positive, beautiful and ambitious women who do not go for these men as well. I
-I also highly agree with the New York Times article, seeing the statistic that only 13% of black women over 55 are single may suggest that black women are getting married, but we must remember that this is not representative of the current young generation but of the older baby boomer generation. Regardless, I think there are a decent amount of educated black men for black women.
If you have time, look at this on the "Denzel Principle". I think it is pretty funny and some of it is pretty accurate.
A Counseling Perspective
Stereotypes about black men and women have negatively affected the black family. The 3 areas of Issues and Approaches are processing grief and loss, enhancing effective communication, and confronting negative stereotypes.
Stereotypes about black men and women have negatively affected the black family. The 3 areas of Issues and Approaches are processing grief and loss, enhancing effective communication, and confronting negative stereotypes.
2 Anti-Intimacy Beliefs
1)I’m not good
enough to be loved.
This one relates because slave owners attempted to devalue blacks by
making them feel like they can go without love and psychologically held them
back.
2) No matter what I
do, it won’t make a difference.
By
making slaves believe that they had no purpose but to do physical labor, it
made them think that they had no control of their situation and that that was
their place, as slaves.
Hammond Article
The four ways that men defined manhood were Responsibility,
Autonomy, Providing, and Spirituality. The two emerging themes in the article were manhood and responsibility.
I liked the Denzel Principle; it’s funny but extremely true. Sheri states in the video that’s not what she’s looking for but I hear all the time where my women describe their ideal man as Tupac with a college degree. I don’t think there is anything wrong with having standards but if you’re going to have such high standards make sure you can first measure up to them first.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think that there definitely needs to be a change in the images of black people in the media to highlight the successes of African American people as a whole. I also agree with families setting higher standards for young men. Too often we let them slide by without focusing as much on their education, their mental and emotional well-being, etc. When they make mistakes, people often say "oh boys will be boys." But it's this sort of ideology that is helping to produce a society in which Black men are devalued and ill equipped to overcome such obstacles. One thing that you mentioned is the fact that you think there is a pretty decent amount of college educated black men for black women. I find that an ironic assessment considering that you are the only Black male in a class full of Black women. I think that kind of highlights the concern some women have about finding a successful black male in the same socio-economic, educational, etc. bracket.
ReplyDeleteI agree the stereotypes need to be rid of, if the family unity is to move forward in a positive step. When a myth or negative stereotype is being stated then we need to step in and correct it. Increasing the support of Black men in our society will add to the positive steps towards the African American family unit.
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