gender roles, yet engage in less delinquent behavior Mandara, Rogers, and Zinbarg (2011). Finally, nurturing and emotionality are central to Black men’s definitions of manhood.
Transgender Identities
Dancy (2012) argues that the rising reality of transgender identities and gender reassignment make them a phenomenon that cannot be ignored. For transgender persons, the gender associated with their sex at birth differs from their personal sense of identity. Transgender is not a sexual orientation, but instead the physical appearance and behaviors that break norms associated with society’s expectations of males and females. A transgender person may identify as straight, gay, lesbian, heterosexual, bisexual, or asexual. Garofalo, Deleon, Osmer, Doll, and Harper (2006) investigated the challenges and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk behaviors of 51 male-to-female (MTF) transgender youth from underrepresented ethnic groups. Compared to other ethnic groups in the study, African American youth had the highest rates of HIV. Many of them engaged in sex work in which they encountered ←67 | 68→forced sex and unsafe sex (Garofalo et al., 2006; Rosario, 2009). To enhance the health and wellness of the Black community, it is important that transgender realities are understood.
The Uniqueness of Black Male Perceptions of Manhood and Masculine Roles
Black males have their own unique manhood identities and masculinities. Many Black males do endorse values associated with so-called traditional manhood such as taking care of the family, being goal-oriented, competitive, and aggressive (Wade, 1996; Wood & Hilton, 2013). Yet, what goes less-recognized are the research studies that find Black males endorsing “non-traditional” manhood values that are consistent with their own traditional African and African American manhood values such as spirituality, community, the well-being of others, compassion, familial equality, warmth, gentleness, and standing up for beliefs (Cazenave, 1979; Cazenave & Staples, 1983; Hammond & Mattis, 2005; Wade, 1996).
Black Male Definitions and Core Principles of Manhood
Using responses to open-ended survey questions, Chaney (2009) studied how Black men define manhood in their own words and from their own cultural locations. Similarly, Hunter and Davis (1992) interviewed Black men about their understanding of manhood and found several key themes. Additionally, a few other scholars are beginning to seek the voices of Black men to get a sense of how they define manhood on their own terms (Hammond & Mattis, 2005; Wood & Hilton, 2013). Some common features defined by Black males are the following:
• Self-Awareness/Knowledge: Black men have been found to associate manhood with being aware of one’s skills and capabilities. They have also associated manhood with an awareness of how they present themselves to the world in relation to their physical appearance/demeanor (Chaney, 2009; Hammond & Mattis, 2005; Hunter & Davis, 1992). This knowledge and awareness includes an understanding of who they are and the importance of standing up for the principles they believe in.
• Collective/Self Responsibility and Accountability: Black men often associate responsibility with manhood. This notion of responsibility includes qualities like maturity, stability, and reliability (i.e., meeting financial expectations) (Hunter & Davis, 1992). Responsibility exists on many levels (Chaney, 2009; Wade, 1996; Wood & Hilton, 2013).
◦ Self: Black men often associate manhood with being responsible for their own behaviors (Hunter & Davis, 1992; Wade, 1996; Wood & Hilton, 2013).
◦ Family: Black men also associate manhood with having a connectedness to family and meeting the needs of their family members and loved ones (Hammond & Mattis, 2005; Hunter & Davis, 1992; Wade, 1996; Wood & Hilton, 2013).
◦ Community: Black men have also been found to associate manhood with responsibility for their communities (Hunter & Davis, 1992). This also involves having a certain level of community pride and desiring to provide for one’s community (Hammond & Mattis, 2005).
• Providing: Black men also commonly associate manhood with being emotional, social, and financial providers, and way-makers (providing opportunities) for their families and loved ones (i.e., wives, partners, children, parents) (Chaney, 2009; Hammond & Mattis, 2005; Hunter & Davis, 1992). Providing is closely related to collective/self-responsibility.←68 | 69→
• Nurturing: Studies of Black manhood which allow Black males to define manhood in their own words reveal that Black men commonly associate manhood with being nurturing, in ways that include warmth and gentleness, compassion, and the ability to express emotion and emotionally connect with others (Cazenave & Staples, 1983; Hammond & Mattis, 2005).
• Morality and Virtue: Black men have been found to associate manhood with having morals and principles they are willing to stand up for (Chaney, 2009; Hammond & Mattis, 2005; Hunter & Davis, 1992).
• Achievement/Goal Orientation: Black men have also been found to associate manhood with a certain consciousness that sometimes involves a groundedness or focus (determination), pride, an orientation toward achieving goals, or using these attributes through engaging in competition (Hammond & Mattis, 2005; Hunter & Davis, 1992; Wade, 1996; Wood & Hilton, 2013).
• Assertiveness/Self-Determination: Not only do Black men associate manhood with having principles, but also in upholding them in ways that demonstrate assertiveness and self-determination. Black men have been found to associate manhood with standing up for their principles and respect, and engaging in continuous self-improvement, being independent and self-governing (Chaney, 2009; Hammond & Mattis, 2005; Hunter & Davis, 1992; Wade, 1996; Wood & Hilton, 2013). This sense of assertiveness is sometimes associate with leadership, advocating for their communities and demonstrating or modeling behavior for others (Hammond & Mattis, 2005). It may also involve possessing the ability to overcome hardship, and surviving and thriving despite obstacles (Hammond & Mattis, 2005).
• Spirituality: Black men have been found to associate manhood with being spiritual/religious, having faith and hope, having a relationship with God, and/or allowing their faith to guide their thoughts and actions (Chaney, 2009; Hunter & Davis, 1992).
When Black men are afforded the opportunities to explain their conceptions of manhood with their own voices, the results are much fuller than the pathological models so often used in gender scholarship. Euro-American masculinity is defined in ways predicated on the denial of manhood to Black males (Akbar, 1991; Franklin, 1994b). Therefore, Black male assertions of manhood are a declaration of war in a society shaped by White definitions of manhood (Akbar, 1991). For example, Rosette and Livingston (2012) investigated whether leaders defined as having more than one “subordinate” identity (i.e., Black women) experience more negative perceptions of their leadership than do leaders with “single-subordinate” identities (i.e., Black men and White women). They found that Black women who experienced failure or exhibited poor performance within an organizational setting were evaluated more harshly than Black males or White females. However, Rosette & Livingston also found that Black males who exhibited agentic forms of leadership such as dominance, assertiveness, and courageousness were evaluated more harshly than Black women. Clearly, this data contradicts the notion that Black males are dichotomously privileged by gender and oppressed by race.
Black males’ experience with their gender can only be understood in the context of power. Gender shapes how society is organized along lines of power, social positions, and resources. Gender stratification, or the unequal distribution of power and privilege between men and women, is based on meanings associated with sex or biological divisions. Lemelle (2010) understands gender as a form of ←69 | 70→power and Black masculinity as a specific power negotiation. Lemelle argues
