have been used by Whites to oppose Black masculinity. During enslavement, Black males were expected to perform hypermasculine gender roles while at the same time be feminized vis-à-vis White males. Western society viewed Black males as both hypermasculine (animalistic/hypersexual) and hyperfeminine (lacking structural power/privilege). Black males were seen as not quite males, having an other kind of gender compared to White males (Lemelle, 2010).
In historical and contemporary America, power and resources have been closely associated with manhood. As Franklin (2004) explains, masculine personal power and self-acceptance are both systematically undermined for Black males. Today and in the past, the ability to earn a living is considered a key feature of manhood among many men and women (Booker, 2000). For Lemelle (2010), contradictory expectations of Black males shape how they are positioned in the social hierarchy of the U.S. In addition to gender stratification, Black male realities must be understood in the context of a gender and race hierarchy, i.e., “a set of rules and interlocking relations that reproduce advantages and disadvantages for racial subjects” (Lemelle, 2010, p. 79).
Patriarchal Hegemony
Patriarchy, like matriarchy, is not inherently oppressive or hegemonic. Patriarchal hegemony is a form of male domination of females in a society’s structural organization. Sexism is the ideology that one sex is naturally superior to another. But patriarchal hegemony and sexism are not mere individual attitudes and beliefs; they are also institutionalized into the daily operation of societies. Hegemonic manhood involves gender-related manhood ideals that support patriarchy, while hegemonic masculinity refers to behaviors and performances that reflect the ideals of patriarchal oppression (Dancy, 2012). Mutua (2006b) explains that hegemonic masculinity is the masculine model society reinforces by privileging and rewarding those who come closest to it and punishing those who stray from it. Important to note, however, is the fact that patriarchal oppression is not the exclusive domain of males, as many females embrace and pass on sexist and patriarchal hegemonic ideals. Both males and females, for example, can participate in punishing young Black males when they fail to assume hegemonic masculine characteristics such as hypermasculinity and hypersexuality. Moreover, Black lesbians who embody masculinity gain access to some levels of male privilege and power despite their marginalized status as gay in a heteronormative culture (Lane-Steele, 2015). For example, masculine-performing Black lesbians sometimes use oppressive patriarchal, misogynistic language to refer to their girlfriends, such as “my bitch” or “my ho,” and act like players or treat their partners as sexual objects (Lane-Steele, 2015). These and other forms of patriarchy are often justified by sexist beliefs. However, masculine lesbians may also suffer from the hostile social climate that exists for Black men in society (Moore, 2006). Due to patriarchy, Black lesbians may also be seen as still female and thus perceived as less threatening than heterosexual or same-gender-loving Black males (Lane-Steele, 2015; Moore, 2006).
Patriarchy, Egalitarianism, and Hegemony in Pre-Colonial African Cultures
Pre-colonial African societies cannot be generalized as patriarchal sites where women were oppressed. But they also were not romantically egalitarian and without inequality. Some scholars present Africa as a harshly patriarchal place where women were exploited by men (Hoppe, 2002). In certain cases, this belief is used to conclude that colonialism was beneficial to women, providing opportunities and liberating them from African men. Khapoya (1998) argues that in most African cultures, men monopolized all instruments of power and had exclusive rights over women. Ahanotu (2000) takes the position that such generalizations reduce African manhood and render invisible African women’s seats of power such as their positions of being queen mothers. Queen mothers were able to exercise political power in many African societies, including the Buganda, Mwenemutapa, Asante, Ankole, Shilluk (and the mother queens of ancient Kush). In other cases, African women assumed political leadership, such as the ←70 | 71→Candaces of Meroe, and those who ruled in the absence of a male heir including Nitokris, Sebeknefru, Hatshepsut, and Tanosre, all Kemetic (Egyptian) Pharaohs (Ahanotu, 2000).
There are many other examples of African female leadership spanning the African continent in varying degrees based on religion, culture, and geography. For example, North African people embraced Islam in different ways ranging from strict orthodoxy (limiting African women’s political autonomy) to forms that heavily incorporated indigenous forms of worship. However, among the Hausa there were strong female political figures such as Queen Amina of Zaria. Traditionally, African women had a strong presence in the marketplace, in the domestic sphere, in agriculture, and as healers (Steady, 1992). Similar to Khapoya (1998), Clarke-Hine and Jenkins (1999) assert that for the most part, all major positions of authority were reserved for and occupied by African men, while the roles that women played in family life, the marketplace, and spirituality were minimal. Some African feminists challenge both the assumption of universal male patriarchy and the dominant frameworks of Western feminism. These see African women as passively oppressed, with male-female relations viewed primarily through the cultural lens of dichotomy, hierarchy, competition, and domination—while ignoring African cultural assumptions such as gender complementarity, spirituality, cooperation, and parallel autonomy (Steady, 1992). Mekgwe (2003) explains that African feminism “takes care to delineate those concerns that are particular to the African situation. It also questions features of traditional African cultures without denigrating them, understanding that these might be viewed differently by the different classes of women” (p. 7). The African feminist perspective critiques White supremacy and African male forms of complicity with oppression which result in the subjugation of African women. However, African feminism approaches the subject in cultural and historical context. Pre-colonial African women’s roles as healers, agricultural workers, and African women’s roles in domestic life have been sites of power and places from which women have negotiated power. Too often, Western feminist frames have presumed these roles out of context as sites of oppression. African people, however, did not construct gender in the same manner as their eventual European colonizers (Hoppe, 2002). Some general themes can be identified among African constructions of gender, but there is also a great deal of cultural diversity among them.
Black Males’ Experiences with Patriarchy and Gender Role Strain
The experience and expression of patriarchal hegemony are not the same across race and ethnicity. White patriarchal oppression is not completely different to or completely synonymous with Black patriarchal oppression, although the differences are rarely noted (Lemelle, 2010). If patriarchy benefited men in society the same across race, society might reflect both Black and White men as having similar advantages in the areas of income, education, and wealth (Lemelle, 2010). To the contrary, social indicators reveal that Black men are at lower levels on almost every social indicator. Indeed, earning power is associated with patriarchal masculinity, and Black males generally lack it relative to their White male counterparts, significantly and systematically (Lemelle, 2010). Hegemonic masculinity or patriarchy is a deployment of power which is largely in the hands of White males. Majors and Billson (1992) make the more extreme assertion that Black men have been psychologically castrated in the sense they have been rendered impotent in political, economic, and social arenas. However, Black males have never been rendered politically, economically, and socially impotent in any collective sense. Hammond, Mathews, Cooper, Johnson, and Caldwell (2014) explain that Black men, in general, tend to face myriad threats to their attempts to acquire power. Because of this, they argue that Black males experience a heightened sense of powerlessness, resulting in more risk behavior. Although Black men’s manhood is defined in similar terms as White males, they have been systematically denied the same consistent access to means of fulfilling their manhood ideals.
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According to Majors and Billson (1992), the resulting anger and frustration is a result of gender role strain (stress due to failure to live up to manhood ideals) between desired masculine goals and frustrated means to achieve them. According to Wade and Rochlen (2013), Black men experience more gender role strain than White men due to additional obstacles they face created by (1) gendered racism, and; (2) competing definitions of manhood from Black culture and mainstream American culture. For example, being a provider is a significant
