of manhood (Adams, 2014). If men do not feel accomplished due to being unemployed or underemployed, this condition can create tension in their roles as men and fathers. The strain can impact family relationships. According to Adams (2014), men who are able to strike a balance between these roles are in a better position to provide empathy to their children and maintain stable relationships with their partners.
Black Males can be Victims or Victimizers in Regard to Patriarchy
Dancy (2012) explains that African American men can be both victims and victimizers in regard to patriarchal oppression—capable of being sexist to Black women yet also subordinated by White males. According to Hammond, Agyemang, et al. (2014), anti-Black male racism inspires some Black males to engage in risk behaviors. For example, in some employment industries, Black males face greater discrimination than Black females (Mutua, 2006b). It is also important to note that work represents more than income for African American males. Work can enhance self-esteem by fostering skill development and recognition. For many males, work is closely tied to masculinity in the sense that it is difficult to fulfill the role of family provider without a job that pays a living wage (White & Cones, 1999). Moreover, Black males are stereotyped as lazy or having a poor work ethic.
Some Black feminists challenge these generalizations about Black men. According to Phillips (2006), correcting the tendency to overstate Black male privilege in broad society will be a pre-condition for furthering Black feminist thought. Additionally, Mutua (2006b) describes Black men as subordinate masculinities, subjugated by systems of domination that understand them not only as Black but as Black males. Black men and women have both common and unique experiences of gendered racism. Mutua (2006b, p. 23) describes an alternative approach, multidimensional theory, which is based on three insights. First, it recognizes that individuals have many dimensions, physical and behavioral traits and general ways of being. Second, society constructs systems of privilege and meanings based on some of these dimensions and traits. Third, systems of domination interact with one another and are mutually reinforcing.
Costs of Patriarchal Oppression, Sexism and White Notions of Manhood to Black Men and the Black Community
Some Black males have sought manhood and masculinity in the forms that White males have constructed, but at great costs to the Black community. At points in time (such as the end of slavery), some Black males sought not only franchise or citizenship but mainstream patriarchal relationships. According to Lemelle (2010), for Black males to accept patriarchal hegemony and sexism is a kind of Black political suicide, given that it requires them to deny the anti-Black nature of the state, their own subjugation in society, and their shared destinies with Black women. From this perspective, Black male and female liberation are tied together such that one cannot truly be achieved without the other (T’Shaka, 1995). Thus, Black male sexism undermines Black collective liberation. Sexism is ultimately an obstacle to Black solidarity.
Mainstream White Male Notions of Manhood and Masculinity
Euro-American traditional manhood (also referred to as traditional masculine norms) is associated with a range of values including homophobia, competitiveness, aggressiveness, toughness, and power (Belgrave & Brevard, 2015; Cazenave, 1979; Franklin, 1985; Good & Wood, 1995; Thomas, Hammond, ←72 | 73→Kohn-Wood, & Lee, 2015). Euro-American manhood and masculinity can be reduced to five key factors (Doyle & Paludi, 1995). The self-reliant factor emphasizes control, calm, and decisiveness under pressure. The success factor emphasizes competing and winning against other men to prove masculinity. The aggressive factor encourages men to go after and fight for what they want and believe in, and defend themselves through physical or verbal violence. The anti-feminine factor encourages men not to act soft, gentle or like females. Lastly, the sexual factor says men should initiate and control heterosexual interaction. According to this factor, women are seen as sexual objects and symbols of conquest. According to White and Cones (1999), the Euro-American masculine ideal does not reflect the range of human experiences and feelings because it leaves out empathy, nurturance, compassion, harmonious relationships, and being in touch with one’s feelings. Moreover, Euro-American traditional manhood values are associated with outcomes such as limited emotionality, restricted affectionate behavior, sexual violence, anxiety, low self-esteem, increased likelihood of engaging in risk behavior, and depression (Belgrave & Brevard, 2015; Cazenave, 1979; Franklin, 1985; Good & Wood, 1995; Griffith, Gunter, & Watkins, 2012; Thomas, Hammond, et al., 2015).
However, it must also be noted that the authors of studies investigating traditional masculinity do not state it causes depression and anxiety, per se. Because studies are primarily based on correlational data, the possibility exists that depression and anxiety may be caused by restricted emotionality or other outcomes associated with traditional masculinity. Another limitation of scholarship on traditional masculinity, Euro-American masculinity, hypermasculinity, and other concepts is how broadly and abstractly these terms are defined. The purpose of this ideology is to maintain power and privilege while Black males face state domination under the logic of gender and race hierarchy. These reductive images of Black males are also appropriated and profited from in the entertainment industry (White, 2011). From the mean mugging image of Run-DMC in Rolling Stone, and the shirtless images of LL Cool J, to the grimacing image of LeBron James on the cover of Vogue, hypermasculine images of the Black brute are continuously reinvented (White, 2011). In addition, they continue to satisfy the fantasies of those who have internalized stereotypical notions of Black males, while turning a great deal of profit in the process. Concepts like aggression, competition, physicality, toughness, and independence are frequently found in definitions of hypermasculinity. However, these are values that manifest in many ways both prosocial and antisocial, and people endorse them at various different levels. Defining concepts of problematic forms of Black masculinity is counterproductive because it functions as a way to pathologize vast numbers of the Black male population, increasing their stigmatization.
Reactionary Masculinity
Some argue that Black male endorsement of patriarchal hegemony is in part due to their adoption of White male manhood and masculinity ideals. White and Cones (1999) explain that Black psychologists have long recommended for Black males to avoid White norms and definitions of maleness. They recommend avoiding the aspects of Euro-American masculine ideals that place excessive emphasis on power, dominance, competitiveness, individualism, and control. White and Cones (1999) identify four reasons why it is psychologically unhealthy for Black males to heedlessly follow the Euro-American masculine style. First, extreme individualism and emotional suppression are likely to cause internal conflict in the African American community, which has a culture that emphasizes collectivism and emotional expressiveness. Second, given barriers such as racism and poverty, extreme emphasis on materialism can cause frustration. Third, acting out frustrated masculinity through sexual conquest and violence will have negative consequences for one’s self and others while confirming stereotypes. Fourth, emulating Euro-American masculine ideals means identifying with the same lifestyle that resulted in the enslavement and the continued oppression of Black people.
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Black men who adopt Euro-American masculinity do so with the added challenge of racial/gender oppression, and without White male privilege (Franklin, 1994b; Majors, Tyler, Peden, & Hall, 1994). Some compensate for this lack of power and privilege by adopting dysfunctional norms and values which may work in some respects and some contexts but are ultimately self-destructive. Some Black males may engage in sexism as a way of attempting to restore or assert manhood. This too is ultimately self-destructive because it reinforces the very anti-Black-male stereotypes (hypermasculine/sexual) that comprise the ideology used to justify Black oppression (Kimmel, 2006). Similarly, Wilson (1991) argues that under the constraints of oppression, a minority of Black males adopt a reactionary masculinity or self-defeating and destructive definitions and expressions of masculinity. Some of the self-destructive characteristics are:
• Lacking a sense of social responsibility or social interest
• Lacking
