I hear my white t-sisters complain that as they go from male to female they are aware of losing their status as “first class citizens.” They are aware that living as a woman means they will likely lose social status, earning power and influence.
When I think about my transition I ask myself which way have I moved? I have a hard time saying if I’ve moved down or up the social ladder. When I ask myself the question, “Is it better/easier to be a black man or a black woman in this society” I don’t have a clear answer. It seems that each has its own series of struggles. The black male has to deal with being labeled as dangerous. The black woman doesn’t. The black male has a larger dating pool while the black woman struggles much more in this area. The black male is more likely to have troubles with law enforcement while the black woman is more likely to have a college degree. However the black woman is less likely to be promoted to management positions and is more likely to be the single parent caring for child(ren). It would be hard to argue that one or the other has a clear advantage.
April 20, 2009 at 12:41 am
I would have to disagree with you on that account, I think today’s Black Woman has it easier in terms of acceptance and access to the American marketplace than Black Men do. There has been a gender war to me in the last 35 years between BW and BM and Black Women through means of education and government intervention has won that battle.
I think with the number of IR relationships between BW and WM and with Obama as President there will be new standards for BM which is not a bad thing but he is Biracial and there will be a black male backlash on his policies if the situation does not improve for BM in this country outside of empty symbolism.
I have read your posts and agree that there is a sexuality problem in Black America, when I was younger many BM i knew teased sissies endlessly and cruelly, but you would see them in private either having sex or a “secret realtionship” until the kids found out and humilated the dude into transferring to another school. And that’s what happened to a friend of mine,in my opinion Black Maculinity is a 20th invention created by whites and cultivated in the modern by Black Men themselves as false pride.
In the end we all lose and that’s why I think our realtionships in the black community are so damaged whether gay or staright because we traded in one set of racial/sexual hangups for another because the third rail (our black humanity) was too hard to attain in a society who couldn’t afford nor could let go of the pathology.
like your blog and keep writing
April 21, 2009 at 8:34 am
Thank you for the good thoughts and for the challenge to rethink my position. I agree that we as a race do have issues around sexuality and there is a racial component to those issues too.
More than anything else you’ve reminded me of something that i’d all but forgotten. I’ll write about that in a seperate post today.
It deeply saddens me to see the gender wars in Black America. In the past we would come together as a people. I was listening to some old songs (from the 1960s, 1950’s and 1940’s) and i was amazed and pleased at the references i hear in them as black men sing to black women about their beauty (full round and proud) and black women sing to black men about their handsomeness (strong passionate and tender). Oh for the grace of a song like “Afro-Blue.”