The Mythos of African-American Gender Identity The concept of gender has long determined standards of appropriate and acceptable behavior. Intersectionality, however, offers an explanation to the double standards African-Americans face due to how masculinity and femininity are perceived when applied to them. The social norms imposed upon African-American people and families develop different standards of masculinity & femininity and sexual stereotypes of African-American men and women, and often misunderstand the common family dynamic. African-American men and women have been subjected to many stereotypes that assume and overstate the nature of their ethnicity. In fact, ever since the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the ethnicity as a whole has been …show more content…
The perceived threat of violence from young Black men can be attributed to the perceived strength in masculinity, specifically Black masculinity, often believed to be the boldest compared to its non-Black counterparts. African-American women, on the other hand, are thought to be “sexually aggressive, morally loose, strong, independent, and assertive in comparison to Caucasian American women” (McCreary and Wright, 33) and often portrayed as mammies, Jezebels, “welfare queens”, and other dehumanizing stereotypes on film – in movies like Friday Foster, Gone With the Wind, or Norbit – & social media; countless entertainers have made livings off of negative stereotypes based on African-Americans and their gender African-Americans must cope with both racism and the irrational stereotypes that drive the ever-so important first impressions, police encounters, and professional interviews. The gender norms of African-Americans are different than those for non-Black men and women. African-Americans are often perceived as inherently masculine, and thus associated with “masculine” qualities, expressions or emotions like strength, aggression, sexuality, and