RealTalkRealThoughts:Defending Black Womenhood

The iLlusTriOuS Sii
Dec 18, 2015
2 min read

Growing up, there was no doubt in my mind that I could be beautiful and girly one minute and strong, tomboyish,& fearless the next. Growing up as young black girl was quite challenging, and still is. It’s all about defining ourselves and teaching other women the same. Encouraging others to defend black womanhood and respect us as black woman. Why are we punished for speaking our minds? Why does society feel like WOMEN HAS TO BE DEFINED?????

"Behind the Mask of the Strong Black Woman makes an important contribution to the literature. No other work systematically studies the ways black women internalize and resist strong black woman discourse. Beauboeuf-Lafontant convincingly argues that investment in the strong black woman myth injures black women and strengthens the racist divisions between women."—Maxine Craig

I have come to the conclusion that black woman have forgotten where we have came from. Our ancestors fought so hard for respect and the right to express our mind. Sociphistorical factors have created the climate in which black women’s continued strength for the benefit of others becomes an expectation. Both black women’s activism for community survival of the black people, and black women assistance in maintaining families are too often taken for granted. African American women will often tie their very sense of themselves to their continued strength, taking as a given that their social roles must include working on behalf of themselves and their communities with little regard of their own needs. The image of making a way out of no way, of doing what has to be done, is based on the very bodies of black women. Strength of body and will for the “good” of others, may turn and tear at the individual woman, not only her self esteem with a continual drive to succeed, but also destroy her physical and spiritual health. This type of living necessitates that black women constantly set their individual needs aside, to live for the community only. The empowerment of black women includes releasing and relinquishing the “strong women” role, which is accomplished with neither comfort nor ease, for black women who focus on self are often viewed as “selfish.” Self-care becomes part of the need for black women in their health considerations. ORRRRR NOT????