Breaking the Chains of Stereotypes: Freeing the Black Woman How stereotypes affect the lives of black women You're free to be who you want to be, unless you are a black woman. Then you are defined by a number of stereotypes that tell you who you are. Together, these stereotypes "devalue black women and depict them as masculine, crafty, promiscuous, sexually inviolable, pathological and criminally inclined," says Yvonne Newsome in a recent Journal of African American Studies report. Some of these stereotypes have been around since slavery; others are a recent construct of modern-day culture. But all are active and alive today, dictating how black women are viewed by us and others. Matriarch, sapphire, and welfare queen are stereotypes with vast and far-reaching negative effects: from dismantling the foundations of the black family to inhibiting the black woman from obtaining suitable employment. The Matriarch The ability of the black woman to perform long, hard work, live independently of a man and maintain a family was in stark contrast to prevailing notions of womanhood: fragile, dependent, feminine, and white. The black woman was thought to be physically, mentally, and emotionally stronger than her white counterparts. In addition, slavery separated families, leaving children in the care of only their mothers. This placed the black woman in the unfamiliar role as the head of the family, essentially normalizing the concept of the single parent within our culture. This notion of physical, mental and emotional strength continues today. Although these attributes should be assets, they have only served to "de-womanize" the black woman. Angela Neal-Barnett, a professor of psychology at Kent University, states "to be weak and a black woman is an oxymoron." Perhaps most importantly, the concept of the black matriarch does not fit into any family structure: modern or traditional. Modern families are built on the foundation of equals, while in traditional families, the man is the designated head. The black matriarch cannot exist in either structure. She is built to be alone. The black family cannot return to its rightful place of prominence in our community with her, the matriarch, in existence. The Sapphire Unlike the matriarch, the sapphire is not independent; she needs the presence of a man. She needs him so that she can emasculate him with her sharp tongue. ___________________________ … to be weak and a black woman is an oxymoron.” ___________________________ Marilyn Yarbrough and Crystal Bennett, in “Mammy, Sapphire, Jezebel and Their Sister,” describes the sapphire as "the wisecracking, balls-crushing, emasculating woman…usually shown with her hands on her hips and her head thrown back as she lets everyone know she is in charge." She is the angry black woman popularized in film and music. You will recognize the sapphire; you have seen her many times before, most recently as the character Monique from "The Parkers" and Rochell, the mother on the new hit series "Everybody Hates Chris." These women are domineering, aggressive, rude and constant complainers. In her professional life, the sapphire is achievement-oriented, intelligent, ambitious, and hard working. She is the well-educated, upwardly mobile black woman who is most likely to occupy a middle management or executive position. As black women, we are all too aware of this stereotype and its impact. Whether we try to prove it wrong or ignore it, the existence of the sapphire stereotype influences the way we know we are viewed and our actions are perceived. The impacts of the sapphire stereotype are many. Cheryl Bowers in the report “Group Process: The Impact of Black Female Leadership” explains the sapphire stereotype "inhibits [black] women from expressing a range of responses and behaviors that are not only appropriate but are … accessible to other groups in leadership roles." The inability to freely express a full range of emotions leaves the black woman feeling misunderstood, anxious and at odds with her peers. As a result, Bowers notes, black women are more "susceptible to high blood pressure, overeating, depression, and attempted suicides." Statistics Canada confirms this tendency. A 2003 study revealed black women suffer from depression at a rate 50% higher than the rest of the Canadian female population, and blacks generally are more likely to be prescribed medication for mental health problems. ___________________________ Black women are more susceptible to high blood pressure, overeating, depression, and attempted suicides. ___________________________ Furthermore, Catherine Good in the article “Closing Achievement Gaps” reveals that stereotypes not only affect the professional woman but female students. The "stereotype threat contributes to achievement gaps" between black and white female students, Good claims. "Reducing that threat reduces that gap." The Welfare Queen Unlike the matriarch or the sapphire, the welfare queen is not admired, nor does she provoke sympathy. As Newsome explains, the Welfare Queen is a sexually irresponsible, lazy, poor, uneducated black woman who "becomes pregnant as a teenager and has baby after baby." Further, because there is no man in the house, she is unable to "properly teach, supervise, and control her delinquency-prone children who grow to become teenaged mothers, gang bangers, and similar menaces to society." The Welfare Queen is the woman who is currently being blamed for raising the generation of young black men responsible for the gun violence gripping the streets of Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Calgary. She is also the subject of numerous laws aimed at controlling her reproductive ability and reducing her financial burden on society. The stereotype of the welfare queen is so pervasive we acknowledge it as true. We recognize the stereotype does not apply to us, or anyone we know, but it may apply to that woman across the street. Her existence is divisive and destructive but purposeful. As Karen Johnson notes in “Myth of the Welfare Queen,” "The powers that be find it easier to place blame than to share resources." The construct of the welfare queen allows society to blame her for her plight, while deflecting focus away from the real causes of poverty: inequality. Her construct absolves those in power of their responsibility to address the root cause of inequality and legitimizes the status quo. Constructing a society that provides opportunities equally for everyone is not necessary when you can sell the idea that those who do not prosper don't because they are simply too lazy, inept, uneducated, and undeserving. Conclusion We may live within a multicultural society, but there is very little integration. As the Canada’s Governor-General the Honorable Michaelle Jean eloquently noted, we are a nation of "solitudes". Few outside the black community have an accurate or true portrait of who we are as individuals or as a collective. Stereotypes then become increasingly important in constructing a generalized view of who we are. ___________________________ Stereotypes [are]… a process of taking away from the energy life force or true spirituality of a person. ___________________________ To combat negative stereotypes, Neal-Barnett advocates institutional diversity training. She notes that such "face-to-face interactions between people of all different ethnic backgrounds - such as through company-sponsored diversity awareness training programs - help break down misconceptions." George C. Wolfe, author of the play The Colored Museum, offers another solution to reconstructing our image. "I want to remove these dead, stale, empty icons standing in the doorway, blocking me from my truth," he states. Black women must not be "paralyzed by the spell of shame, [but must] consciously chose to grapple with racial and gender stereotypes in order to move forward freely." Mike Greer suggests exposing stereotypes for what they are is the solution. Stereotypes, he states, must be addressed "as a process of taking away from the energy life force or true spirituality of a person." This article first appeared in Palpitations at www.palpitations.ca. This website: Copyright © 2006 Dream World Media, LLC. / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed in Urban Mozaik Magazine are not necessarily those of Urban Mozaik Magazine and the publisher cannot be held responsible for them. This website/publication, in whole or in part, may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher.