This book provides critical insights into the many, often overlooked, challenges and societal issues that face contemporary black men, focusing in particular on the ways in which governing societal expectations result in internal and external constraints on black male identity formation, sexuality and black `masculine’ expression.
Presenting new interview and auto-ethnographic data, and drawing on an array of theoretical approaches methodologies, Hyper Sexual, Hyper Masculine? explores the formation of gendered and sexual identity in the lives of black men, shedding light on the manner in which these are affected by class and social structure. It examines the intersecting oppressions of race, gender and class, while acknowledging and discussing the extent to which black men’s social lives differ as a result of their varying degrees of cumulative disadvantage.
A wide-ranging and empirically grounded exploration of the intersecting roles of race, masculinity, and sexuality on the lives of black men, this volume will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, social stratification and intersectionality.
Table of Contents:
Contents: Introduction: Blackness, maleness, and sexuality as interwoven identities: toward an understanding of contemporary Black male identity formation, Kamesha Spates and Brittany C. Slatton. Part I Challenges and Constraints of Masculine and Sexual Identity Formation: Notes from a former homophobe: an introspective narrative on the development of masculinity of an urban African American male, Earl Wright II; Growing up male: a re-examination of African American male socialization, Candy Ratliff; The Black box: constrained maneuvering of Black masculine identity, Brittany C. Slatton. Part II Negotiating Unequal Ground: Against all odds: African-American male athletes’ pursuit of professional sports careers, Krystal Beamon; Vagrant frontiers: Black gay masculinity and a quest for community-the issues that shape my viewpoint, Le’Brian Patrick. Part III Critical Interpretations of Black Men and Genderism: Confronting Black male privilege, R. L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy; Complexity within and similarity across: interpreting Black men’s support of gender justice, amidst cultural representations that suggest otherwise, Catherine E. Harnois. Part IV Black Men’s Counter-Narratives in the Struggle for Masculine and Sexual Autonomy: The tears of Black men: Black masculinity, sexuality, and sensitivity in R&B and hip hop, Cassandra Chaney; More than meets the eye: the use of counter-narratives to expand students’ perceptions of Black male crack dealers, Kamesha Spates; No longer silenced: excerpts from Mirrored Invisible: Race, Patriarchy, Masculinity and the Formation of Black Male Identity, Kawatia Conway Arrington; `I just be myself’: contradicting hyper masculine and hyper sexual stereotypes among low-income Black men in New York City, Michael Pass, Ellen Benoit and Eloise Dunlap. Index.
About the Author :
Brittany C. Slatton is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Texas Southern University, USA and author of Mythologizing Black Women: Unveiling White Men's Racist and Sexist Deep Frame. Kamesha Spates is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Kent State University, USA and author of What Don't Kill Us Makes Us Stronger: African American Women and Suicide.
Review :
'The editors of this collection have impressively gathered a variety of voices - men, women, gay, straight, from graduate students to full professors, as well as those from outside of the academy - to investigate the variety of intersections of race, gender, and sexuality through the experiences of black men. Potent in its breadth and impactful in its import, this collection brilliantly empowers and does not pathologize understandings of black male identity.' Juan Battle, Graduate Center, CUNY, USA ... this book is an important intervention into race and gender studies literature, and in particular its emphasis on intersectional identities is a refreshing and interesting contribution. It would serve well as an introduction to those interested in the problem of intersectionality, specifically with respect to race and masculinity. ... Hyper Sexual, Hyper Masculine? does the important work of addressing some of the myths and stereotypes that plague black men, and recognises the danger inherent in black men's alterity... LSE Review of Books
