Impacts of Incarceration on the African American Family by R. Robin Miller

Author:R. Robin Miller [Miller, R. Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Sociology, General
ISBN: 9781351513302
Google: kUlaDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-05-04T03:38:01+00:00

9

The Effects of Negative Stereotypes on African American Male and Female Relationships

Micah L. McCreary and Richard C. Wright

Introduction

In July of 1994, we were invited to present a paper on “Spirituality and Sexuality: Healing Our Brokenness,” to the Virginia Cluster for Pastoral Education. During preparation for that presentation we read a book entitled The Sexual Mountain and Black Women Writers: Adventures in Sex, Literature, and Real Life, by C. C. Hernton (1987). In this book, Hernton reviewed Lutie Johnson's story written in The Street by Ann Petry (1946). Hernton's chapter on The Street, showed that the novel provided several rich examples of the brokenness that has historically existed between African American couples and families. The book was thus used as a tool for discussing the current situation of African American relationships. After the presentation, audience reactions were mixed. Using the novel as a vehicle to discuss the brokenness between African American females and males was acceptable to some participants. Others, however, attacked the entire notion of using the novel, stating that the novel had no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

Since then, The Street has been revisited to examine the tensions that exist among the book's characters, and more importantly within current African American interpersonal relationships. It seems that the characters in the novel provide examples of the strong and direct correlation between the tensions in interpersonal relationships and racial, gender, and economic prejudices which affect past, present, and future human conduct. Thus, this chapter: (1) briefly reviews current research on the intersection of racism, sexism, and economic oppression; (2) explores origins of the Bad Man and Bad Woman stereotypes; (3) analyzes the impact of the stereotypes on African American relationships; and (4) offers several recommendations for moving away from the brokenness that characterizes many current relationships and toward positive, nurturing interpersonal relationships with others.

Origins of Negative African American Stereotypes

African American scholars (Davis, 1983, 1990; Hooks, 1992; Hernton, 1987; West, 1993a, 1993b) have suggested that mental health professionals consider the profound influences of racism, sexism, and economic oppression in their care and conceptualizations of African American men and women. Research on the persistent and pervasive effects of racial and gender prejudice on the lives of African American men and women supports this assertion (Bowman and Howard, 1985; Burlew, Banks, McAdoo, and Azibo, 1992; Jones, 1991). There is also convincing evidence that the systemic influences of sexism, racism, and economic oppression are pervasive and have existed throughout the history of Africans in America (Fanon, 1967; Thomas and Sillen, 1972).

One of the more powerful ways racial, economic, and gender prejudice have affected African Americans is through the use and maintenance of negative stereotypes. A stereotype is a relatively fixed, simplistic overgeneralization of something or someone that is not necessarily true or based on facts (Reber, 1985). Stereotyping is negative when the unfavorable characteristics of the target groups or things are emphasized. Stereotypes can change and can include positive and accurate characteristics. Historically, stereotypes held about African Americans have been negative, rigid, and inaccurate. For example, African

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