Black Masculinity and Sexual Politics

by Anthony J. Lemelle Jr.

African American males occupy a historically unique social position, whether in school life, on the job, or within the context of dating, marriage and family. Often, their normal role expectations require that they perform feminized and hypermasculine roles simultaneously. This book focuses on how African American males experience masculinity politics, and how U.S. sexism and racial ranking influences relationships between black and white males, as well as relationships with black and white women. By considering the African American male experience as a form of sexism, Lemelle proposes that the only way for the social order to successfully accommodate African American males is to fundamentally eliminate all sexism, particularly as it relates to the organization of families.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 28, 2009

Reviews

[Lawrence Grandpre]

A unique take on Black male gender identity as reflected through multiple systems of racial and class oppression, challenging notions that Black men have access to patriarchal privilege and analysis the attempts for white supremacy to operationalize form of uniquely generated violence against Black men. His text is a challenge to white liberal and black nationalists applications of "substantial dutiful" theory, stating Black men are insufficient patriarchs and need to be reintegrated into American white patriarchial norms.

It's not surprising this text has largely been ignored by the American gender studies academy. It challenges simplistic applications of intersectionality which say Black men are always already inherently privileged in relation to women, but the data provided and historical analysis makes a compelling case these assumptions need to be challenged. The text is actually incredibly useful for feminist theory, as it criticizes Black attempts to ingratiate into privilege as quote "political suicide".

It a shame that academics seeking to use empirical analysis to analyze the real material conditions of Black male life seem to systemically ignored by academics whose only intellectual foundation on gender theory is academics raised in and created by (neo)liberal identitarian feminist politics. Academics do themslsves a disservice by doing the intelectual equivalent of looking for their keys under the street lamp.

[Eva Puyuelo]

As I was reading it, I missed some active implication of the narrator on the terms being discussed. Lemelle's work is essentially plain and merely descriptive except for, possibly, its very last paragraph, and it palpably lacks of a purpose other than unveiling, in an objective way, the reality that black masculinites are forced to endure. Although its evident lack of emotion and activism, it contains some interesting notions.