Blog post #4- Marable's The Black Male: Searching Beyond Stereotypes

Although times have changed some Blacks still view themselves or are trapped with how society views them. Society has a certain image of Black men and they sort of mirror that image instead of getting away from it. Back in time, when slavery existed Black men saw Black women as enemies not as allies. In the reading, Manning Marable states that there was no affection, recognition, or liking being shown to women. The circumstances they were in sometimes made the women take the man's masculinity away. Instead of the men seeing it as they needed to raise and feed the children on their own because they were enslaved, or they had to be the master's partner because they were being raped, they saw it negatively. They also give a lot of credit to the Black males that fought for their rights and sort of let the women fade in the back meanwhile they were the main incentive. Some Black males sort of oppress their women, they fight and kill each other, they make a significant lower amount of money than the white males, and don't take part in higher education. This makes them fit perfectly in the image that was set from back in slavery times: violent, non-human, and not intellectual. Today, the majority of black males that enter college drop out within two years, suicides, homicides, and accidents are major causes of death within the black community. If you want to get away from the stereotypes committing half of all homicides in America and the victims being other black men is not the way to go. Black men have to respect themselves and their women and slowly society's view will change. Since slavery you've already seen a huge change. We now have a Black president, they have rights like everyone else, and they are no longer viewed as slaves.Yes, society can be blamed for the way Blacks are being viewed sometimes but what are they doing to improve or get away from it?

First draft/photo analysis

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ni4LijNJzPQuYs2U17dz7MBnKj7BFtHxpENM79vtjzI/edit?hl=en&authkey=CIn_jMkN&pli=1#

Paul Theroux's "The Male Myth"

Something that popped out at me while reading this passage was when Theroux said "...Be a man! strikes me as insulting and abusive. It means: be stupid, be unfeeling, obedient and soldiery, and stop thinking. I believe his interpretation of being manly is exaggerated. I believe growing up and still today he has a problem with being manly. You may look like a man on the outside but it doesn't mean you have to be manly. The exterior part of yourself doesn't always define you. When he talks about how he thinks people view men he sounds imprisoned by his thoughts. I don't think that everyone views men the way he describes it. An intelligent man who expresses their feelings doesn't mean they are not manly, in fact women would be attracted to them. Everyone has a different view of how a man wants to be its just up to the individual person to choose how they want to act no matter what others think because no one will ever be pleased. If America wants rough, stupid, no mercy thinking boys, women want caring fathers and intellectual men. If your mother wants you less "manly" your father wants you more "manly". Paul makes me think that he doesn't know what to do simply because he believes he can't be "manly" enough.

How to Build a Man (blogpost#1)

After reading this article, I feel that men are not born they are made. Scientists say that to be male you need to have the Y chromosome, but i believe that your sorroundings and parents make you. If you are raised by people telling you you are a man then thats what you believe. They also say that their penis at birth cannot beless than 0.6 inches or they will be turned into a girl. So babies don't get to choose their sexuality/gender you can be born a girl or a boy but who knows what you will be made into.