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Andrew Brocl assignment 8

In her essay, “Learning from the Outsider Within: The Sociological Significance of Black Feminist Thought,” Patricia Hill Collins argues that, “Black women’s experiences highlight the tension experienced by any group of less powerful outsiders encountering the paradigmatic thought of a more powerful insider community.” She attempts to explain this by exploring the sociological significance of three characteristic themes. She explores the themes of Black women’s self-definition and self-valuation; the interlocking nature of oppression; and the importance of Afro-American women’s culture. I shall be discussing the themes of Black women’s self-definition and self-valuation. Black women’s attempts at self-definition have led to many stereotypical views of them. Collins in her text says that Black women’s assertiveness in resisting oppression has been a threat to the status quo. In doing this, Black women have been attributed with externally defining negative traits meant to control assertive Black female behavior. The “crazy Black woman” stereotype is an example of this. These stereotypes of Black women come from distorted renderings of Black female behavior seen as most frightening to white patriarchy. Collins states that aggressive Afro-American women are feared because they challenge the white patriarchal created stereotype of femininity. Feminine traits are ways of behaving that our culture usually associates with being a girl or woman. Some words commonly used to describe femininity are dependent, emotional, passive, sensitive, quiet, graceful, innocent, weak, flirtatious, nurturing, self-critical, soft, sexually submissive, or accepting. With many black women these kinds of traits are not at all correct and masculine traits are more commonly used to describe them. Some of these would be independent, aggressive, tough-skinned, competitive, strong, self-confident, and rebellious. This way of acting in African American women scares white supremacists as it goes against the stigma for women they have created. To combat this they draw attention to the negative aspects of this outspokenness to paint African American women in a bad light, leading to the many stereotypes attributed to them that we know of today.