Being Perceived As A Person...While Being a Black Woman
In a recent therapy session, I told my black female therapist that I find myself specifically situated in a middle ground of perception especially when it comes to dating. I told her that I am not the stereotype of femininity. I have had to be a strong black woman for my own safety and strides forward. When you are both black AND woman you are completely unprotected by all except (mostly) fellow black women. I have found myself upset that I was placed in this unprotected box and left out of the social strata of heterosexual women altogether. Being ousted as a protected (black) woman is a tale as old as time. It was the creation of the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade and the Jim Crow South that formulated the mechanisms for that lack of protection that exists today. When you are selling family members it is very important to dehumanize them so that you cannot feel the pain of human separation. When you are trying to keep those you own in line you must...