2001 poll. When did you think there would be a black president?

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by ree-Xi

I have heard similar questions about when we'd expect the first female president, and if the country was ready. Given that women are so different - biologically, emotionally, psychologically, etc. - I think it's more likely that people would question "if we were ready" for a woman to be president. Women are biologically predispositioned to give birth, are innately more nurturing, etc. I have heard people joke that what if a female president had PMS and decided to (insert some horrible decision) based on her emotions.

Men and women aren't as emotionally and psychologically different as patriarchy and sexism have socialized us to believe.

The stupid jokes you've heard show the hypocrisy of it all. It's just a matter of which is the most salient structural inequality, racism or sexism.

Originally Posted by ree-Xi

Men are men, and will almost always be seen as the likelier candidate for any position of power. But there is no difference between how a black man and a white man "operates", if you get what I mean. Does that make sense?

Men are men because patriarchy and misogyny unite men across race, ethnicity, culture, language, and socioeconomic status. However, research shows that concepts of manhood, power, and masculinity differ for white men as compared to black men. Being of the gender power majority but of the racial power minority is what is called "intersectionality" of race and gender. We can already see that Obama has been received differently than past presidents for reasons beyond politics. Examples of this are comments like "he's such a great orator" and suspicions that he's going to advance the causes of black people over interests of Americans, in general.