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I would recommend anyone interested in this thread reading the chapter on African American marriage and gender relations in the book, Rituals of Blood by Orlando Patterson,who holds a chair in Sociology at Harvard.He lays out the stats and gives his interpretation of this problem. Jaw-dropping!But what interested me was his interpretations.One of his major theses is the concept of the gender gap in sexual attitudes amongst African American men and women.In short, black men tend to be significantly more "liberal" about extrtamarital relations than black women.Similarly,Euro-American women tend to be the most "liberal" in this area amongst the women in the major ethnic groups,while black and latino women are the most "conservative."And he attributes this attitude to the fact that many African American women hold to traditional Christian values, even though there is a small hardcore segment of black women who don't share these values. He lays most of the blame of the problem on black men,who set the bar low for their behaviour,and simnply do what they do because they can do it.The best analogy of this relationship is the one between the Democratic party and black people in general.The alternatives don't seem there,and you'll stick to what you know and are comforable with.One of his observations is that the rate of exogamy (marriage outside of ones ethnic group)amogst African Americans is the lowest amongst all ethnic groups. He see this as a negative thing,but understandable given the racial history of this country.How this is germaine in his argument is that he feels that black men think they have a monopoly on black women and thus take black women for granted and treat them accordingly. He contends that if a sizeable sector of African American women dated and married outside of the group, African American men would take them more serious as potential marriage partners.
In another front he sees a negative dynamic amongst many African women of lower socio-ecomic status:many don't want a "regular" black man,a 9-5, church-going guy,for example, He doesn't fit the masculine stereotype of the "thug" or "bad boy" who appeals to many in this segment of the population.Patterson says that this only perpetuates the pathological social conditions in our communites when these relationships produce children with absentee fathers and all the attendant social problems.It's a horrible cycle in his view.
This book chapter opened my eyes!May God-literally-have mercy on us!
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