A Core Problem That Black Women Face In Regards To Domestic Violence

Watching the USUAL Twitter response to another celebrity domestic violence claim made me think about this…

One of the most complicated things that Black women have to deal with when it comes to domestic violence is the culmination of the automatic beliefs by the populous—even the “Black community”—that: we did “something” (i.e. start an argument) where violence from a man is the only reasonable response, we initiated the violence itself, we are always of equal physical strength to Black men, and/or we deserve violence. All of these perceptions arise out of prevailing stereotypes based on negative archetypes of Black women. We are characterized as argumentative “Sapphires” who are “strong” enough to give and receive violence and not “feminine” enough to actually be hurt from domestic violence. This is where the prevailing stereotypes about women as “weak” and “helpless” (ones that are problematic within themselves) are NOT characterized as Black women’s traits, and thus makes us deserving of violence, in the public eye.

The core of this problem is the assumption that those who are “weak” are not deserving of violence, and that men should not hit women as we are “weaker,” versus violence from one human being to another being deemed unacceptable in the first place. Even other women (primarily White) who get the luxury (in this case) of being considered “too weak” to be abused (despite the fact that they are still abused), it is not even because their lives are deemed valuable (in this case) either, but only because of a strong vs. weak, man vs. woman dynamic articulated through the veil of patriarchy.