Why Does Every Black Man Have to be Suspect in the Age of Wokeness?

By:  H.T.

Today, my and many other men’s masculinity is brought into question not because we’re too effeminate, but rather because we’re too masculine.  The logic being that hypermasculinity is oppressive not only to men, but also black non-straight men, namely women and femme black men.

While I won’t argue that the black community does have a bit of a homophobia problem, the issue that doesn’t help things is how black straight men are expected to play ideological Simon Says to prove to people who, sorry, are the antithesis of masculinity that this isn’t a ruse to cover the fact that MAYBE we’re insecure about our sexuality.  In practice, the logic is that if we’re secure in our masculinity we should have no problem doing less than masculine things, but there’s a big difference between less masculine and stripping a man of his masculinity.

A man can rationalize having a tea party with his daughter or even playing dolls with her, can rationalize being the primary caretaker of his children, can rationalize being in touch with his emotions, or even wearing a less than masculine color.  But the woke delegation has decided that this should include wearing a dress, putting on makeup, and basically acting devoid of masculinity as possible.  This is not to say effeminate men can’t be masculine; the prevailing wisdom seems to be masculine WITHOUT being feminine is somehow oppressive to those who are.

This logic is lost on the average black man as the people pushing this tend to be people who look at things from a very academia and alternative perspective that isn’t wrong but isn’t what most black people can relate to.  Fact is, many black people come from communities where the traditional way of things would benefit things far more than making men wear rompers and talk about how the black community doesn’t appreciate its women.

I’m not telling anyone what to do with their own lives, but I am saying that this belief that we could solve the ills of the black community by making men dress and act like women while making women the de facto authority in the black community isn’t the answer to our issues.  This social media bred idea that she who gets all the likes is right ends badly as it whittles down proper quality control of ideas, and quality control is needed.

After a while, you have to admit that a lot of this logic is made by people who conceive and practice it only on…social media.  And while it seems cool to get likes for wearing something or repeating the same jargon as your favorite woke social media celeb, there is a world outside of this where people, in this case men, build their identity around standards that existed prior to social media.  This I believe is what’s occurring rather than some grand scheme to emasculate the black man.

My issue simply is this:  I tire of the belief that men can’t live as they please on account of the belief that being masculine as you saw your parents or grandparents did is problematic.  But most importantly I tire of this idea that heterosexuality can potentially be antagonistic and that just carrying yourself in a way that can be perceived as not welcoming femininity with open arms and ticker tape is both offensive and potentially a sign of hiding from the idea that maybe one isn’t heterosexual.  This need to “out” every guy or indulge in this idea that “no one is really straight” seems to be the logic of very young or very opportunistic people who need to keep a narrative going about how black women are victims and that black men are the biggest perpetrators.

This cannot end well and frankly we just need to live and let live.  No amount of rompers or flower crowns will fix the fact that, yes, some men are just shitty and just plain problematic.