In inner-city settings that are governed by the code of the street, women’s attempts to socialize their children for survival often require that they adopt beliefs and behaviors directly opposed to mainstream expectations of appropriate femininity and the gendered expectations reflected in the image of the Black lady. What outsiders often have difficulty understanding, however, is that oftentimes, these actions and behaviors emerge from attempts to navigate extremely challenging and potentially life-threatening circumstances. Inner-city mothers, grandmothers, and othermothers must make “hard choices” about how best to socialize Black girls for survival. For many poor, African American women, and especially for those living in violent neighborhoods, the pressure to “regularly feel required to make hard choices among, at times, very poor options” is often the most stable condition of their lives. In this setting, it would be a great disservice for mothers or grandmothers not to teach the girls under their care how to protect themselves from potential threats of violence in the neighborhood. Still, it is a lesson that comes with complicated consequences: girls who embrace these lessons about strength and survival too deeply, for example, girls who fight all the time, risk confirming the most base stereotypes others hold about poor, Black women and girls.
Nikki Jones, The Social World of Inner City Girls. (via carey-knope)

(via uptownmandy-deactivated20120111)

Source: maxine-shaw

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    OMG THESE COMMENTS! Even if you grow up int he suburbs, you have to fight against these stereotypes, and constantly...
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    I was never a fighter. I was an incredibly sensitive child, much to the dismay of my mother. But I understand this,...
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