While the common contemporary narrative of racism and sexism in American society is that as institutionalized systems progress, sexism and racism are solved, Toni Morrison debunks this myth by weaving together a multitude of non-chronological vignettes in her literature which center on misogynoir, or the intersection of black and female identity. She weaves these stories in order to convey the idea that misogynoir is not simply a combination of laws, but rather a complex combination of multiple historical prejudices and actions that inform the present, keeping misogynoir alive socially, even though it may progress politically. Due to the severity of the historical trauma of misogynoir, it is heavily ingrained in and therefore perpetuated by not only white men, but also white women, black men, and even black women. This misogynoir manifests in unreasonable societal expectations for black women surrounding their sexuality, motherhood, and superficial standards of beauty.
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Misogynoir
Term Coined: Moya Bailey, queer black university professor
Black Identity: -p134 of tbe, description of theblack man as the devil, not god because god is white with blue eyes
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Perpetuated By
White Men: - this is obviously the most privileged of the 4 subcategories I'm talking about, they hold both sex and race privilege.
- However, are they truly the most harmful? Or is the most harmful people who other themselves (white women, black men) from the most oppressed (black women) though they share a common oppression... MLK believed the most harmful people to racial progress were bystanders- not active perpetrators of racism, but people who know something is wrong with the way things are but don't speak out or take action on it...
- pg 49 candyshop man is white, doesn't even recognize pecola as a person, pecola says shes seen this look (absence of regocnition as a human) in all white people's eyes, and it's a hatred of her blackness
White Women: - refer to pg 49 candyshop man in white men section -p121 tbe, paulines boss tells her she's fired unless she leaves cholly... pauline says she just needs the $11 that she's owed so that she can pay the gas bill to cook food, but the white woman boss won't give it to her. she says she has to leave cholly to get it... pauline doesn't understand how she can say shes looking out for her but wont give her her money to eat... white feminism? ignoring the intersection of poverty and black communities? especially in the time? yIKEs
Black Men: - cholly hates the black girl that he raped, instead of the two white men who made him rape her -pg 65 TBE, black boys circle around pecola and taunt her for her skin color and her dad sleeping naked... they don't care that they're also black and their dads do the same thing, they hate their own blackness so they hate pecolas too ... frieda tells them to stop, but they don't listen and are about to beat up all three (pecola claudia and frieda) until maureen steps forward... she is too pretty to beat up other girls in front of, so in order to protect their masculinity while still being defeated, they pretend that the girls aren't even worth their time and leave
Black Women: - internalized misogynoir, colorism - pg 46 the bluest eye, Pecola is trying to figure out why she is ugly and says "at least her nose was not big and flat like some of those who were thought so cute" shows that black women compare themselves to other black women and want to be better and cuter than other black women for man's attention - pg63, tbe, frieda and claudia try to find flaws in maureen peal because she is white passing and everyone likes her, and they want to put her down to make themselves feel prettier... all four groups listed in the perpetuated by treat her nicely because she is white passing, aka colorism!! she denies her blackness and dresses and acts "white" and is loved as a result
- pg87, Geraldine doesn't want her son Junior to hang out with black people that are darkskinned, because there is a difference between n*ggers and colored people. After Junior traps and bullies pecola, Geraldine says to Pecola "You nasty little black bitch. Get out of my house."
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