Let’s Discuss the Complexities of Black Masculinities
By Jacques P. Lesure and Derrick R. Brooms
Black men continue to live unique, peculiar, and dynamic lives. However, news media, print, television, and film, as well as some modern media like podcasts, online communities (e.g., ‘Black manosphere’), and other digital worlds continue to reproduce representations that ignore our complexities. Some of the current media are created and led by Black men, which provides Black men with spaces to facilitate conversations on our own terms, thereby enacting our agency.
At the same time, we also continue to see representations of and dominant discourses about Black men that often rely on historical stereotypes that denigrate us collectively. Black men have been projected and relegated to historical tropes that reflect caricatures of who we are (e.g., thug, criminal, or angry Black man), and some Black men do perpetuate some of the same stereotypical representations that reproduce toxic masculinities. Toxic masculinity is defined by one’s adherence to traditional male gender roles that include domination, self-reliance, and emotional restraint and is marked by anti-femininity, aggression, and toughness.
It should be no surprise that Black men’s sense of self and our desires and efforts to be our authentic selves is often in negotiation with how we are (mis)perceived by others. Even today, Black men who challenge conventions across contexts often are under-explored and oversimplified (e.g., films such as Moonlight or podcasts such as All Black Men Need Therapy and Kill Pride Club, and non-profits such as Black Male Initiative Georgia). This dialectic relationship, between Black men’s sense of self and how they are perceived by others, has profound influences on how Black men develop, engage, explore, perform, and exist in our masculine identities and expressions. Thus, it is important for all those interested in addressing Black men’s past and supporting the possibilities of our present and futures to appreciate the complexities beyond the surface that exist within Black men’s everyday lifeworlds.
To advance these conversations, we generated a comic strip using Artificial Intelligence to illustrate feasible realities and potentialities of progressive Black masculinities. Drawing on the tradition of Black comic strips, such as the Boondocks or those produced by Milestone Media in the 1990s, we seek to “re-story” the narrative of Black men’s sense-making and belonging to our broad communities that is grounded in progressive politics.
In Scene 1, a cisgender Black man looks sternly in the mirror, pausing and reflecting. He asks himself “Who am I?”, as he prepares for his day. Research shows that Black men exist across diverse identities, such as gender or social class, that often do not seem to inform broader discussions about who Black men are and who we can be. Beyond the surface, and across our diverse selves, Black men continue to see ourselves in ways that are different and divergent from who the world perceives (and projects) us to be. All Black men, despite our expressions of gender presentations, performances, or the masks we may wear, have psychological and sociocultural processes for developing and expressing our masculine identities. It is important to understand that we are not static, finished, or stuck in how we perceive ourselves within a larger world. We must make space for the myriad ways that Black men show up beyond the dominant gaze, which is rooted in assumptions of who people are and reflects material, social, and cultural relations of power. Thus, given that we all too often are seen primarily through a racialized-gendered lens, we wonder: How might Black men and the broader public interrogate and assess how resistance is embedded in the diverse interiorities of Black men?
In Scene 2, a Black man wearing professional attire is sitting at a desk with an open book in front of him; he is joined by one man also sitting and four other individuals standing around him — a group of men and women. He asks himself, “Who do they think we [Black men] are?” while sitting and engaged in work-related actions. His question reflects the various ways that Black men may constantly need to navigate other people’s gaze as well as their associated expectations. This question not only represents considerations for Black men’s racialized and gendered identities, but also speaks to other intersecting social identities and our character, integrity, and personhood. Black men often are accosted by other people’s policing of our bodies, movements, and being. Such hyper-surveillance means that the masculine scripts that we subscribe to, or try to navigate, along with our identity performances may be bound by others’ ideologies and expectations. What does it mean for Black men’s expressions and performances to be bounded and how might these restrictions narrow possible explorations of our masculine selves?
In Scene 3, a group of Black men are gathering in a casual setting. They ask themselves “Who are we to us and who do we want to be?”, as they look toward their futures. Research shows that it is not uncommon for Black men to feel a responsibility to our families and larger communities, particularly around the various roles we play and how we are positioned. In numerous ways, conceptions of “provider” and being “in control” are reflective of dominant masculine tropes that can restrict how Black men express aspects of care for themselves and others and how we contribute to our families and communities. Black men need support — such as social and emotional support, patience, grace, and close attention — so that we can explore a healthy range of our masculine selves. What we know is that relationships based on authenticity, love, and care are crucial to our identity development, exploration, and expressions. Black men want to be free to be our authentic selves, even as we navigate and negotiate our masculine identity development. What are the places, rituals, or moments of refuge for Black men that we can continue to build, protect, engage in, and benefit from?
We use the three scenes of this comic script to raise important questions about how we as Black men see ourselves and how we think about being perceived by others while also acknowledging our collective quest to be who we want to be. However, it is important to understand that as Black men across diverse masculinities continue to evolve in our identity formation over our lifespans, we too can grow. At the center of our desires for growth is the belief that we can be in healthy relationships with our true selves and our larger communities. We are able and willing to care for ourselves and others in gentle, affirming, and loving ways.
Black men are complex and we must navigate and experience identity development as individuals and a larger community at various intersections. However, representations that suggest that Black men across difference do not or cannot espouse progressive agendas for ourselves and others is limiting and counter-productive to transformative aims. Across time, Black thinkers, creatives, and everyday people have taken on the task of re-storying Black futures. In doing so, they have sought to retrain our mindsets to be more committed to showing complexity and possibility. Our comic strip is yet another one of these efforts. Representations of and discussions about Black men’s identities and masculinities should engage in the various realities that we experience and navigate in our lives.
Jacques P. Lesure is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Education at Brown University. His research interests include the politics and pedagogies that shape Black masculine-affirming educational projects across social, political and economic contexts. Connect with him on X @jp_lesure
Derrick R. Brooms is the Executive Director of the Black Men’s Research Institute and Professor of Africana Studies at Morehouse College. His research primarily focuses on Black boys’ and men’s lived experiences, including their educational pathways, identity development, peer relationships, and representations in the media. Connect with him on X @drbrooms7
