Behind the Mask of the Strong Black Woman: Voice and the Embodiment of a Costly Performance

by Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant

The defining quality of Black womanhood is strength, states Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant in Behind the Mask of the Strong Black Woman. But, she argues, the idea of strength undermines its real to defend and maintain a stratified social order by obscuring Black womenOCOs experiences of suffering, acts of desperation, and anger. This provocative book lays bare the common perception that strength is an exemplary or defining quality of OC authenticOCO Black womanhood.The author, a noted sociologist, interviews 58 Black women about being strong and proud, to illustrate their OC performanceOCO of invulnerability. Beauboeuf-Lafontant explains how such behavior leads to serious symptoms for these women, many of whom suffer from eating disorders and depression.Drawing on Black feminist scholarship, cultural studies, and womenOCOs history, Behind the Mask of the Strong Black Woman traces the historical and social influences of normative Black femininity, looking at how notions of self-image and strength create a distraction from broader forces of discrimination and power."

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Social Justice, Race

194 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2009

Reviews

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I think it comes out in the nervous breakdown. You know, they talk about Black men going crazy. That’s the most paid attention to. There are Black women who go crazy too. . . . I think it happens with drugs and crack cocaine, and mothers who prostitute their kids. . . . I think that’s what it looks like and it’s ugly. Women who walk off and leave their kids in the house for days on end. . . . White women do some of the same things, but I think for different reasons. And perceived in much different ways. You know, a Black woman who does all this, she’s just a ghetto animal."

[Rebecca Thacker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant- a must read.

[Ellie Groves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful and brilliant, cried more than once reading this.

[Melody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woah. What an incredibly deep and thought-provoking book. And how lucky was I to stumble across this in the library! I picked this up at the perfect time. The beginning was a little hard to get into because the introduction reads like a very dry dissertation. Some phrases went over my head, I admit it. There was no doubt in my mind that this book was written by a professor. While I'd guess that about 30% of the book is academic jargon, the other 70% was well worth dragging myself through the intro for. The first two chapters of assessment were nice, but it was the introduction of the interviews with real black women about the SBW trope that completely knocked me over. Interwoven with Ms. Tamara's analysis, hearing about the ways the SBW myth has deeply affected black women -- in their own words! -- was... powerful? Even powerful seems like an understatement. My every personal idea or feeling about being black, strong and a woman were validated in huge ways in this book. Ms. Tamara left no stone unturned. I especially applaud the uplifting ending in the final chapter and how she purposely saved the best quotes and first-person perspectives for last. That, to me, made it feel more like a book and less like a thesis statement. I wish every black woman in America could read this.

[Kribsoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant has written an amazingly profound assessment of the long held view that Black women given all they have endured historically and in everyday life are strong women Beauboeuf-Lafontant theoretical framework and well documented observations make clear that Black women have not heretofore developed the vocabulary to discourse about their pseudoethos of strength Behind the Mask of the Strong Black Woman is a must read for all Black women and Black men Equally so it deserves to be read and studied by all women and men regardless of race and ethnicity