Sexual Violence and Its Impact On the Black Community
Sexual violence is a largely overlooked issue within the black community affecting an intolerable amount of young black girls. Black Women’s Blueprint, an organization that endorses the global equality of Black women conducted a study in which they found that “Sixty percent of black girls have experienced sexual abuse at the hands of black men before reaching the age of 18”. Black girls who experience sexual abuse choose to keep silent about the abuse they have endured until adulthood, but some choose to remain silent for life. Understanding how the effects of sexual abuse and violence against Black girls in the United States seeks to demise them spiritually, mentally and sometimes physically …show more content…
When Monique W. Morris wrote Sexual Violence and the Criminalization of Black Women and Girls for Ebony magazine, she expounded on this, stating “The constant feeling of unsafety plagues too many women and girls who are expected to take their abuse like women and who are expected to … hide in shame from the suggestion that their question for wholeness may be perceived as a distraction to the racial justice movement”. This is problematic because unsafety feeds insecurities, which cause women to do unthinkable things to cope with their subconscious trauma. Sometimes, these Black girls negate their own safety by choosing not to speak out against the person who has violated their personal safety and security. As Patricia Hill Collins Asserts, “African American women grapple with the long-standing sanctions within their communities that urge them to protect African American men at all costs, including keeping “family secrets” by remaining silent about male abuse” (Black Sexual Politics 226). This commonality is flagrant throughout the black community today, and this unspoken horror, a systemic vice against black unity, stifles the advancement of Blacks in America. Patricia Hill Collins talks extensively on this subject in her book, Black Sexual Politics, bringing to light some extremely salient information about the nature of sexual violence in the black community. She confirms that black girls are a population that is largely susceptible to sexual violence in their childhoods because “within their families and communities, fathers, stepfathers, uncles, brothers and other male relatives are part of a general climate of violence that makes young black girls appropriate sexual targets for predatory older men” (Black Sexual Politics 226). Part of this has to do with the black female’s place in
Sexual violence is a largely overlooked issue within the black community affecting an intolerable amount of young black girls. Black Women’s Blueprint, an organization that endorses the global equality of Black women conducted a study in which they found that “Sixty percent of black girls have experienced sexual abuse at the hands of black men before reaching the age of 18”. Black girls who experience sexual abuse choose to keep silent about the abuse they have endured until adulthood, but some choose to remain silent for life. Understanding how the effects of sexual abuse and violence against Black girls in the United States seeks to demise them spiritually, mentally and sometimes physically …show more content…
When Monique W. Morris wrote Sexual Violence and the Criminalization of Black Women and Girls for Ebony magazine, she expounded on this, stating “The constant feeling of unsafety plagues too many women and girls who are expected to take their abuse like women and who are expected to … hide in shame from the suggestion that their question for wholeness may be perceived as a distraction to the racial justice movement”. This is problematic because unsafety feeds insecurities, which cause women to do unthinkable things to cope with their subconscious trauma. Sometimes, these Black girls negate their own safety by choosing not to speak out against the person who has violated their personal safety and security. As Patricia Hill Collins Asserts, “African American women grapple with the long-standing sanctions within their communities that urge them to protect African American men at all costs, including keeping “family secrets” by remaining silent about male abuse” (Black Sexual Politics 226). This commonality is flagrant throughout the black community today, and this unspoken horror, a systemic vice against black unity, stifles the advancement of Blacks in America. Patricia Hill Collins talks extensively on this subject in her book, Black Sexual Politics, bringing to light some extremely salient information about the nature of sexual violence in the black community. She confirms that black girls are a population that is largely susceptible to sexual violence in their childhoods because “within their families and communities, fathers, stepfathers, uncles, brothers and other male relatives are part of a general climate of violence that makes young black girls appropriate sexual targets for predatory older men” (Black Sexual Politics 226). Part of this has to do with the black female’s place in