Within the Millennial generation, there is a striking trend of progressive thought and liberal perspective. According to surveys done by the Pew Research Center in 2014, Millennials were found to be more politically independent, unaffiliated with religion, and supportive of gay rights than individuals of the other generations (Pew). This goes to say that as a group, Millennials are generally more open-minded and accepting than the average population. Yet, if you look at some of the largest societal outlets for this generation, such as the NBA or hip hop and rap music, you would see that an unspoken but blatant homophobia exists. With major NBA stars like Rajan Rondo using homophobic slurs, and a mysterious absence of openly gay athletes and
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As seen in Karin Martin’s Becoming a Gendered Body: Practices of Preschools, society has created many institutions fundamental to one’s life in a manner that subtly influences individuals to agree to and become part a hegemonic structure. In the case of preschools, Martin revealed that children’s bodies were disciplined by preschools to produce specific gendered bodies where boys were taught to practice hegemonic male roles and girls to practice hegemonic female roles (497 & 510). Similar to this hegemonic structure in preschools, communities contain hegemonic structures that are based of outdated, Western ideologies about African American sexuality and bodies (Collins 87 & 152). These structures are based off thoughts that use binary thinking about race, gender, and sexuality that reproduce hegemonic ideologies. In these structures, white, male, heterosexual experiences become the “norm” while black, female, and homosexual experiences become “deviant,” and this status quo is kept in balance with the stigmatization of deviant experiences (Collins 96-97). The sexual practices of Black people, and the sexual practices of homosexuals are stigmatized so that white heterosexuality becomes the ideal. These stigmas translate over so that Black people are seen as promiscuous or afflicted with excessive …show more content…
Coates states that “…the black body is the clearest evidence that America is the work of men,” which directly shows how the current perception of the black body is oppressive structure made by society and he adds on to this with his own experience as a straight, Black, male body (Coates 12). Throughout his work, Between the World and Me, Coates focuses on the general fear he has for the destruction of his and his son’s bodies. He discusses how racism and “race” aims to control, manipulate, and destroy the bodies of Black people and how children feared for their bodies, which resulted in a constant episode of violence and ambition to control their own bodies (Coates 14-15). Due to this fight for control over their identity, the “body” and it’s “owner” become vital as the body is the direct manifestation of Black identity in this unjust
As seen in Karin Martin’s Becoming a Gendered Body: Practices of Preschools, society has created many institutions fundamental to one’s life in a manner that subtly influences individuals to agree to and become part a hegemonic structure. In the case of preschools, Martin revealed that children’s bodies were disciplined by preschools to produce specific gendered bodies where boys were taught to practice hegemonic male roles and girls to practice hegemonic female roles (497 & 510). Similar to this hegemonic structure in preschools, communities contain hegemonic structures that are based of outdated, Western ideologies about African American sexuality and bodies (Collins 87 & 152). These structures are based off thoughts that use binary thinking about race, gender, and sexuality that reproduce hegemonic ideologies. In these structures, white, male, heterosexual experiences become the “norm” while black, female, and homosexual experiences become “deviant,” and this status quo is kept in balance with the stigmatization of deviant experiences (Collins 96-97). The sexual practices of Black people, and the sexual practices of homosexuals are stigmatized so that white heterosexuality becomes the ideal. These stigmas translate over so that Black people are seen as promiscuous or afflicted with excessive …show more content…
Coates states that “…the black body is the clearest evidence that America is the work of men,” which directly shows how the current perception of the black body is oppressive structure made by society and he adds on to this with his own experience as a straight, Black, male body (Coates 12). Throughout his work, Between the World and Me, Coates focuses on the general fear he has for the destruction of his and his son’s bodies. He discusses how racism and “race” aims to control, manipulate, and destroy the bodies of Black people and how children feared for their bodies, which resulted in a constant episode of violence and ambition to control their own bodies (Coates 14-15). Due to this fight for control over their identity, the “body” and it’s “owner” become vital as the body is the direct manifestation of Black identity in this unjust