Critical Review of “Is Marriage for White People” by Ralph Richard Banks

. 09/22/2011 . 9 Comments

And then finally, he talks about the educational gaps, which contribute, to the man shortage experienced by black women. There are an estimated 1.4 million black women in college, while only 900,000 black men. At historically black colleges, fewer then 1/3 of the black men graduate within 6 years. The numbers are worse in postgraduate schools. While 125,000 black women were enrolled in graduate school in 2008, only 58,000 brothas were. This has had a profound affect in a world where well paying jobs are now bent towards technology and other fields that require higher education. The disparity in wages, education and experiences causes a major gap in the gender’s ability to find common ground. And because of this stark reality, black women are finding themselves in a position that is leading to what troubles me to the most.

Man sharing.

And as the author explains, this is not just about the jealousy and drama that sharing a man creates. This is where things get dangerous for black women, and the area that we pay the highest cost:

Successful black men, realizing the advantage they are placed in, due to the chronic underachievement of their brothas, and the desperation of middle class, college educated women, to couple with men at or above their level, are holding off on commitment, opting instead to keep multiple women in rotation. Feeling entitled to ‘the best’ because of the rarity of their positioning within the community, these black men are delaying marriage and commitment, and dictating the terms of relationships that many women are agreeing to, out of fear and loneliness. Women are knowingly sharing men, hoping to end up the chosen one, with the rock and the last name, when its all said and done. Determined to be the last woman standing, black women are exposing themselves to men who at any given time, may have up to 6 or more women in rotation, including sexually. Black men, bolstered by their newfound position as Kings of the Jungle, require more, while offering less, demanding physical perfection, or, as the author puts it…

“For many black men, the surfeit of black women makes it enticing to remain single, and likely causes black men’s STANDARDS for a wife to rise. Even if a man decides he wants to marry, the variety of women he has enjoyed may nurture and UNREALISTIC standard. I know men who expect in a wife, a combination of the best of all the women they have dated. Although a natural consequence of the relationship market, such a sense of ENTITLEMENT makes a relationship with any woman difficult. There is a popular discourse about whether black women are too picky, but what from I have seen, it is black men, particularly sought after and successful, who are the pickiest of all”. He goes on to say…” Some of the most desirable (black) men, emboldened by their scarcity and the resulting plethora of options, negotiate the relationship deals they think work to their advantage: sex and female companionship WITHOUT commitment.”

And as a result, black women respond with the following….

“When a committed partnership is not on the horizon, and the prospect of a long term payoff is bleak, the sensible thing to do is to focus on the short term, take ones benefits from the relationship, NOW, not wait for them in the future.”

A future that may never come. This leads to black women attempting to in essence, milk the situation for all that its worth, right up front. “You might as well get paid” one interviewee says in the book. “He better take you to the nicest places, buy you things because you know you’re gonna have to put up with the usual mess”.


And then we get labeled a ‘gold digger’. But this is the first time anyone has ever suggested WHY black women ‘go digging for gold’. Mr. Banks, adds breadth and depth to what is usually brushed off as selfishness and greed. No one ever stopped to wonder, if perhaps black women are settling for trinkets, because what we really want…commitment, love, respect and EXCLUSIVITY, is not even on the table!

But this approach backfires, as it creates suspicion and resentment in black men, who go out of their way to guard their pockets and their hearts. According to the author, “bitterness, distrust and resentment – these are the consequences of man sharing”.

All of this leads to a multitude of ripple affects that black women are dealing with every day, even if we are unaware of their sources. Where white men are under the impression that marriage leads to more available and consistent sex, for black men the opposite is often true. The over abundance of black women kept in rotation, leads black men to find marriage to be less of a benefit, sexually. Because as the author puts it, ‘the numbers tip so heavily in their favor’, the supposed sexual benefits of marriage don’t carry over for black men. In essence, “…while black women don’t marry because they have too few options, some black men don’t marry because the have too many’.

Black women accept this for one simple reason. “The more favorable options outside the relationship give the man more power with in it. The easier it is for him to find the type of relationship he wants elsewhere, the less willing he is to compromise in this one”.

He goes on to say…”Saddled with the knowledge that other women with less demanding standards might quickly swoop up on her partner on the market, she feels the pressure to accept a deal that does not conform to her expectations”. In the end, “Black men tend to use their disproportionate power to establish relationships that are intimate, but not committed, that entail sex but not marriage, and that offer benefits without responsibilities”.

And the one that really got me was…

“The failure of so many black men, increases the value of successful black men- and that power seems to be INTOXICATING: a currency that’s often used to avoid commitment rather then attract a wife.”

His use of the word INTOXICATING, struck a nerve in me. With that sentence, I truly began to realize what I, as a black woman, am up against. This shit is like a drug for them. And we all know drug addicts rarely realize they are addicted, and only seek help when they have NO OTHER OPTIONS. I don’t see that situation happening here, not any time soon.

But out of all of this, the scariest, and most jolting thing that shocked my ass back into coherence, were the following statistics. THIS is the price black women are ultimately paying, for the man sharing, disparity in numbers, marrying out, high incarceration rates, and lack of education of black men. Get ready. The list is quite troubling:

‘Black women are more likely then any other group of people to be infected with herpes according to the 2010 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention”.

“Most alarmingly, almost half of all black women have herpes”.

” The increased incidence of herpes among black women is NOT a result of promiscuity among women, or unsafe sexual practices- neither of these are the primary culprit. The available evidence indicates that African Americans are no less likely then other groups to use condoms. Nor can the high rate of herpes infection among black women be attributed to an exposure to a greater number of sexual partners. Even among black women with fewer then FOUR lifetime partners, infection rates are more then three times higher amongst AA then whites. Black women with between 2 and 4 partners are more likely t be infected with herpes then white women who have had more then TEN partners’.

“Concurrent relationships contribute to the high rate of herpes infection among black women. Black women are more likely to be involved in multi-partner relationships then white women, and these multi-partner relationships dramatically increase the risk of contracting sexual transmitted diseases. In these relationships BLACK MEN are the promiscuous ones, but black women BEAR MORE OF THE COSTS.”

“Black men are also significantly more likely to have a high number of lifetime sexual partners then men of other races”.

“Black women are nearly 15 times as likely as white women to be newly infected with HIV”.

“They also discovered that for blacks- but not for whites- multiple partner relationships were the most common among BETTER educated men”.

“Black men are more reluctant to marry than black women, white men or white women.”

“Black men with a live in partner were more then five times as likely as their white counterparts, to also be involved in a long term relationship with another woman.”

“Black married men are substantially more likely than other groups of men (or women) to engage in extra marital relationships.”

“…But some evidence suggests, the infertility rate among black women has been increasing, and that it may now exceed the infertility rate of white women. One potential contributor is the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases, to which man sharing relationships expose women.”

 

(continued on page 4 below)

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Category: Book Reviews, Society and Culture


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