Black Women in Interracial Relationships
In Search of Love and Solace
Google eBook
Description
According to the most recent U.S. census, twice as many black men are involved in interracial relationships as black women. Do black women consciously resist such involvement? What motivates the relatively few women who are in these types of relationships? And how do they navigate the unfamiliar terrain in intimacy?
One of the most popular explanations for black women’s involvement in interracial intimacy is the unavailability of eligible black men. This explanation focuses on the dismal statistics popularly discussed in reports that forecast lonely futures for African American females. Craig-Henderson explores another, more provocative explanation. She argues that some black women may disassociate from larger social stereotypes by consciously and strategically making choices that distance them from what is considered characteristic of the “typical” African American woman.
Scant serious attention has focused upon intimate interracial relationships, perhaps because of a general reluctance to deal with two extremely provocative issues: race and sex. As rates of interracial relationships continue to increase, discussions about interracial intimacy are relevant and timely. Craig-Henderson considers the continuing taboo of interracial relationships involving African Americans, the way this taboo is changing, and the way that contemporary race relations perpetuate longstanding stereotypes about race and sex.
The book includes in-depth, unstructured interviews with a wide range of black women currently involved in interracial intimate relationships. Each individual discusses their relationships with family members, beliefs about the influence of race in America, unique problems associated with interracial intimacy, as well as sexual attraction, racial identity, and children. Of particular interest to specialists in race, gender, family, and sexual issues, this work is also accessible and appealing to general readers.
Editorial Reviews
“Craig-Henderson nicely blends concepts from social psychology and sociology with material from participants from the study. The strength of the book is the infusion of theory throughout. When Craig-Henderson uses her own voice to give interpretation of the women’s experiences or to note unspoken issues or themes from participants, readers are able to have a true sense of the complexity of the issues for Black women.”
—Anita Jones Thomas, Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books
“In this probing and pathbreaking book Craig-Henderson goes where few scholars have gone before, to a deep examination of daring interracial relationships black women have with white men..... While small in number, they are bold pioneers living the halting racial changes of a still white-dominated society. In poignant stories of cross-racial relationships, we feel their uncertainties, fears, pain, as human beings caught between two racial worlds. . . . .The interviews reveal how racism crashes into daily worlds, but also how intimate relationships across the color line can provide personal respite and resistance.”
—Joe R. Feagin, the Ella C. McFadden professor, Texas A & M University