Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment

Chapter 7 addresses the entwined issues of erotic love and power, a topic with a long history in writing, music, and academia. Much of the commentary focuses on the cultural tradition of “love and trouble,” that is, the idea that the good and bad coexist in Black women’s relationships with Black men. Collins presents the love and trouble tradition through the lens of heterosexist and gender ideologies, specifically, the ideal of the traditional family. Black men are expected to protect and provide for Black women, while Black women are expected to subjugate their needs to those of Black men. Black women intellectuals have pushed back against heterosexism by rejecting stereotypical definitions of masculinity and femininity and by addressing the negative effects of sexism in Black communities, notably, the silence around sexual harassment and domestic violence. Black novelists and singers have also critiqued heterosexism by addressing gender equality and self-respect in their work. Many Black men responded to these efforts antagonistically, interpreting women’s actions as a direct attack on their manhood. According to Collins, this antagonism reflects prevailing Black sexual politics. Racialized heterosexism objectifies Black women and men by reducing the former to controlling images and the latter to their financial worth.