Part 2, What It Means to Be Black: DL, Black, and Black Gay Male Images in Media—A Television Criticism

Abstract

Abstract This paper builds on the discourse in some of my previous research surrounding destabilizing whiteness—which is both a distinctiveness and a configuration together with who a white person is and the system of power that benefits white people and disadvantages Black people. In the intersection of Black male emasculation and sexuality, I focus on the sustained interaction of these two concepts with contemporary racial identity politics, masculinity, and media representation. I also reflect on categorization and institutionalization of Black men in visual culture. I discuss how power plays of hegemonic U.S. culture are structured and regulated by means of social dynamics. I ultimately provide insights into these things by investigating them and looking closely at their social constructs. I also focus on the social critique of power and marginality in terms of U.S. Black male culture. This manuscript is Part 2 in a series of two articles to show that a primary reason as to why DL and Black gay men and Black people are hated and feared is due to the ways in which we are negatively presented in television and media. These two manuscripts are companion pieces which feed off and rhythmically flow into each other to show a cohesive union. This manuscript sets the background out of concern and fear for the lives of DL, Black, and Black gay men in America in the 21st century.