Rappers Young Thug and Lil Uzi Vert’s unconventional style is a controversial topic in Hip Hop today and has attracted widespread criticism.
Recently, a photo surfaced online of Uzi wearing a $2,400 Faith Connexion women’s T-shirt and, on Thursday night (May 18), Thugger hit the stage in New Jersey rocking a $9,000 Chanel SS17 Led Boy Bag.
This has led many fans to question the artists’ sexuality. A lot of the comments online were homophobic in nature and seemed to be unaccepting of the idea that a straight man can wear female clothing. But the real question is: Does clothing dictate a man’s sexual orientation?
In an Instagram post, user Kira J. also brought to light the fact that Black men get shamed as feminine for wearing the same things and acting the same way as men in other cultures.
“Due to the extreme homophobia in the black community, black people are constantly on the lookout for signs of “feminine” behavior in black men to bash them,” she wrote.
“Being accused of being gay is the go to slander for a black man. His heterosexuality is the test of his manhood in the eyes of society. Which is rather foolish because I definitely know a lot of openly gay men who display more masculinity than some metrosexual men I know. So this idea that masculinity equates to whether you’re gay or not is bullsh*t. In any case, black men aren’t allowed to be creative. Black men aren’t allowed to listen to pop. Black men aren’t allowed to experiment with their hair. Black men aren’t allowed to explore a fashion sense. Black men aren’t allowed to display ANY signs of emotion unless it is anger. Anger is the only publicly accepted norm. If you’re a black man and you get caught crying you will be told you’re showing signs of weakness. You will probably be made fun of and called sensitive. The plight of the brother. Y’all expect all of this from the black man. Y’all condition all of this cold behavior and this unable to penetrate exterior then turn around and complain when you can’t get a black man to show you honest raw affection. Some of y’all will never know what the inside of a black man’s heart looks like because you’ve spent so many years helping him close it off……………”
Odell Beckham Jr. responded to her post saying, “Amen !!! U speaking the facts on this one, and we’ll continue to go backward if we keep the same mindset we have now. I’ll get backlash for even commenting!?? #LetEmLive
Odell has been another man who has been under scrutiny over his sexuality because he is a football player who also happens to love dancing.
These attitudes seem to perpetuate the culture of hypermasculinity among black men, which also contributes to other harmful behaviors such as domestic violence.
Hypermasculinity has been blamed for why black women are more likely to suffer at the hands of domestic violence and least likely to speak up. The statistics from a 2011 report by the Violence Policy Center showed that black women were 2.5 times more likely to be killed by their partner than white women.
Domestic violence does not exclusively affect the Black community and hypermasculinity is a problem among all races. Better education and conversation about domestic violence and gender expression can help combat the negative stigma our Black men face today.
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TSR Staff: @avah_taylor on IG and @avahtaylor on Twitter!
