A Desire to Be: Exploring the Racialized Emotions of Embodiment of Black Men

• In Event: Desiring Intimacy

Abstract

Black men in the United States occupy a unique place in public discourse and popular culture—they are viewed as a physical threat, subject to masculine, patriarchal bodily ideals, and denied beauty in a nation built on anti-Blackness. Amidst all of these messages, Black men have their own desires for intimacy, and navigating these complex realities has emotional, physical, and mental consequences. In this study, I explore how racial domination, the politics of desirability, and the violence of gender impact Black male embodiment on a physical, emotional, and mental health level. Drawing on nine months of ethnographic observations following four Black men and 37 in-depth, semi-structured interviews of Black men in two cities in Virginia, I show how Black male embodiment is shaped by desire in three distinct ways: a desire to be desired, a desire to be alive, and a desire to be vulnerable. These themes reveal how these forces render Black men to feel confined in and to their bodies. As such, I argue that Black male embodiment must, in part, be understood as a state of yearning. This state of yearning is not simply felt, but moves Black men to make decisions and take actions upon their bodies. Whether it be to shrink their bodies to be deemed more desirable, or erasing their Black, Southern palates to outrun the health complications of systemic racism, Black men desire to be and feel. By uncovering how Black men navigate, respond to, and make sense of these complex dynamics, we gain new insights into Black masculinities and the politics of desirability.

Author

• Aaron D. Kinard, University of Virginia