Female Disempowerment

From the early 20th century of African American culture and background, African American
women experienced the abuse and dehumanization that has been perpetuated through history.
Through this abuse and dehumanizing behavior men inflicted on black women, a fear of men
surfaced . Alice Walker’s story, The Color Purple, shows African American women suffering from
the effects of disempowerment that men carried out. When women did not do what a man
wanted, they were beaten: “ Dear God, He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in
church… I don't even look at mens. That's the truth. I look at women, tho, cause I’m not scared
of them” (Walker 5). The women within the story are portrayed as objects and less human than
men. Oftentimes, women fear the consequences of what may happen if they do not do as the
man in power says. The physical abuse of women derives from the ideas that men are more
dominant and a woman should not show any superiority. The abuse that African American
women receive can bring to consideration a fear of men, or androphobia. Women become
submissive to men when they fear what might happen if they are not. This is women
disempowerment.

Masculine Norms/Behavior

Men have been placed within a category in society that they have to act upon the expectations
of societal norms of what it means to be a “man”. The societal expectations on masculinity
appears often within the novel, The Color Purple. Alice Walker introduces the ideas society built
around masculinity that “to be a man”, men are expected to be strong and dominant towards
women: “You ever hit her? Mr. __ ast… Naw suh, he say low, embarrass. Well how you spect to
make her mind?” (Walker 35). It can be seen how the idea to “act as man” is passed down
from a father to a son, making it a normality. The idea of being a “man” in the time where the
story takes place is shaped around the idea of showing a woman who is “boss”, causing a male
to feel weaker than he is when he does not execute this expectation. The societal expectation of
a man during the time was less about someone who worked hard, and rather was more about
how badly can a man treat a woman in order to prove that he is masculine. What is not normal,
or as viewed as not right, becomes normal when it is accepted into societal norms. By a man
showing a woman that he is in power, he is contributing to societal expectations.