ABSTRACT
Reproductive values resulting in out-of-wedlock pregnancies and high rates of sexually transmitted infections among black males are a major social problem. Yet, we have limited conceptual understanding of the imitation of these ways of life. Many studies completely or partially address black male sexual attitudes and behaviors and they offer extensive common sense about premarital sex and teenage pregnancies. The various approaches are not orderly theorization and this has led to differing, controversial viewpoints about African American culture and their “families.” The purpose for this chapter is to present research that examines attitudes and behaviors among African American males. The interest is in knowledge about the relationship between these facts and the new patriarchy. The ways that black males learn their masculinity is a matter of culture. In this view, normal culture is part of social conditions and new ways of doing culture become reality; the new ways of behaving spread among the population through learning-new ways of behaving often become institutions. The chapter fi rst considers the viewpoint that black males are hypersexual by comparing their sexual behaviors to the dominant gendered-racial social aggregates. Next, the chapter asks if this story about black male hypersexuality pays off in the labor market. Finally, the chapter revisits two important theories-James B. Stewart and Joseph W. Scott’s and Elijah Anderson’s viewpoints-about black male sexuality; both theories take account of the larger social forces. The chapter compares and contrasts what is different about the new patriarchy relational perspective for explaining contemporary black male sexual stratifi cation.
