Letters to the Editor
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A matriarchal society
What the author does not discuss in his article is the fact that black American society is matriarchal. While black men have their heroes, namely athletes, the occasional politician or community leader, and actors/comedians, we are all too often raised by our mothers and grandmothers. I think this rash of men performing as women has to do with what we recognize as the gender of power and dominance within our lives. While I continually cringe (and occasionally laugh) at these representations, I recognize that it comes from the dynamics of fatherless-ness, and is the manifestation of growing up within a familial structure where males are either absent or a negligible presence. That makes these caricatures more telling than funny, and ultimately a depressing sympton of the times.