To Protect and Serve

When I first began reading "To Protect and Serve" by Elaine Richardson I was only thinking of it as a assignment I needed to read for class, but by the time I finished the first page I was really interested and it became a reading that I wanted to read. The first page began telling about how black women and women in general are put into stereotypical categories by society because of past slavery experiences and the things that women are driven to do in order to "invent themselves against the distorted images of "money hungry heartless bitch," "Jezebel," and good ole "Mammy" among others many of which were created during slavery" (2).
                                                                                                
The first paragraph made me think about the double standard concept from ADW. The double standard is he train of thought that many people in today's society follow consisting of the belief  that a man can be ambitious or goal oriented of determined to make a better life for himself and his family, but if a woman has the same mindset she is "going against the grain" and is somehow trying to fill a man's shoes as if to say that a man is the only person that is supposed to embody those type of qualities. But at the same time, if a woman doesn't hold any of those qualities, and she only wants to be a housewife and her only job is staying at home and taking care of the house and the kids, she is then categorized as lazy or a "goldigger," or someone who doesn't want much out of life. This double standard poses as a lose-lose situation for women no matter what route they choose to take.

The article went on to talk about how "African American females' struggle included devising ways to protect and advance themselves and their families--to assert their humanity--against stereotypes and controlling images" (5). Richardson spoke on how African American females' are seen as nurturers and protectors of life in the social cultural construction of African American literacy. Although I do consider women to be nurturers, I disagree with the belief that they are also supposed to be protectors of life. I believe that it is the man's responsibility to be the protector. The article explains that "slavery hindered the Black man's ability to control his role" (4). I think that this explanation also explains why women are now viewed as the protectors. They feel like it is now their responsibility to take on the role of the woman and the man because men have lost a sense of the roles and duties that they are responsible for in life.