Romantic racism is a form of

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonis ...

in which members of a dominant group project their fantasies onto members of

oppressed Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment or exercise of power, often under the guise of governmental authority or cultural opprobrium. Oppression may be overt or covert, depending on how it is practiced. Oppression refers to discrimination w ...

groups. Feminist scholars have accused Norman Mailer,Breines, Wini (1992). ''Young, White, and Miserable: Growing up Female in the Fifties.'' Chicago: University of Chicago PressWallace, Michele (

979 Year 979 ( CMLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * March 24 – Second Battle of Pankaleia: An Ibero-Byzantine expeditionary ...

990) Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman. London: Verso Jack Kerouac, and other Beatnik authors of the 1950s of romantic racism. They maintain that the dominant mainstream culture of the

1950s in the United States Year 195 ( CXCV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scrapula and Clemens (or, less frequently, year 948 '' Ab urbe con ...

stressed conformity and held up middle-class suburban families as the cultural ideal, and that it was indifferent to art and literature, upheld

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

, and despised or ignored black achievements, such as

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

. Those, like the novelist Norman Mailer, who felt limited by or alienated from mainstream culture, sought out influences from other cultures as a form of rebellion. Mailer, a great fan of jazz music, created his concept of what it meant to be " hip", or a member of the white urban

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...

, largely on his perception of the culture of urban

African-Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslav ...

(with whom the expression "hip", meaning "in the know", originated) and articulated his vision in his essay "

The White Negro ''The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster,'' a 9,000-word essay by Norman Mailer, connects the "psychic havoc" wrought by the Holocaust and atomic bomb to the aftermath of slavery in America in the figuration of the Hipster, or t ...

". Mailer, who considered himself an opponent of Victorian

sexual repression Sexual repression is a state in which a person is prevented from expressing their own sexuality. Sexual repression is often linked with feelings of guilt or shame being associated with sexual impulses. Defining characteristics and practices ass ...

and regimentation, idealized what he saw as the sexual and other freedoms of minority and other countercultural groups, overlooking the fact that in these groups sexual exploitation of women sometimes occurred. Critics consider Mailer's depictions of what he imagines African-American life to be like as an instance of what they call "romantic racism", contending that he implies that life in urban

ghettoes A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

—depicted as filled with sex, drugs, and violence—is somehow enriched, rather than hurt, by poverty and

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

. Mailer's essay has also been criticized for spreading the stereotype of African-American men as

hypermasculine Hypermasculinity is a psychological term for the exaggeration of male stereotypical behavior, such as an emphasis on physical strength, aggression, and sexuality. This term has been used ever since the research conducted by Donald L. Mosher and Ma ...

and

hypersexual Hypersexuality is extremely frequent or suddenly increased libido. It is controversial whether it should be included as a clinical diagnosis used by mental healthcare professionals. Nymphomania and satyriasis were terms previously used for the c ...

References

{{Racism topics Definition of racism controversy

See also

References