Children without being married: The blame game

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Maliyka A. Muhammad, MA, MPH

It’s been a minute but I don’t have time for real pleasantries. So “Hey folks,” let’s dive right in.

I am in a #hotepnegro filled group and this question was:
“Unmarried fathers: why didn’t you marry your child’s mother?”

The amount of bullshit answers that was received is hilarious. Now mind you, this is a group where the HOTEP Negro men love to dissect BW thoroughly and in such a derogatory way. This is the same group where some of the men lacked adequate testosterone to engage in dialogue without calling me derogatory names. Very few have answered the question. The majority of those that gave an answer, gave the most asinine and unintelligent answers. Somehow they found a way to blame the black woman. I find it interesting that we as black women are the cause for every bit of failure that happens in this society and BM have none. Check out some of these responses:

“You might not get a lot of responses on this one.”

“Because they knew she was a jump-0ff/hoe. Which, equals non-marriage material. I was married almost 12 yrs to my soon to be ex. This would be my answer if I was in their shoes.”

“Maybe it is as a simple as he is not financially stable….”

“I know just as many women who like sex. I bet the majority of females in here pontificating has partook in the pre-marital bliss before saying “I do”. I however, do not condone unprotected sex.”

“I don’t have any kids but I can only guess its because marriage is a commitment, fucking you is not…..and before yall say what about kids, how many single mothers you knw?” To be fair the author of this comment engaged in amazing dialogue and was able to come to an agreement that both sexes just don’t take responsibility.

“Sometimes people don’t marry because it would cut off benefits.”

“Because the majority of baby mommas didn’t want to be married in the first place, but gave off that impression to a good man, just to have a child, and then ran him off! and then she went and tried to marry a deadbeat and put the child around his loser self!”
Those were just some of the comments. There were more that just blew my mind away. It amazes me how many folks live in glass houses yet love to throw stones. Here’s a reality, children involve an egg and a sperm. Having sex is one way that the two can meet. Regardless of whether you are engaging in protected sex or not be it condoms or birth control or even the rhythm method there is always a possibility that conception might occur. Actually the way sperm are programmed, they are fighting for conception. Women release on average one egg whereas, when a man ejaculates that hundreds of making baby driven sperm that are released. It takes two to procreate. The moment you (male) laid down with her you accepted the possibility that you could impregnate her. While your intentions may have been to just get your rocks off, the fact is that you opened the door for a baby and whatever else this woman may want of you. The same goes for women. Stop operating on assumptions. Yes, he want to have sex with you. Yes sex can result in procreation. It doesn’t mean that procreation will equal marriage. Stop allowing the opportunity for good penis to cloud your judgement.

In short…. If you smashing know that 1+1 most definitely equals 2. This doesn’t make me a feminist. That makes me a REAList.

In health,

Maliyka

Breast Feeding and mental illness

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Maliyka A. Muhammad, MA, MPH

While I am not a mother ~~or even sure that I want to be one,~~ I realizes the importance of breastfeeding and the implications that mental illness may have on a mother’s ability to do so. I have seen mental illness up close and personal when it comes to motherhood. For years, I always wondered how my mother dealt with being a mother and postpartum depression. I finally got a chance to find out how she death with mental illness, mothering and breast-feeding. You can read my mother’s story here. After you finish reading my mother’s story make sure to read the other black mother’s stories about how having a mental illness affected their ablity to breastfeed.

In health,

Maliyka

The sexualization of the black woman

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Maliyka A. Muhammad, MA, MPH

I did not intend to post today; rather I was going to wait until tomorrow. But then I read something that made me so agitated that I couldn’t put off writing today and ran to my computer to pound away my angry words.

While surfing Facebook, I came across a post by my Soror, Dr. Katrina Sparks shouting out another Soror, Anowa Adjah. I myself had shared the post when it came out but I had no idea that it was my Soror. Soror Adjah was featured on the Facebook page belonging to www.blackdoctors.org. Keeping it real, Soror Adjah looks amazing. She looks so amazing that it is hard to believe that she is over 200lbs. So what is the problem? The problem is some of the responses that Soror Sparks post garnered.

This is the picture used

And here is the responses to said picture by a man who shall remain nameless,

Although, that response had me seeing red I calmly asked. “Who is she teasing?” His ignorant response was

He went on to say more gibberish but I stopped reading and started getting angrier and angrier. As a black woman, it always amazes me how our bodies continuously sexualized even when we are not trying to be sexy. Here is a beautiful black woman showing the world that you can be 200+ pounds and still have a FANTABULOUS body yet, all this man could conceive is that she was trying to “tease” the masses. Blackdoctors.org, used Soror Adjah to promote their article, While I did not get a chance to ask this man personally, I do wonder whether he would have had the same commentary had she been a “white woman” in any of the countless fitness magazines. I mean let us look at Tara, editor-in-chief of Shape Magazine and her bikini pose.

Is she teasing people too? Or is she showcasing a body that with hard work and perseverance can be had by some woman too? Repeatedly blackwomen are sexualized through no fault of their own. Even when we are at our worse, or what we think is our worse we are being catcalled. What makes these comments cause me to burn even more is that the commenter is a man of color. Is it not enough that we are objectified by “white america?” Do we have to be objectified by “black america” too?

It is this type of behavior that continues to perpetuate “white privilege” and all that comes along with it. We criticize our own race for the same things that “white america” gets away with. I for one am tired of it. I am tired of being sexualized. I am tired of being objectified. I am tired of hearing statements like, “You should know I liked you…don’t you see your lips and breast.” I am tired of it all. Yes, I look sexy. Yes, I appreciate compliments but there is a way it can be done where I do not feel guilty for looking sexy. It is not elaborate. It is not complicated. It is actually quite simple.

Blackdoctors.org had a reason for displaying Soror Adjah the way they did. They were not trying to display how sexy she was ~~she really is~~. Rather they were proving a point…ditch the scales because sometimes it interferes with one’s weight loss goals. You can check out that post here. I salute my Soror for just having twin boys and maintaining a fabulous body. I want that body and I will be doing my damnest to get it. Check out her blog to see how you too can get that body. Here is to being healthy and being able to display that healthy, sexy body without being called a tease.

Words of wisdom: Women who love themselves are threatening; but men who love real women, more so.” ~Naoimi Wolf

In health,

Maliyka

Pictures courtesy of:

http://www.shape.com

www.blackdoctors.org

Dr. Katrina Sparks