Respectability politics

Black Respectability Politics

The term ‘politics of respectability’ was first used in the context of black women and their efforts to distance themselves from the stereotypical and disrespected aspects of their communities. Respectability politics continue to influence the behavior of racially marginalized black individuals today who gain status and rights by “adhering to hegemonic standards of what it means to be respectable.” Stereotypes that black individuals practicing respectability politics are most concerned with are laziness, intellectual inferiority, violence, and immorality. While respectability politics have been an important way black citizens of the United States integrated into their free lives post-emancipation, today there are many examples of ways in which black individuals argue that “a deliberate concession to mainstream societal values” does not promote respect, but is instead a defense mechanism of minority communities. Also, some research studies associate part of the high burden of mental health disease for Black Americans on assimilationist behaviors. Researchers Hedwig Lee & Margaret Takako Hicken argue further conversations about respectability politics should always consider the challenge of negotiating everyday social spaces as a Black American and how this impacts mental health.

The origin of “respectability politics”

In her book Righteous Discontent: The Women's Movement in the Black Baptist Church, Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham coined the term ‘the politics of respectability’ to describe social and political changes in the black community during this time. She particularly focused on the revitalization of the Black Baptist Church and how it became a location of self-help for black individuals. This was particularly true for black women, who used the church as a location of resistance against racism and dehumanization. These women built schools and provided social welfare services to enhance their respectability and promote their communities.

This type of mobilizing continued and infiltrated the methodology of teachers in Black communities in the Jim Crow South. Teachers encouraged their students to integrate themselves into white, middle class communities in the hopes of motivating and inspiring students to escape racial injustice. These teachers viewed their profession as a political act, helping young Black students disassociate from negative stereotypes.

Respectability politics and Black Lives Matter

The Black Lives Matter movement is an example of a movement against respectability politics. The movement was motivated by the shooting and death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black man who was killed by a neighborhood watch member. The number of subsequent police killings of unarmed black men motivated a conversation about racial stereotypes and why certain racial stereotypes came to imply black men are “dangerous.” The Black Lives Matter movement argues that people are deserving of rights regardless of “any ostensibly non-respectable behavior.” Instead of acknowledging and shying away from negative black stereotypes, the Black Lives Matter movement works to expand the concept of what it means to be “respectable” and argue that negatively stereotyped behavior should not be met with deadly force.

In line with the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, some celebrities who have typically shied away from conversations about race have begun to engage with the topic. For example, at the beginning of her career, popular television producer and creator Shonda Rhimes aired shows that had colorblind scripts, despite having diverse casts (e.g. Grey's Anatomy). This was consistent with modern respectability politics in what is sometimes argued to be a post-racial era. Today, Rhimes engages in conversations about racial inequality in the media and addresses racially charged topics on her show, pushing against respectability politics and affirming the rights of all people regardless of their 'respectability.'

Rebranding 'ratchet' and anti-respectability politics

One way to challenge respectability politics is reclaiming negative stereotypes associated with minority communities, rather than disassociating from them. This can take place in the form of rebranding words that have been used as insults towards communities.

Rebranding of the derogatory term “ratchet” has been one way black women specifically have pushed back against respectability politics. Black women who identify as ratchet reclaim the negative stereotypes associated with black culture, such as hyper-sexuality, and instead embrace individualism. The strategy of reclaiming negative stereotypes has been acknowledged as having potential for black feminine liberation, but has also been criticized for its limitations contained within the confines of the terms that are being reconceptualized. For example, ratchet is associated with heterosexuality, which confines potential to liberate in the context of being ‘ratchet.’

LGBT Respectability Politics

Respectability politics in the context of the LGBT community is the assimilation of LGBT or otherwise marginalized people based on sexuality into hegemonic and heteronormative society. This can be achieved by downplaying stereotypes or behaviors associated with homosexualtiy (e.g. crossdressing or flamboyant dressing, public displays of same sex affection) or participating in heterosexual institutions. There are many perspectives on whether engaging in respectability politics is the best way for LGBT people to gain acceptance. One perspective is that assimilation is an important and necessary way for the LGBT community to gain rights, and once they are integrated into society they will have more space to challenge mainstream institutions to make them more inclusive. Another perspective is that assimilation only reinforces heteronormative institutions and makes diversity invisible.

Campaigners for LGBT rights have also struggled with the issue of respectability politics. A distinction has been drawn between an attitude that celebrated and affirmed sexual difference in 1960s gay rights campaigns and contemporary approaches that seek to reduce and underplay sexual differences and portray gay people as having similar values to wider heterosexual society, "a pride [...] premised on a nonconscious agreement with dominant views about what is shameful." Writing for Slate, J. Bryan Lowder named Caitlyn Jenner as an advocate of respectability politics in the transgender community. "Since the beginning of the civil rights movement for gays, lesbians, and bisexuals," he writes, "there have been individuals who attempted to gain straight society’s approval by distancing themselves from—or stepping over the bodies of—more 'radical' elements of the community. [...] Respectability politics in the trans community, at least on the public stage, is a newer phenomenon, but it appears that Jenner is positioning herself to lead the way."

Respectability politics and gay marriage

An example of respectability politics used by the LGBT community in the United States was the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage. Much of the mainstream argument to include the LGBT community in a heteronormative institution like marriage was that the inclusion of LGBT people in marriage would not challenge or change traditional marriage values, like monogamy. In order to benefit from marriage as an institution, the LGBT community argues their relationships were much akin and perpetuated the same values as heterosexual communities. The larger goal of same-sex marriage, however, was anything but heteronormative: legally married couples are granted access to a wide host of benefits in fields as diverse as healthcare, education, and taxation that couples in unofficial partnerships or civil unions cannot obtain. The continued denial of these benefits to same-sex couples was nothing less than intensely discriminatory, and in winning the legal battle in favor of same-sex marriage the LGBT community was able to considerably lessen their own inequality.

Women and Respectability Politics

In the United States, there are gendered qualities that define respectable behavior for both men and women. Historically, women’s respectability has been defined by certain attributes that, when subscribed to and followed, lead to certain rights and benefits. Some of the most consistent adjectives used to describe women’s respectability are “neat, simple, quiet, (and) modest.” Women’s respectability politics differ from LGBT and black respectability politics because in order to be respectable women must abide by stereotypes of femininity, while LGBT and black respectability is founded in them not abiding by the stereotypes associated with their own groups. Modern respectability politics for women are also further complicated because of inconsistent societal pressures for women in regards to sexuality. According to Lara Karaian, a professor from Carleton University, women receive inconsistent messages about what is respectable sexual behavior, which leads to sexual victimization and slut shaming (most often for young girls).

Women and fashion

One way in which women can abide by respectability politics is through their clothing. The ways in which women dress are highly indicative of their place and level of respectability within society and a community. Women who dress respectably are more likely to be admitted into social and political institutions. This precedent became most apparent in the Victorian era.

Women and marriage

According to scholars such as Simone de Beauvoir, getting married is an example of respectability politics for women. While being married gives participants access to a variety of benefits like health care and tax benefits, de Beauvoir argues this also comes with the necessity to abide by bourgeois respectability. This type of respectability is specific to women, and requires that women “perform a service in the marriage.” These services include satisfying men’s sexual needs and caring for the household. Today, respectability politics within marriages are challenged but not erased by greater levels of economic and social equality between men and women.