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Chapter 2 - The Role of the Strong Black Woman Schema in Black Love and Relationships

from Part I - Race, Racism, and Identity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2023

By
Heather C. Lofton  and
Adia Gooden
Edited by
Yamonte Cooper  and
Erica Holmes
Yamonte Cooper
Affiliation:
El Camino College, Torrance, California
Erica Holmes
Affiliation:
Antioch University, Los Angeles
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Summary

The Strong Black Woman (SBW) schema exemplifies how many Black women are socialized to experience themselves in relationship to the world. The image of a strong Black woman is embodied by unyielding strength and unlimited capacity when navigating daily roles, interpersonal interactions, and life tasks. Examples include “Black women don’t cry in public” and “Black women have no choice but to be resilient.” Specifically, personifying the SBW schema can make it difficult for Black women to seek and engage in healthy romantic interpersonal relationships. This chapter reviews the history and development of the SBW schema and how this schema manifests in the lived experiences of Black women in romantic relationships. Understanding this context provides better comprehension of the challenges Black women may face when dating and developing healthy intimate partner attachments and can also provide more advantageous clinical insight when working with Black women clients in therapy.

Keywords

Strong Black Women Schemasocializationromantic relationshipsBlack female identity
Type
Chapter
Information
Black Couples Therapy
Clinical Theory and Practice
 , pp. 38 - 57
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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