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As a twenty-something Black woman, there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t wonder if I’m ever going to find my husband. My girlfriends and I talk about it all the time. We know who our bridesmaids are going to be. We dream about the type of dresses we’ll wear. We even fantasize about having our children around the same time so they can grow up together and become best friends like us.
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It’s apparently normal for women to think about marriage, though. Many psychologists say we’re groomed for marriage as little girls. We pretend our Barbies and Kens are married. We hold and cradle our baby dolls as if they’re our own flesh and blood. We play with kitchen sets and cook pretend dinners for our imaginary families.
Are boys thinking about marriage, too?
Between 2000 and 2014, U.S. marriage rates have declined significantly from 8.2 percent to 6.9 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For Black relationships, the numbers are even more devastating. Among women ages 35-44, Black women are most likely to never have been married at all.
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BlackDoctor.org hosted its first relationship panel where we asked Black men about the status of relationships and marriages in the Black community. We wondered if marriage is on the modern Black man’s radar at all. The men on our panel varied in age from twenties to fifties.
As journalists, our job is to shed light on the problems plaguing our community. If Black people are the least likely to get married, is there a disconnect between our Black men and women? If so, why? What are Black men looking for in Black women?
Tune in for part one of our three-part series. And be sure to join the conversation afterwards on our social media pages, using the hashtag #BDOConfessions.
We would love to hear your thoughts and questions!
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