What Is Black Male Studies?: An Introduction to the Concepts Motivating This Theory of Racialized Maleness and Anti‐Black Misandry

ABSTRACT Black Male Studies has emerged as a new field of study that aims to correct contemporary theories of Black men and boys and provide a new conceptual grounding for future research into the sexual vulnerability of racialized male populations within Western patriarchal societies. This article introduces key concepts of Black Male Studies, as well as the literature base surrounding anti‐Black misandry, phallicism, and the role masculinization has in dehumanization and racialization more broadly. This article also analyzes foundational disagreements between Black Male Studies, Black masculinity theory, and Black feminist gender theory. The author concludes that Black Male Studies not only offers empirically testable and verifiable theories concerning Black men and boys, and racialized male populations more broadly, but can better explain historical processes and sociological findings concerning Black males than existent literature.