Taraji P. Henson Wants Us To Be Cautious With How We Push The “Strong Black Woman” Persona, And Here’s Why
Keyaira Kelly
February 7, 2019
During the press junket for Taraji P Henson’s forthcoming film “What Men Want,” the Oscar winning actress sat down with MN editor Keyaira Kelly to discuss some major keys women need to know about men. One of the pieces of advice the 47-year-old had for women is to let go of the burden of the “strong Black woman” narrative.
“For so long you want to be the strong Black woman, and I started realizing when we preach that men get scared.:disdain We have to be careful throwing that term around, because then, we, it makes us sound like we’re super human. Like nothing affects us. Like we don’t have feelings… I have strayed away from saying that word too much.”
“What word do you use instead?” Keyaira asks.
“You want spiritual strength. You want inner strength so that you can fight another day. But you don’t want to be so strong that you’ve taken on the male role. Because then why do you need a man. I think we need to handle that word with care.” :disdain
Continuing, “I think we should stop trying to be so strong all the time.”
In “What Men Want,” which hits theaters today, Taraji plays the character of a woman named Ali who has to give up her fight and strength, in order to embrace the new power of vulnerability. The hilarious comedy stars Taraji alongside Tracy Morgan and Erykah Badu.
This is the first comedic role for Henson, whose performance was described by director Adam Shankman as “fearless.”
“She does not care about looking foolish. She is physical. She’s just straight up courage. She’ll do anything, but she brings depth to it all. That’s what’s crazy—she brings depth to all of it,” he told Variety.
We'd call someone like that a fakkit.
