Don’t Erase Us to Include Others: The Cost of Confusing Oppressions

“Beware the man who calls you beast — he is preparing to be your cage or your butcher.” At We Survive Abuse, we speak truth — even when it’s uncomfo

“Beware the man who calls you beast — he is preparing to be your cage or your butcher.”

At We Survive Abuse, we speak truth — even when it’s uncomfortable — because Survivors deserve honesty and clarity. One thing we need to be clear about:

Dehumanization of Black women is an old, well-documented form of anti-Black violence, sexism, gynophobia, and misogyny.

1. It Started as a Means to Justify Black Women as Slave Labor

This harmful stereotype goes all the way back to slavery. Enslaved Black women were:

Forced to do brutal, physical labor
Treated as workhorses, not women
Denied softness, rest, and protection

Meanwhile, white women were viewed as fragile, feminine, and in need of shielding. Black women were painted as “strong” and “built for labor” to justify using our bodies for profit — not because we were actually seen as equal to men, but because we weren’t seen as women at all.

2. It Was Designed to Dehumanize Us

This lie — that Black women are “manly,” “too strong,” or “aggressive” — was never meant to compliment us.
It was meant to:

Justify abuse
Deny us protection
Erase our womanhood

This dehumanization still echoes today in courts, schools, hospitals, and even in everyday conversations.

3. It Still Harms Black Women Today

Because of this false image:

Black women are less likely to be believed when harmed
Seen as “too tough” to need help
Overlooked in spaces meant to protect women

This stereotype costs Black women support, safety, and softness — things every woman deserves.

4. Calling It Out Is Not Transphobia

Naming this very specific, historical harm is not about attacking anyone’s identity.

Transphobia is about rejecting or dehumanizing trans people.

But Black women speaking up about our own erasure is about dignity, survival, and truth. We are defending our place as women — not denying anyone else theirs.

5. Black Women Deserve Language to Name Our Oppression

When people confuse this issue or label it transphobic, it:

Silences Black women
Erases the history of slavery and racialized misogyny
Prevents us from fully naming and healing from harm

Every group deserves words to describe what they go through.
Black women are no different.

We need — and deserve — the language to describe:

How we’ve been dehumanized
How our womanhood has been demeaned and minimized
How we’ve been forced to carry pain in silence

Nothing New

The request for Black women to do more for others is not new. The insults and slurs that come when we say “no” … not new. Us moving forward anyhow….not new.

Denying us that language only continues the cycle of erasure.
Naming our truth is not an attack — it’s a step toward liberation.

Dehumanization is never innocent. It’s a tool of control, violence, and silencing. It always shows up before deeper harm.
We deserve to be heard when we speak.
We deserve our full humanity.

Calling out the masculinization of Black women is not hate —
It’s healing.