Keep It Classy Never Trashy!

As stated above, African-American women have been subjected to measure themselves against white women. White women are viewed, in this society and since the beginning of the concept of race, as the epitome of beauty. Logically, African-American women attempt to emulate the white standard. This creates an inferiority complex, because the epitome of beauty is white woman, than any other race can be deemed as inferior; this deteriorates African-American women’s self-worth. To remedy worthlessness, many body modification techniques have been made to fully mimic white women in terms of beauty. This emulation still is being done and it is continuous, because of the psychological ‘white fantasization .

“Oh my gosh! you’re so pretty for a black girl.” “You’re black so I know you can twerk.” In society these phrases may be considered as compliments for black women even though they are not. However, people only know what the media portrays black women to be. It emphasizes them as ghetto, loud, angry, and ignorant. Black women are more than the negative stigma that the media portrays. In our society, the media reinforces the plague of African American women by stereotypes and falsities originating from slavery. For young African American women, the majority of media portrayal, especially in music and film, is of a bulumpcious, sexually hyperactive golddigger. This negative image of a black women is damaging to the black community by implying

What does it mean to you to be a black girl? If you aren’t one, what do you see when you visualize a black girl? If your imagination limits you to just an afro-centric featured, loud and slang-loving, uneducated woman, then this piece is addressed to you. The persistence of the stereotypes concerning average black girls have chained us all to the earlier listed attributes. One side effect of this dangerous connection is the wide opening for a new form of discrimination it creates. Whether it is depicted through slave owners allocating the preferable duties to lighter-skinned black woman, or in modern times where a dislike in rap music categorizes you as not really black, segregation within black communities occur. Tracing all the way back to elementary school, my education on the subject of racial segregation has been constricted to just the injustices routed by dissimilarities between racial groups. What failed to be discussed was the intragroup discrimination occurring in the black society from both outside observers and inside members. Unfortunately, our differences in the level of education, in physical appearance, and in our social factors such as our behaviour, personality or what we believe in have been pitted against each other to deny the variety of unique identities that we as black individuals carry.

I am deeply interested in why Black women are received and portrayed as both “angry” and “strong” Black Women. It may seem inexplicable that a respected black woman educator would stamp her foot, jab her finger in someone’s face and scream while trying to make a point on national television, thereby reconfirming the notation that black women are irrationally angry. When confronted about race and gender, as a black woman I stand in a crooked room. I have to figure out which way is up. Bombarded with warping images of humanity, I sometimes tilt and bend to fit the distortion.

The stereotypical misrepresentations of African-American women and men in popular culture have influenced societal views of Blacks for centuries. The typical stereotypes about Black women range from the smiling, a sexual and often obese Mammy to the promiscuous Jezebel who lures men with her sexual charms. However, the loud, smart mouthed, neck-rolling Black welfare mother is the popular image on reality television. These images portrayed in media and popular culture create powerful ideology about race and gender, which affects daily experiences of Black women in America. With few healthy relationships portrayed in the media, Black women are left to make decisions based on the options

Black women have come a long way from just being the typical housewife and mother. They have excelled over the years. Now you have female entrepreneurs, astronauts, doctors, professors, etc. Back then, females were not even allowed to work. To try to degrade someone for their gender is discrimination at its best. Because of stereotypes and old myths, Black Women were viewed as lazy, angry, intimidating, unintelligent, etc. It was said that Black Women were only good for making babies and being on welfare.

Across the nation, millions of Americans of all races turn on the television or open a newspaper and are bombarded with images of well dressed, articulate, attractive black people advertising different products and representing respected companies. The population of black professionals in all arenas of work has risen to the point where seeing a black physician, attorney, or a college professor are becoming more a common sight. More and more black people are holding positions of respect and authority throughout America today, such as Barack Obama, Colin Powell, Condelezza Rice and many other prominent black executives. As a result of their apparent success, these black people are seen as role models for many Americans, despite their race.

From the beginning of cinema, the media has shown black women as nothing more than objects, dehumanizing them all together. This representation has held a long-lasting impact on both young and old African American women everywhere. The theme of my paper is about the media and how it has a negative impact on black women. The topics that I will be covering includes the following: need to prove the media wrong and working two times as hard as everyone else; social Media, TV and Movies and the roles they play; self-hatred and anger due to the comparisons to other ethnicities and that we are low-class, unattractive, uncivilized, uneducated and have no opportunities to make something of themselves; embracing what Black/ African Studies teaches; influential people and positive acknowledgments; how black women are affected and discouraged due to lack of self-love and knowledge. These impacts can come from another ethnicity and even from the black women themselves because of their lack of knowledge of where they come from, their history and overall grandness. Knowing these facts alone and embracing all that Black Studies teaches can reverse the damage that has been done to black women everywhere from ages one to one hundred. They begin to believe what they see or what they see on about themselves when it is drilled into their heads that all of what is seen in the media is true. Due to lack of knowledge of

In “The Power of Self-Definition,” Patricia Hill Collins stresses that self-reliance, self-knowledge, and self-valuation are necessary to empower Black women to create their own self-definitions.

The systemic ramifications of a society whereby sports and sex appeal are the only industries black men and women can obtain success is that we are as people are seen as trivial. A sense of entertainment, as a joke. Why can’t we become Lawyers, Doctors, and Pharmacist? It is because we allow the system weaken us. It is because we try to achieve in areas that does not require the effort. Specializing in something that we only do for a temporary amount of time. We loss in the because our bodies deteriorate while the minds of the men that suppress us only grow stronger.

Black women's beauty cannot be denied. The sway of her hips, her voluptuous frame, thick full lips, and naturally curly kinks that grows from her head like stems on a tree. But often times her beauty becomes a mirror of exploit. The shame of slavery of being abused, used, raped, degraded, and exploited is tattooed on her subconscious mind and in essence she becomes what she was taught to be. In the same regards, black men is no stranger to such exploit by society, they are seen as masculine, strong, and sex objects. These stereotypes is depicted in Hip hop culture. Black men take pride in being masculine and having larger genitals than his counterparts, and is not afraid to say "suck my d***". All too often black bodies have become nothing

I would argue that most of the images in which society has provided the African American community with are negative images of “African American” women. For example, on VH1 there are shows like Basketball Wives, and Love and Hip Hop in which from the surface appears to be a group of friends that like to hang out, shop and party however, as you watch the show the ladies are depicted as hypersexual, sex objects, violent, hostile, aggressive and use derogatory terms when referring to each other. This is a problem due to the fact African American adolescents do not have enough positive images in which they can utilize in assisting them in developing a positive self-image, self-esteem or just a general idea of self-worth. With there being a lack

In history, women have always struggled to gain equality, respect, and the same rights as men. Women had had to endure years of sexism and struggle to get to where we are today. The struggle was even more difficult for women of color because not only were they dealing with issues of sexism, but also racism. Many movements have helped black women during the past centuries to overcome sexism, racism, and adversities that were set against them. History tells us that movements such as the Feminist Movement helped empower all women, but this fact is not totally true. In this paper, I will discuss feminism, the movements, and its "minimal" affects on black women.

America has seen many civil rights movements. Yet, Americans cannot say that every race has gotten the civil rights many races have fought for. African American’s, in particular, have had a very hard time in America. On average a black job seeker must put in 15 applications to get a call back while whites only have to put in 10. This alone shows that America has not moved as far forward in civil and racial rights as some would like to think. To top that, African AMerican women are stereotyped and Sexualized. Due to the color of their skin, they are forced into a society who sees them for nothing more than sex and a “nice body”. Black women have to fight so much harder to live happily in American society due to the stereotypes that hang over their heads everyday. Not only are the stereotyped and sexualized, the tend to be forced into more promiscuous jobs, such as stripping or prostitution. Roughly 75 percent of the prostitution population, in Chicago alone, are black females. While 55 percent are young children, primarily young girls. Black are thrown into gangs and sex crimes due to the way they were shown how to live. They were not integrated into society as they should have been. Thus, showing that America has not come very far in Civil and racial rights.

As African-American women address social issues that are important to their life experiences, such as class and race, instead to acknowledge “common oppression” of gender inequality, they are often criticized by “white bourgeois feminists” (hooks, 2000). Their ability to gain any form of equality within society is tarnished by such groups as they develop a “fear of encountering racism” from simply joining this movement (hooks, 2000). As white men, black men, and white women oppress them, their issues are often ignored due to reoccurring stereotypes and myths that claim black women are strong, independent, and “superhuman” (hooks, 2000). It becomes extremely difficult to seek liberation and equity within a “racist, sexist, and classist” society, as their gender and race causes them to be at the “bottom of the occupational ladder” and “social status” (hooks, 2000, pg. 16). As black women are perceived to demonstrate strength and dynamic qualities as white women perpetrate the image of being