Stereotypes Of African American Women In The Media

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In the current age of Media, from the traditional forms of Print, Television and Broadcast, to the new forms of media such as social networking and the internet, information is constantly being shared. With this 24/7 coverage should come, at the very least, accurate characteristics of all people from all backgrounds being represented by the media. However this is not the case. Instead stereotypes surrounding many people, including African American women, are untrue and harmful.
In order to understand these harmful stereotypes commonly used to portray African American women in media, we must first examine them. These stereotypes were published in the Reality TV White Paper and they include The Hood Rat, The Bitch, The Jezebel, The Desperate Single, The Bible-Thumper, The Angry Black Woman, The Tragic Mulatto, and lastly, The Mammy. Each of these are damaging in their own ways and appear throughout common forms of media portraying African American Women. In Appendix 1 I have included the definitions listed from the White paper, these stereotypes will be referenced throughout this paper.
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These representations of Black women in the media stem from a cultural practice to establish social structure in society. This form of systematic racism is a new, more covert way in which these stereotypes of Black women are being spread. The article “The Angry Black Woman Makes Real Women Angry” (Ad Age, Sept. 27) tackles the unfair stereotypes being used to portray African American women. The ‘’angry black woman” is a taunt and has been used as a shorthand to undercut influential women such as Michelle Obama and Serena Williams by claiming they succeed by being aggressive and