Media exclusion of black women erodes black girls’ self-esteem

Evidence

Black mothers and fathers constantly complain that television lowers the self-confidence and self-esteem of black girls. Even on television commercials the black female child is rarely visible—largely because sexist-racist Americans tend to see the black male as the representative of the black race. So commercials and advertisements in magazines may portray a white female and male but feel that it is enough to have a black male to represent black people. The same logic occurs in regular television programs. On many shows there are single black male figures or single black female figures but rarely are a black woman and man together. In some instances as is often the case on Saturday Night Live, black men dress in female clothing and portray black women, usually mocking and ridiculing them. Whites who control media exclude black women so as to emphasize their undesirability either as friends or sexual partners. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 203

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Negative stereotypes block Black women from developing positive self-concepts — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 246; Negative images of black women persisted into the 20th century — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 197

Related

• Negative stereotypes block Black women from developing positive self-concepts (similarity 0.87)
• Negative images of black women persisted into the 20th century (similarity 0.84)
• Black women’s experiences were ignored and ridiculed as unworthy of study (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Negative stereotypes block Black women from developing positive self-concepts #corroborates (0.70) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 246
• Negative images of black women persisted into the 20th century #expands (0.55) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 197