Jezebel Stereotype

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Being a woman is hard work. We many have pressures on us from society to marry, bear children, be an upstanding citizen, and maintain some sort of career, all the while trying to understand our bodies and its changes; being a woman of color, or black woman, it’s even harder. Not only do we have to deal with everything a White woman does, and we also have the added pressure of defying stigmas and stereotypes within our own group of people. What stigma’s you ask? How about not being perceived as ignorant, uneducated, and or “ghetto”. 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, asexual and often-obese Mammy to the promiscuous and the loud, smart mouthed, neck-rolling Black welfare mother is the popular image on reality television. These images portrayed in media and popular culture creates powerful ideology about race and gender, which affects every day experiences of Black women in America. The healthy relationships portrayed in the media are few and far between, which leaves Black women to make choices based on the options they have and perceive. For that reason, it is not complicated to understand why Black women are the least likely to marry in the environment of the over-sexed woman and a pimp. The portrayal of Black women as lascivious by nature is an enduring stereotype. To understand more fully the media’s role in shaping the culture of African-American experience, one must first examine the stereotypes projected by TV stations like, BET, MTV, and VH1. The songs and music videos created by such hip-hop artists as 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg have built ... ... middle of paper ... ... black woman and blacks as a whole, which is baffling to know he got great support from black voters. This poster says that this woman speaks broken English or Ebonics and with her appearing to be pregnant and the words “I went all de way wif L.B.J.” suggests a sexual undertone, that went ignored during mid 60’s and screams loudly to the ignorance of some blacks at that time, that this black woman has done something sexual with the person who wanted to be president. Works Cited New American Standard Bible New American Standard Bible Deborah White, Ar’n”t I a Woman? Female Slaves In The Plantation South pp. 29 References • Ferris State University, Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/jezebel/ • Rape of the negro girl, 1632, Christiaen van Couwenbergh, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg

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