African-American Women Series Reflection

African American females have been portrayed in the media many of different ways. Half of the time it’s positive and other times it’s not so positive. Yes, through my series of blogs focusing on black females in the media and the message it relays to young black girls are mostly negative; they are important. The main reason I decided to focus on this common theme was because what I see and hear in my society and on television is showing young black girls that they are flawed.

            As a young girl, I grew up thinking that black females had “nappy” and “ugly” hair. Why was my hair ugly? Why was my hair ever considered “bad”? I wanted to be a white or Hispanic so bad. They had long, pretty, flow-y hair that I died for, and they were always considered the more beautiful. People were more attracted to the Hispanic and white females because of this.

            Not only were considered less pretty, but we were also considered loud and ghetto. I also wanted to be of a different race because of this. Why would anyone young black female want to be considered loud and ghetto because of a stereotype? It’s demeaning; often coming with the connotations that we’re also less educated.

            So far black females are less pretty and hate their hair, problematic and ghetto, but we’re also angry. We’re just a bunch of angry females because of men. We’re angry and closed off, and let no one in. Why? Because of man.  

            As you see, a lot of the ways black females are portrayed in the media affected me a lot as a young girl, and I know I am not the only one. I also know that young African-American girls are continuously being affected. I want them to be able to appreciate and value themselves more, and the biggest way this can be done is if African-American women in the media are portrayed in a better light. We can’t take the media away from them, so let’s use it as a resource to gradually change the idea young black girls have of themselves.

African-American Women Series 3

Anger and vengeance are usually two things that coincide. A person is often vengeful because they’re angry. These are harsh things to call a person, but it seems to be another shameful way African American women are betrayed throughout media. I never played close attention to it until my sister pointed it out to me while we were watching a movie. She said to me, “black women always have to be so angry.” And once she said that to me I started to realize that it’s true. Black females are usually the ones to play the extremely angry, vengeful, and bitter characters.

            One of my favorite movies is Deliver Us From Eva. Eva is beautiful, but a bitter black woman who treats men like absolute crap. She doesn’t trust them at all, and when she finally starts to fall in love with this her love interest, she thinks he’s messing around and automatically cuts him off. This character is played by the oh-so beautiful Gabrielle Union, who usually plays these bitter, mean roles.

            First of all, the character, Eva, is gorgeous, she’s absolute perfection. But she’s mean, bitter, and vengeful. This is saying that black females can’t be pretty and nice at the same time. The reason I am able to make this statement is because this isn’t the first time I seen Gabrielle Union play roles similar to this one. She plays roles like this so well and so often that I believe that she can act like this naturally with no problem; pretty, but hurtful. And for a while as a young girl, I actually used to believe this because this is what I saw on television and in my environment. I do understand that white females play pretty mean girls also. However, more often than not I see black females play highly negative and vengeful roles. Usually these black females are vengeful and full of hatred because of a man.  

            This is what I have noticed as a child growing up, and continue to observe in my environment and through media in shows like The Haves and the Have-Nots and Being Mary Jane. But African-American women fulfilling angry, bitter, and vengeful roles are taking a turn around finally. I am happy to see them start taking more positive and inspiring roles, such as Viola Davis has. Now my niece and other young black girls can grow up seeing positivity pertaining to us girls of color.

African-American Women Series 2

When the movie Think Like A Man came to the big screen I was curious about it. It’s a movie about a group of black females that can’t “keep” a boyfriend, specifically an African-American man. This whole movie is centered on Steve Harvey’s book, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. The book tells women how to get a boyfriend and settle down. Throughout this movie, the females are shown trying to take the advice Steve Harvey provides, and if they end up with a partner or not. I know this seems to be a universal issue for women, but the media like’s to showcase black females having trouble settling down for many different reasons.  This not only gives other people the notion that something is wrong with us; but giving other black females the idea that we’re problematic.

            Black females are often characterized as loud and highly talkative, usually by black men. This is seen as a burden and is often one of the negative characteristics of a black female. Why is this a problem? Why do people, specifically African-American people, make it seem like it’s the end of the world? I know the norm for a female is to be demure, but we’re in a new age, with a new way of thinking. An African-American woman shouldn’t be looked down upon because she’s outgoing and speaks her mind. An African-American female should be rewarded for her courage to speak up and have the ability to be heard. Other races don’t look down upon us because of this, only our fellow African-Americans. Instead of looking down upon each other, we should help each other accept our courageousness and our ability to be outgoing.

            But wait, it doesn’t stop there, black females are also shown as “un-classy females.” Some other synonyms for this statement are “ghetto” and “ratchet.” One show that does an awesome job at showing this is called, Love and Hip Hop. This show is just a bunch of people, mostly black females, who are involved with hip-hop music moguls. In this show, you’ll see females dating other female’s partners, fighting, and many other inappropriate things. And this is how we portray ourselves when the reality is, majority of us don’t act like that, just enough to put it on national television. It’s sad to say, but we do this to ourselves because we choose to go on these reality television shows expected to act a fool. The more of a fool we act, the more money we receive. It’s a shame that African-American females will tarnish our reputation; how we look at each other and how other races look at us for money.

            The way media portrays the African-American female is totally different than the reality. In the media we are problematic females that no one wants to be with. But from my experience we are strong females who try to carry ourselves with as much class as possible. And for this reason, we look down upon each other when we see the tiniest flaw. Instead of looking down upon each other, we should try to encourage each other that we are not what is shown on television, and come together to help each other move forward.   

African-American Women Series 1

African-American females are often seen in the media with either bone-straight hair or with hair with a slight wave to it. Many people of many other races often believe that this is our natural hair texture because this is how we show ourselves in the media. However, there are very few women seen in the spotlight with their natural kinky-curly hair texture.

Hair has always been and will always be a big deal in the African-American culture amongst females. As an African-American female I often see females with a relaxer and Brazilian, Malaysian, and Filipino weave. I not only observed this in adult television, but also in children’s television. One of the television shows I am very familiar with is That’s So Raven. As a young girl, I was absolutely obsessed with this show. Raven was a black female with great style, personality, and amazing hair. She was so versatile; however, she always had the silky straight hair that I died for. She had versatility with her hair in a sense that she would wear long ponytails, have different color hair shades, or have her hair in beautiful soft curls that would flow down her shoulders.

            Yes, I know Disney had to make Raven an attractive character, but what kind of message is this sending to our young black girls? I often hear females, specifically female teenagers; refer to their hair as either bad or good. Good hair is usually long and silky; it flows in the wind; and ridiculously soft. Bad hair is usually characterized as “nappy”, short, and dry. And this idea of “good” and “bad” hair not only comes from our environment, but the television shows our young black females are watching.

            I am a newly natural 16 year old female, but I wasn’t always gun hoe for the natural hair. I lived for the beautiful straight hair that I always seen in television shows like That’s So Raven. I was addicted to the flat iron; if my hair wasn’t flowing I was pissed. I wanted to be like Raven so bad, but as I aged and watched all the natural African-American females on YouTube I saw how beautiful and healthy our hair can be if we treat it right. As I continued to watch these YouTube channels I learned that there’s no such thing as “good” or “bad” hair. We learned these notions that hair is either good or bad, not only from our environment, but from the television shows we often watch as a child. Many people can’t change the things shown on television; however, I encourage parents and family members to teach their young girls about natural hair and how beautiful it is. If a child doesn’t want to be natural, by all means give them a relaxer, but at least they’re exposed to the beauty of their hair and they are posed with an option.

Identity and Ownership

A person’s identity is related to everything that happened in a person’s life. A person’s life is full of ownership, personal experiences, love, lost, and many other categories. Plato claims that the act of owning something is detrimental to one’s character; however, I strongly disagree. Owning something can help a person move forward in life or hold them back, but it still contributes to the resume of actions that makes a person who they are. Ownership is an important factor to one’s life, whether the subject is tangible or not, it helps define a person.

            The term “own it” is such an abstract phrase to say to a person. Own what? What is this “it”? This “it” is the intangible object. However, if you think about the phrase, that “it” is the situation at hand. The famous example of the model who’s about to walk down the runway, and someone says to them, “own it.” That person means to own the runway, own the clothes that their wearing, own yourself. You know who you are, so exude that confidence because at that moment, you’re rocking it. All of sudden, owning this “it” just contributed to that person’s resume of becoming who they are, that person received confidence, and now that experience of owning it will be with them forever. Now they can draw from that feeling of confidence whenever they see fit because they decided to “own it.”

            However, owning something isn’t always as pleasant, but it contributes to the person’s identity when everything is all said and done. Saleem Sinai owned this nose that ran his life. With his nose he was able to smell literally everything, such as emotions. While he was in the military, he was used to track someone down. He led him and his comrades into the deep part of the jungle that caused them to go insane. At the time he was suffering from amnesia, but after he got bit by a snake he leaves the jungle literally knowing who he was and his past. At the time he owned something that was detrimental to him and his comrades, but that nose led him to his identity. It not only led him to his literal identity, but it also led him to knowing that he’s a survivor. He may not be this great influential figure in India like he thought he was going to be, but he ended up being a person who went through many detrimental experiences, and eventually was able to conquer it. By the end of the book he was still living, he had a roof over his head, and he still had people who loved him. He was a survivor.

            Owning something, whether tangible or intangible, whether it’s detrimental or helpful, contributes to the resume of a person’s life; all the things that makes them who they are. Plato, Aristotle, and Jean-Paul Sartre were kind of on track with the relationship between ownership and identity. However, the relationship is more abstract than their ideas because the act of ownership intertwines with personal experiences, love, and lost, which are also contributing factors to identity.