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.