Term Paper on "Southern Women in Popular Culture"

Term Paper 7 pages (1923 words) Sources: 6 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

southern women in popular culture with an emphasis on Black females and how they have traditionally been portrayed by the media. There were six sources used to complete this paper.

The media has a powerful hold over America. Whether it is a print ad, a television show or a movie for the big screen the media has always had an influence on the way the America public thinks. One only has to look at shows like Jeff Foxworthy and Jerry Springer to understand where the idea that all Southern women are a little slow and very trashy comes from. It is untrue and an unfair portrayal of a soft and gentle culture however, the media puts that image in the minds of viewers and that is what it becomes. The media's hold on viewer/reader attitudes has long since been accepted including the way the nation views minorities. Black women of the south have been portrayed in different lights throughout the years and as those changes have taken place so has the attitude of the American public. Black women of yesteryear were often portrayed as having African-American physical features but as time moved forward they were only showcased if they lacked those features and instead had features that are typically attributed to European white people. While the look of the southern Black woman may have changed over the years in the media the way they are portrayed has not. Black woman today are often portrayed as low income, under educated and willing to put up with mistreatment from their men. Just as the physical features of the Black women who are prominent in the media represent a small actual percentage of the total population, the stereotypical casting of the Black woman is also a small sliver of a much larger and more positive picture that the media chooses to ignore.

SLANTS

When Gallup conducted a poll throughout the nation it found that 48% of African-Americans are not pleased with the way their race has been portrayed in the media. In addition, 47% of the respondents believed that the way the media portrayed Blacks in this country was a significant contributor to the problems with race relations that the nation continues to endure.

Racial bias definitely exist," said Lawanza Spears, city editor of the Washington Afro-American. "All papers have exhibited some bias (Media, 1995)."

It is interesting to note that recent statistics indicate that minority journalists make up less than 11% of the total journalist population across America.

Bill Cosby's wife, who is usually quiet, allowing her husband to have the spotlight while she pursues her interests spoke out against the media's imaging of the Black woman.

The way the media distort our differences is a covert divide-and-conquer" strategy which I regard as a violation of human rights (Media, 1995)."

Researchers have spent many hours studying the impact that media portrayal of Black has on the attitude of John Q. Public with mixed results. Black women are defined into an even more narrow category as they have the double curse of being female and being Black in an industry that uses them for comic relief more often than serious muse (Rada, 2000).

African-American portrayals on television have been based on negative stereotypes that do not objectively or accurately portray reality (Corea, 1993; Dates, 1990; Entman 1990, 1992, 1994; Jackson, 1989; Lule, 1995; MacDonald, 1992; Rada, 1996; Rainville & McCormick, 1997; Staples & Jones, 1985; U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1977; and U.S. Riot Commission Report, 1968). These stereotypes include, but are not limited to, the portrayal of African-Americans as inferior, lazy, dumb, dishonest, comical, unethical, and crooked (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1977). Dates (1990) was able to add to this list: insolent, bestial, brutish, power-hungry, money hungry and ignorant (Rada, 2000)."

These reports are all compiled by highly respected entities and are all in agreement that Blacks are shown in a light that produces an overall negative attitude about their existence and purpose in life. Black females are given the duty of fighting against that stereotype as well as fighting the uphill battle of being female and the media does nothing to improve the public's image or attitude toward them, in fact it goes to great strides to pigeon hole the look and lifestyles that are watered down and more likely to come from white heritage than Africa.

A recent study examined the differences that are portrayed by the media when it comes to African-Americans. The study examined news stories that differed in the portrayal. "To identify news stories that differ in portrayal of African-Americans, this research sought stimuli that differ in levels of symbolic racism (Sears, 1988). Symbolic racism provides a means for distinguishing between different contextual characteristics in portrayals of the same subject (Rada, 2000). "

The study participants were asked to watch news shows that demonstrated need by both White and Black people. After the news shows were shown the participants were asked to rate each person on the show as to their actual need.

There were 24 total news stories that were selected by Vanderbilt Television News Archives that were coded for symbolic racism by faculty members before the study began (Rada, 2000).

They were then asked to view the selected news stories and rate them based on their congruence with that definition. Coders used a 7-point Likert scale which ranged from 1 (congruent with symbolic racism) to 7 (incongruent with symbolic racism). The literature has identified symbolic racism as negative, or unfavorable portrayals (Entman, 1990, 1992, 1994; Lule, 1995). Thus, those portrayals coded as congruent with symbolic racism were categorized as unfavorable whereas those portrayals coded as incongruent with symbolic racism were categorized as favorable (Rada, 2000). "

The two stories that were rated the least favorably had been coded with the most symbolic racism within the show.

When viewing the way Black southern women are portrayed in the media the results are typically the same.

African-American southern women are portrayed for the most part as drug dealers, gang members or prostitutes (Walker, 1993). The media provides ample images of Black southern women not only being paid for sex but being addicted to drugs and beaten by their pimp and taking the beatings.

In addition when the media does not portray Black Southern women as the above she is instead portrayed as an undereducated single

As civil rights movements came on the scene and demanded the rightful equality of minorities Black women found that they were able to develop live however the media continued to portray them as substandard. The studies and pressure from focus and grass roots groups to change the image of Black women caused the media to begin including more Black women in less shameful roles in print and on the screen however that change included a compromise. The media began to illuminate the Black women including the Southern Black women but did so with images of Black women with White features.

This can subtle change can be clearly traced through media images of Black females from the south and elsewhere (Walker, 1993).

A study that used a majority of Black female participants recently concluded that America's response to the Black population was directly influenced by the media images that are provided to the world of Blacks including Black women.

For one to analyze the portrayal of Black Southern women in the media both today and in years past one only has to compare images that the media has pr ovided over the years. In the image below it uses the stereotypical Black Southern Woman image of the heavy set Black woman who has a full figure, large breasts and a rage tied around her head. This image is one that many Americans had of all Black Southern women for many years a the media continued to paint this picture of them.

Her facial features are not clearly defined as a symbolic racist gesture of her unimportance. She does not have a true expression because the media showed Black women to be devoid of feelings or intelligence for many years.

As the media began to feel the pressure from the African-American community to change the way it was portraying Black women including Black Southern women it moved into the images of Black women with typically "white" features. The small nose, thin lips and non-curly hair were the new image that the media put out of the Black woman. This caused quite a division within the Black community as many recognized the obvious attempt by the media to force Americans to continue viewing Black women with Black features as substandard. The sign below is a defiant symbol of what many Black Southern women were struggling with when it came to the media images of them and their sisters.

Black Southern women in the media are still divided into two arenas. The first is the Black southern woman who has physical characteristics that are typically assigned to African-Americans. The full thick lips, the… READ MORE

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