Media And Ethnic Identity Influencing Self Image

As stated above, African-American women have been subjected to measure themselves against white women. White women are viewed, in this society and since the beginning of the concept of race, as the epitome of beauty. Logically, African-American women attempt to emulate the white standard. This creates an inferiority complex, because the epitome of beauty is white woman, than any other race can be deemed as inferior; this deteriorates African-American women’s self-worth. To remedy worthlessness, many body modification techniques have been made to fully mimic white women in terms of beauty. This emulation still is being done and it is continuous, because of the psychological ‘white fantasization .

What does it mean to you to be a black girl? If you aren’t one, what do you see when you visualize a black girl? If your imagination limits you to just an afro-centric featured, loud and slang-loving, uneducated woman, then this piece is addressed to you. The persistence of the stereotypes concerning average black girls have chained us all to the earlier listed attributes. One side effect of this dangerous connection is the wide opening for a new form of discrimination it creates. Whether it is depicted through slave owners allocating the preferable duties to lighter-skinned black woman, or in modern times where a dislike in rap music categorizes you as not really black, segregation within black communities occur. Tracing all the way back to elementary school, my education on the subject of racial segregation has been constricted to just the injustices routed by dissimilarities between racial groups. What failed to be discussed was the intragroup discrimination occurring in the black society from both outside observers and inside members. Unfortunately, our differences in the level of education, in physical appearance, and in our social factors such as our behaviour, personality or what we believe in have been pitted against each other to deny the variety of unique identities that we as black individuals carry.

This paper is going to look in to the role mass media plays in how women of color and adolescents see themselves. My sources will give insight to how black women are directly and indirectly affected by the media. Stereotypes of black women shape how they see themselves but also how others see and treat them. Although mass media affects black women, ethnic media is shown to play a much bigger role in determining our self- image. Ethnic media can have a negative or positive affect based off how strong your ethnic identiy is. Others tend to have their standards on what being black and beautiful means. This leads to colorism in the black community. Women of color have had stereotypical images that demonized and dehumanized them throughout history.

The researchers cited a study by Chesney-Lind and Sheldon (1998) that showed how black girls and white girls have similar but different growing issues. The research found while both black and white girls struggle with issues of self-esteem, particularly in school, girls in predominantly white schools are more prone to problems with body image and eating disorders while young black women are more likely to become dissociated from school systems” (p. 587-588).

Near the middle of her article, Perry argues that even though statistics show black girls having the highest self-esteem of their physical appearances, the rate will fall as they “move into adolescence and their bodies come under scrutiny” (138).

The fourth chapter of "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”is about the identity development in adolescence. It is said that when black children are growing up, they engage in many of the white culture’s beliefs and values as it is all around them. It is not until a little later where they begin to recognize the impact of racism. This can happen around the early stages of adulthood. It might even happen around the junior high age. Gender also comes into play around this time as well. A black girl wouldn't be acknowledged for her beauty in a white setting as she is not in the society's standard for beautiful. Since the black girls aren’t considered beautiful, they begin to feel devalued. The black youth are beginning

Throughout his novel, Perfect Peace, Daniel Black focuses on the idea of feminine beauty and what it means to be a beautiful black woman or a pretty black girl. Black highlights the problematic nature that rigid internalized beauty standards can have on women well into their elderly years. Black uses both Emma Jean and Perfect’s characters, as well as addition characters such as Caroline and Eva Mae, to show the negativity associated with black beauty standards.

As the modern civil rights movement grew, visual culture became and important force for combating the negative view of African Americans and counteracting the dangerous effects of stereotypes. The birth of the modern African American pictorial magazine in the 1940s and 1950s provided an outlet to disseminate positive images of African Americans to a large African American audience. These images inspired activism, bolstered self-esteem, and acted against the damaging effects of prevailing stereotypes. Positive images of African Americans were also present in primarily “white” media. The presence of these images was intended

From the beginning of cinema, the media has shown black women as nothing more than objects, dehumanizing them all together. This representation has held a long-lasting impact on both young and old African American women everywhere. The theme of my paper is about the media and how it has a negative impact on black women. The topics that I will be covering includes the following: need to prove the media wrong and working two times as hard as everyone else; social Media, TV and Movies and the roles they play; self-hatred and anger due to the comparisons to other ethnicities and that we are low-class, unattractive, uncivilized, uneducated and have no opportunities to make something of themselves; embracing what Black/ African Studies teaches; influential people and positive acknowledgments; how black women are affected and discouraged due to lack of self-love and knowledge. These impacts can come from another ethnicity and even from the black women themselves because of their lack of knowledge of where they come from, their history and overall grandness. Knowing these facts alone and embracing all that Black Studies teaches can reverse the damage that has been done to black women everywhere from ages one to one hundred. They begin to believe what they see or what they see on about themselves when it is drilled into their heads that all of what is seen in the media is true. Due to lack of knowledge of

The purpose of this quantitative study is to explore the effects of racial attitudes of blacks on images of themselves with varying skin tones. Supplemental to the study of attitudes and images, the social

She recalls her mother’s comments, “Could you imagine if she had light skin at all? [With her features] she’d be gorgeous” (Dark Girls). This shows the extent to which the color complex affected the minds of most people including mothers- the way they viewed their children. Both the book and the film show how colorism affected notions of beauty within the African American

They found that black women overall prefer a more voluptuous and robust body shape; the women seem to correlate this with wealth, stature and fitness across cultures (Ofuso, Lafreniere, Senn, 1998). Another study that looked at how women view their bodies supports these findings. This study shows how perceptions of body image vary between African American and Caucasian women. African American women tended to be happier with themselves and have a higher self esteem. The women were all college women from two small community colleges in Connecticut; this is very important that their surroundings are essentially the same (Molloy, Herzberger, 1998). Although these studies reveal that African American and Black women across the world have different cultural constraints and body image ideals than other ethnic groups, other studies urge researchers not to forget that Black women are not unsusceptible to eating disorders and low self esteem. One literature review cautions that the dominant culture of a society may impose its views on individuals and cause a deterioration or change in values and perceptions (Williamson, 1998). Interestingly, Black women with high self-esteem and more positive body images also possess more masculine traits than other women studied.

Everyday people like you or me are affected by media in ways most people are oblivious to. Media shows what they want to show moreover the public is none the wiser. This subconsciously convinces the viewer that what is shown is real and/or the norm. When racial stereotypes are brought into the equation, it can be harmful for one’s self image. With the many forms of media minorities have to face certain stereotypes depending on the circumstance.

It does not come as a surprise that women, in large, are dissatisfied with their bodies. This widespread body dissatisfaction amongst women was coined “normative discontent” (Rodin, Silberstein, & Streigel-Moore, 1984). Although body dissatisfaction seemingly plagues women as a whole, there are several factors that can either serve as a protective factor or a risk factor for the development of body dissatisfaction. Much of the research regarding this normative discontent excludes culturally relevant factors for African American (Black) women. Looking specifically at African American women, the factors that affect body image and body dissatisfaction greatly differ from those that affect non-minority White women. Skin tone or complexion,

“You would look so much prettier with your hair straight!” is a comment my sister of mixed descent has been receiving from her classmates since childhood. Straight hair is a Eurocentric beauty standard that has been pushed onto my lighter skinned sister for most of her life. I am of a darker complexion however and therefore am complimented often on my naturally curly hair. This leads to the question; do black beauty standards differ from white ones? The answer to this query is explored in Maxine Craig’s work Ain’t I a Beauty Queen? She claims that in many regards, though not all, the answer is yes. While Craig does a good job of defining the historical moments that lead to black beauty standards today, she lacks an explanation as to why darker skin tones are stigmatized the way they are and neither does she factor in how many people consider personality when determining beauty.