Growing up as a black woman, I have always had to have a different conversation than others. With my mother or older women around me than others. The conversations about my skin color and how not to act around certain people so they would not get the wrong idea about who I am. These conversations resulted from the social institutions that exist in gender . One of many institutions are microaggressions . Microaggressions are verbal or nonverbal insults that happen every day in the world. Whether it is consciously or unconsciously, these insult messages come off as hostile and derogatory towards a person based on their belonging to a group. For instance, race, racial Microaggression is the feeling of insult colored people face by others in their daily life, this can also be verbal, nonverbal, intentional or unintentional. One outlet that subliminally sends a message of negative stereotypes towards black women is TV sitcoms,reality shows and movies. Throughout my adolescence i came up watching many great classic tv shows. Such as A Different World, The Bill Cosby Show, Family Matters and so on . These tv sitcoms were all black casts and they delivered encouraging messages that black families can be successful and loving. Before these shows aired , most of the main watched shows were all white casts. There was little recognition of black successful people on the media. When African Americans were displayed in the public eye it was somewhat like today. Focused on violence , and negative outcomes never really the brighter side of things.
Focusing specifically on the classic TV show named A Different World aired for the first time the year 1984, it was a worldwide success for the African American community. This show debunked the ideas and labels that were placed upon blacks. The title sequence of the show had many messages that were outstandingly important around that time and still speaks to this generation. A Different World had six seasons of episodes and in between the seasons of the show, the theme song was sung by three different African American artists. Which was legendary Aretha franklin, phoebe snow and R&B group Boys to men. The title sequence focused on African American women and men representing the military, law, doctors, business, sorority’s, sports, professors and more. I believe this show is sending the powerful message that African Americans are the opposite of society’s negative opinions, and will continue to excel in areas of doubt evidently through their success.
One of the ways gender identity is developed is by social learning. This is when behavior is learned by analyzing, observing and modeling others. Growing up in high school it was emphasized by males and females. For me i refuse for my gender identity to be connected to the negative ideas of black women. Since slavery days , black women has been viewed as sexual beings . it is still unfortunately being repeated today on reality Tv. For example the Tv shows like Love & Hip-Hop and Bad Girls Club. In these shows its usually black women and Hispanic women who are the main focuses. The behavior in these shows consists of vulgar language, name calling towards one another, baby father drama, women dressed provocative and always seems to be the wife of a rapper or their career is being a stripper. How come these shows arent promoting positive messages for women of color ? like the show A Different World did . Black women are more than sex symbols and wives. We can be lawyers , Teachers, Police officers and Judges.
“Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies” by “Miliann Kang, Donovan Lessard, and Laura Heston” it discusses many issues and situations that are going on in society concerning gender . There are binary systems and binary perspectives. This consists of making people believe that men and women have nothing in common. This out come results from stereotypes such as , men are strong but women are emotional and weak or men are leaders and women are to be submissive. This causes division , which has been proven through research especially in the work force field . Which occurs in the media as well . This is why i truly believe this is the reason why we see Hispanic women and black women in movies many times playing the gender roles of a maid, nanny, or nurse or even a stay home mom. Men who hold positions in female dominated positions still receive higher earnings that women who hold the position. This is a clear indicator of division which is also referred to as the glass escalator .
Overall it starts within us to debunk the negative ideas of black women, Hispanic women, Asian women , all women. We need to no longer be silent , but raise our voices for equality. Lets stay consistent and reverent.
Hello Kiara,
Since I am not from states and I am not aware of a lot of movies and shows that most of the friends from our class has chosen for their artifact project and even the series that you have mentioned unfortunately I have not watched it but I can say that your draft also carries the similar values,i.e about our social institution where we face gender inequality, gender stereotype culture even we like to believe that we are living our life among the well-educated people.
Hello Kiara Johnson, Institutional Artifact Project Draft is so powerful and speaks volume, not only Tv shows but youtubers like Shane Dawson are making a ton of money by doing blackface, Jamaica accent and black women characters and called it “prank Ghetto”, even Tyler Perry got rich from degraded women. we need to speak up about that like you say.
Hey Kiara, wow you did an excellent job to not only explain your chosen institution and artifact but you connected those ideas to today’s world. You explain how these identities are portrayed in the media and how they affected you as a person. I think it would be helpful if you can highlight your 3 terms a little bit more. Your analysis is great!
Hello Kiara
I loved reading your draft, you connected everything so well. Although I have not really watched the shows you mentioned you are completely right women need to speak up. I loved your analysis relating to love & hip-hop and bad girls because women especially black women and Hispanic women are always shown as to be problematic and always involved in drama, which makes women look bad and uneducated. Overall you did a great job.
Hi Kiara
I must say that I love your draft, the way you explained everything especially the shows for people who have not seen them especially with the show love and Hip Hop, to be honest, I have not seen it even when I know someone who actually is on it but is true that do not represent us African American and Latinas the right way because calling each other’s names it’s like telling the world that the disrespect between each other is not wrong.
This is a good draft. You hit course concepts well, though please add a citation or reference to the course materials – it shows that this is more than your opinion. Also, I like that you talk about TV in general, but the assignment is to focus on ONE artifact. Yours is A Different World. So how can you go back and write about microaggressions that you see on the show, did this show affect your gender through social learning theory? You only talk about your artifact for one paragraph. It should be the focus of your entire paper. I think you can keep some of the intro paragraph which is nice. But also do a good edit for grammar and punctuation – there are errors in the draft.