Can we hold fellow black women to blame for sabotaging our image on TV?
By Guest Contributor Tami Winfrey Harris, cross-posted from What Tami Said
On Sunday, I was happy to catch up with blogger New Black Woman. (Definitely visit her blog and be sure to check into her recommended reading list.) I’ve been wanting to talk about her recent post, “”Why do black women continue to sabotage our image?“–a lamentation on the poor portrayals for black women, particularly on reality TV.
Black women are well aware there is indeed a lack of diversity in the array of characters we’re allowed (yes, allowed because these characters are concoctions of a producer or writer’s mind) to portray. The majority of black women on television are making waves in reality TV shows, which are typically edited in a way to play up to the expectations of viewers to see more drama, more cat fights and more angry black women. We do not have the luxury of having 10 different shows that feature 10 different characters of black women. We don’t have the diversity in characters to show mainstream America that we, too, are just as diverse as the white women they encounter on a daily basis.
As black women, however, why do we keep doing ourselves this disservice? Why do we continue to support the madness by proudly embracing the angry black woman stereotype on reality TV, by watching these shows and relishing in the drama black female characters convey to viewers?
This link to the clip from Sunday’s Celebrity Apprentice episode in which the never-ending drama between NeNe Leakes and Star Jones is a prime example of how black women are portrayed–and how they portray themselves–in reality television. In the clip, Leakes of Real Housewives of Atlanta fame bolsters her “street game” by rolling her neck and talking smack in Jones’ face. The white onlookers, including birther,racist fraud Donald Trump and nonsensical rapper Lil’ John, look on amused as if they were expecting the drama to happen. Read More
I share New Black Woman’s disdain for the way black women are framed in the media, including reality television. But I wondered if it was fair to hold other black women accountable for those portrayals. What follows is our discussion.
Tami: So, your post was inspired by Alison Samuels’ piece in Newsweek about the portrayal of black women in reality television. What bothers you about what you’re seeing on the TV screen?
New Black Woman: I think what’s bothering me is the television image of black women seems to be regressing. We went from Claire Huxtable in the 1980s to the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” (RHOA) in the new millennium. What’s more disturbing is how many black women have embraced this “downgrade” so to speak.
Maybe it’s part of the collective regression of television shows that’s occurred in the past three decades.
Tami: I think it is part of the decreasing quality of television and the rise of reality TV that exists to make money through controversy (See Jennifer Pozner’s terrific book, Reality Bites Back). I suspect the impetus for this isn’t necessarily race, but–and this is a big but–marginalized people, including black women, are
disproportionately effected by these rampaging stereotypes, because the public sees little to counter this stuff.
New: Right. There doesn’t seem to be a diverse offering of black women and other marginalized groups on television and in other forms of media. And I think that’s primarily what makes all this unsettling.
Tami: And add to the rise of the angry black woman on screen, the attacks on black women in other areas. Y’know, if one goes by media coverage, we are single, unloved, too educated, too religious, too emasculating, and…as of late…too unattractive.
New: Yes! All of that supposedly prevents us from netting our black prince charming…
Tami: This all adds up to an unfair portrayal of black women–one that impacts the way we are seen by non-black people, but sadly, also how we see ourselves.
New: I think that’s a great point. I also read your 2009 blog post asking “are you a credit to your race.”
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