Black Women’s Identity in American Media and Culture

Black Women’s Identity in Media and Our Culture When talking about black women’s image in media, what do you think about? Yes there may be many images but are they very many good images of black women. Are these bad images true images? These are all thing that run through my mind when I think of black women images. Sometimes I have to say that yes those bad images are true. I want to explore the different images of black women in Media. Do black women alter their images to look more European? Is there a since of self-hatred among us? How are we viewed in our own communities? Black women and their hair are so diverse. Do black women who straighten their hair hate themselves? This is a common belief among many people. Many think that women who straighten their hair are trying to get closer to whiteness and further from African heritage. There are many different reasons why a black woman would straighten her hair. Black experience in America has greatly shaped the black woman’s image of herself through white supremacy, slavery, and racism. Since lighter skin women with straighter hair were normally treated better by the slave masters that embarked the start of the African American woman wanting straighter hair. White beauty was the standard for black women. The white beauty standard is simply unattainable by most black women. Even though it is unattainable black women still straighten their hair, because this is what we now signify with beauty. We are not straitening our hair to be white, but to simply feel beautiful to ourselves. The straitening of hair is not self-hatred but what we have come to signify with beauty.
Also the media portrays black women with straightened hair. Like most young girls, black girl’s looks to the media to see what they want to look like. The media usually glorifies women with long straight hair. In most black hair magazines you see very few styles that don’t require some type of heat. So from a young age a black girl sees