Intersectionality In The Media

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Intersectionality. According to Google, it’s official definition is the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage. Intersectionality was a word I first heard on Instagram. Amandla Steinberg was wishing her friend a happy birthday, and she said she couldn’t wait to hang out with her favourite intersectional feminist. I was confused; why was she an intersectional feminist and not just a regular one? Why are there different types of feminism? It wasn’t until I learned the definition that I learned that my experiences as a black woman meant I had intersecting identities.…show more content…
It has been said that the media is what is shaping society. But yet black women seem to be excluded and underrepresented in the media everyday. Alison D. Ligon points out how wedding reality shows bring in the cash, and networks such TLC, Oxygen, and Bravo have caught on to that. But yet on these shows, it’s very rare you will see a black woman. “It is striking that when black women are presented on these shows, it is almost as if they are enigmatic images, afterthoughts, unicorns in bridal gowns that are just as much absent in their limited presence in this prescribed reality television…show more content…
While I was growing up, my identity as a black woman was something I struggled with. I hated my skin – why was it so dark? I hated my hair – why was it so course and nappy? I hated my lips – they were so big and took up too much space. All the black women that I saw on television were “ghetto” and usually were the stereotypical roles that black women usually get such as the baby mama. Since I never saw any black women depicted as successful businesswomen or superheroes, it caused me to believe that it is not believable, and that it doesn’t happen for women who look like me. As Jones and Norwood were saying, as a black woman we always have to be the bigger person for the sake of not perpetuating stereotypes. I should have every right and reason to be angry when someone is provoking me. But when I do, I’m an “angry black woman” and a menace to society. In conclusion, my final intersectionality paper will focus on how the world black women are born into teaches them that they’re not important at a very young age. How the world enjoys watching them fall, rise up, and fall again. I will discuss the fact that this has a negative impact on black women, and could possibly affect future

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