Black Girls in Media

Reflective Essay

Mass media has entered almost every aspect of everyday life and it has the power to indirectly transform our thinking. There is an abundance of information available to everyone and anyone has a choice to engage in it. Everyday life has become filled with messages from the media regarding politics, economy and culture. Mass media is so active and persuasive that people should take responsibility to challenge and interpret their media exposure. No one should soley rely on television because most of it presents information that is not in the interest of our well-being. Mass media influence continues to succeed because most people allow it.

The medias influence on culture is so heavy I feel as if people don’t really get a chance become their own person. From birth, we are taught how a boy or a girl is supposed to behave and dress and we act based on concepts taught to us without questioning them. As we grow, most ideas we get are feed to us through mass media and it influences our behavior and attitude towards everything. Specific ads or televisions programs can affect all age groups in different ways. It all depends on how they take in what they see. Its powerful enough to allow someone to have a positive or negative perspective towards certain matters such as politics, people, and the way we carry ourselves. For example, while a kid could be so focused on doing good in school the media could affect a child academically because some kids become more focused their appearance, material possessions, and the opposite sex. These desires do not originate from them but with the media. Many things advertised to teens and young children are those of that nature. By portraying controversial relationships such as single parents or gay couples as acceptable, television shows have the power to shape viewers’ attitudes Therefore, entertainment programs can play an influential role within society.

Ownership in the media controls what is being broadcasted, which helps define who and how people are being portrayed. There is a significant under representation of African Americans when it comes to the ownership of media. Stereotypical images throughout history have demonized black women. The media depicts black females as loud, angry, confrontational, sexualized and objectified. These negative depictions were purposeful on the part of television shows as an attempt to make black women look poorly. The appearance of a black women in the media are not the original looks of their own but those in a close approximation to white characteristics. That means changing their hair and even skin bleaching. It means being judged by whether their hair is considered "good" or "bad" Good hair is defined as a natural texture that is wavy, silky, and of long length, while bad hair is defined as tightly coiled and nappy hair. Different culture backgrounds, gender, age or living environments all can cause different body images. But still the media gives society the mindset that both men and women are supposed to look a certain way that is sometimes impossible to accomplish. Body satisfaction and behavior are influenced by mass media images and it`s important for everyone to understand what they see and have their own idea of what it means to them.

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