Black Women's Portrayals on Reality Television

The New Sapphire

Contributions by Antwanisha Alameen-Shavers, Allison M. Alford, Patrick Bennett, Mia E. Briceño, Chetachi A. Egwu, Evene Estwick, Adria Y. Goldman, Rachel Alicia Griffin, Johnny Jones, Ryessia D. Jones, Madeline M. Maxwell, Angelica N. Morris, Donyale R. Griffin Padgett, Tracey Owens Patton, Shavonne R. Shorter, Siobhan E. Smith, Elizabeth Whittington, Julie Snyder-Yuly Edited by Donnetrice C. Allison

Publication date:

26 September 2017

Length of book:

292 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781498531719

This book critically analyzes the portrayals of Black women in current reality television. Audiences are presented with a multitude of images of Black women fighting, arguing, and cursing at one another in this manufactured world of reality television. This perpetuation of negative, insidious racial and gender stereotypes influences how the U.S. views Black women. This stereotyping disrupts the process in which people are able to appreciate cultural and gender difference. Instead of celebrating the diverse symbols and meaning making that accompanies Black women's discourse and identities, reality television scripts an artificial or plastic image of Black women that reinforces extant stereotypes. This collection's contributors seek to uncover examples in reality television shows where instantiations of Black women's gendered, racial, and cultural difference is signified and made sinister.

Section One: Portrayals of Christianity and Motherhood

High Tea, Church Hats, Pastor Wives, and Friendships: A critical race feminism analysis of Black women in Preachers of L.A. by Elizabeth Whittington Cooper
The God in Me: Faith, Reality TV, and Black Women by Chetachi A. Egwu
From 90s Girl to Hip-Hop Wife: An Analysis of the Portrayal of Tiny as Black Mother in Reality Television by Ryessia Jones, Johnny Jones & Siobhan E. Smith
Are Black Women Loud?: Neoliberal and Postfeminist Protagonists in OWN’s Televisual Sphere by Mia E. Briceño & Evene Estwick
Can’t Have It All: An Analysis Of Black Motherhood On Reality Television by Allison M. Alford, Madeline M. Maxwell, Ryessia D. Jones & Angelica, N. Morris

Section Two: Portrayals of the Angry Black Woman

Is She Strong or Just a b!@*#? Discussions of Black Women’s Anger in the Reality Show Bad Girls Club by Adria Y. Goldman
The “Tyra Tyrade”: Reinforcing the Sapphire Through Online Parody by Tracey Owens Patton & Julie Snyder-Yuly
A Critical Analysis of Black Womanhood in NBC’s The Apprentice by Donyale R. Padgett & Donnetrice C. Allison

Section Three: Portrayals of Black Women as Spouses, Girlfriends and Lovers

Dehumanized and Empowered? Black Women, Reality Television, and Love and Hip Hop Atlanta by Patrick Bennett and Rachel Alicia Griffin
The “Down Ass Bitch” in the Reality Television Show Love and Hip Hop: The Image of the Enduring Black Woman and Her unwavering support of the Black Man by Antwanisha Alameen-Shavers
Real Housewives or Real Lies? New Constructions of “Housewives” on The Real Housewives of Atlanta by Shavonne Shorter

Conclusion: Discussion and Implications by Donnetrice C. Allison

Black Women’s Portrayals on Reality Television: The New Sapphire presents a collection of scholarship that convincingly asserts that we are not yet done with questions of representation and stereotype as it pertains to the imagistic treatment of Black women. Reading across the often complex and controversial terrain of reality television, the authors display interpretive prowess as they take on issues such as resurrection of traditional stereotypes, potency of 'ratchetness,' and respectability policing dilemmas. The representational plight of Black women is ably balanced here with attention to themes of transformation, agency, and possibility.