St. Marys College. (2011). The Representation of men in the media. Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/smcmediastudies/the-representation-of-men-in-the-media [Accessed: 25/10/2012].…
Conforming is something that is expected from everyone, but who benifites from this conformity? Shavar Jeffries, Holly Brewer, and Amy Tan might have an idea. Shavar Jeffries’s New York Times article “Black Men: Stigma, Status and Expectation” discuses the historical and present racial stigma against black men in the United States. Jeffries covers the dehumanization of black people, the discrimination against them, and finally the current day prejudices and stereotypes held against them. Holly Brewer’s article “Stereotypes” addresses gender stereotypes and their effects on young people. Some key points include a list of gender stereotypes, how young children are when they are presented with their “gender roles”, and how aware yet inactive…
In society we see media presenting African American Males as animals, want-to-be gangsters, rappers, living in low social economical environments, and vice seeking. It is not totally the media fault for the poor representation of blacks in America but, it is a start towards where the vain message is occurring. Some black males even uphold or even take pride of stereotypes as if they have accomplished something significant. While on the topic of black males being portrayed by the media, I’m not too sure on why the media focuses their attention on the negative inducing news but, generally bad news makes good news for a newscast.…
Lastly, In “Black Men and Public Space,” Brent Staples shares his point of view of being an African-American male everyday in Brooklyn. Staples speaks on many experiences where people viewed him as dangerous due to the color of his skin. He opens my eyes to the way people may act around black men as opposed to other races. "And I soon gathered that being perceived as dangerous is a hazard in itself" (299). Staples shows that it's not only unfair but also dangerous to the people. But a limitation is not all races perceive black people like…
The portrayal of black women remains a representation of how people see them; treat them and how they observe themselves. From how they wear their hair, how they look, how they dress, their assets, skin color and ethnicity, they are being picked apart from things that serve no importance of how a black woman should be respected. In the article, “Mentoring and Mothering Black Femininity in the Academy: An Exploration of Body, Voice, and Image through Black Female Characters” by Devair and Rhonda Jeffries it examines the social construction of the identity of black women in the media. For example, most of what we see on the media is never accurate about black women; it is used to tear a community down because of the past racial attitudes. The article says, “A pressing issue is the lack of Black women’s voice and presence in both media productions’ illustra¬tion of them and the scholarship about them. Therefore, much of what is consumed by mainstream culture is a skewed, caricatured perception of Black women created by those outside o f their demographic”. (127). I believe the past has significance in the present about how black women are perceived in the media since it continues to put exclusion on black women and we continue to not stand up for how we should be characterized therefore, our identity becomes invisible to the…
Today we see African Americans depicted in music videos, film, tv shows, news, and many other platforms of entertainment and media, but how many of those representations are correct? Realistically, it is impossible to represent whole racial groups and ethnicities, which is why generalizations and stereotypes are created. But the misrepresentation of African Americans in media and entertainment only further stimulates stigma, racism, mistreatment, and discrimination in and towards the black community.…
Rapper Tupac Shakur once said “It’s a struggle for every young Black man. You know how it is, only God can judge us.” Throughout the course of the semester there have been numerous discussions of topics involving the black community in today’s society. Racism towards African-Americans and how they are not treated equally or with respect from society. They are judged just by the way they carry themselves; pants sagging, tank top, and tattoos that are visible are classified as “thug” or “uneducated”. So I write this book in hopes that others will read and know my understandings of the current events affecting the black community. I have grown and experience throughout the course of time to become more aware, enlightened, and informed.…
Have you ever wonder why African-American males are usually drug dealers, pimps, convicts, or even a father with multiple children and is a deadbeat father? Or why does an African-American female have to be man-less, on well-fare with multiple children with different baby daddies, or even sometimes on the screen shaking her ass? Well to me this is exactly how most movies, television shows, music, and magazines portray African-Americans. The media portrays African-Americans in a stereotypical manner. Even though there may be some truth in these portrayals, they are sometimes unrealistic and unfair.…
“Communication research and theory suggest that the mass media are an important source of information about African Americans and media portrayals contribute to public perceptions of African Americans” (Punyanunt-Carter 241). What we see about African Americans from television makes us to have certain images about them. TV became a common object that most people have in United States, and we get to watch and hear different kinds of contents from many broadcasting stations. TV now has become an object that most people in America have due to it is information and entertaining purposes. However, there is a problem. Some TV shows are creating certain images about certain races which make the public to have certain perceptions about certain races.…
Brent Staples in “Just Walk on by: Black Men and Public Space,” discusses stereotypes associated with Black Men and how those stereotypes put them in danger of being harmed. It is human nature to judge someone on their appearance. However, as humans we also tend to judge a whole race of people for the actions of only a few of them. Men of color are more at risk of suffering injustices because of stereotypes and there are examples of that happening everyday.…
In my community, I have observed that black males think too highly of themselves or too low of themselves and few think soberly. Self-esteem should not be measured solely by what others think of you nor by the things you possess. However, many black males tend to measure their worth by these things in spite of how far we have come as a people. As stated earlier, I am the mother of two boys and my eldest son recently passed away. He suffered with low self-esteem for many years. In spite of all my efforts to encourage him and affirm his worth and value, he continued to struggle with his identity. Many factors contributed to his low self-image however, he wrestled with what I call a, “dual image reality”—in the home among family and close friends he felt loved and worthy, then in the community, he felt unworthy. I could say more about the effects of low self-esteem on black males however, length restraints of this paper constrains me and that is good because I could go on and on. Accordingly, I have shared enough to emphasis the necessity of finding a balance as it relates to self-esteem particularly in black…
THE CRISIS OF THE YOUNG AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM Marc Mauer Assistant Director The Sentencing Project Introduction In recent years policy attention regarding the crisis of the African American male has focused on a variety of areas in which African American males have suffered disproportionately from social ills. These have included education, housing, employment, and health care, among others. Perhaps in no other area, though, have these problems been displayed as prominently as in the realm…
Mumford discusses how today, it is very fortunate for one to be a black athlete. He elaborates on how black football and basketball players have greatly outnumbered white athletes. Mumford then scorns the fact that 18 to 25 year old surburban white males look up to and are“mesmerized by the idiomatic hip-hop jargon, the cock-of-the-walk swagger, the smooth-as-the-law-allows attire of their black heroes” (374).…
Although each author has their own perspective about discrimination and prejudice they shared similar opinions about modern racism, this new technique used to oppress the African American community. Modern racism has become very popular in today's society that has created individuals not to realize that discrimination is still taking place. On Essay three Hughey states three arguments on how African Americans are being discriminated. African American are being target through housing segregation, inequality and the mass media. On essay six the author states the unequal distribution of wealth between the dominant group and minority groups. Those who have wealth are more likely to disempower other individuals, and are more likely to remain in charge. On essay twelve the author talks about the imbalance of gender ratio within the African American he mentions that Black men have the highest rate of incarceration. One reason why theirs more Black men in prison is because law enforcement agents are using racial profiling to target people of color. Today more law enforcement agents are using this discriminatory practice to target individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual's race, ethnicity and physical appearance. Unfortunately modern racism occurs every day across the country even though it's illegal and goes against an…
I am writing about black men in America. Today's black men have a struggle. They are struggling with colored men and stereo-type. The one thing about black men in America is that they are fighters. They won't give up without a fight. They will try to prevail in anything that they want do.…