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The Media as a System of Racialization

Exploring Images of African American Women and the New Racism

Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, mlittlef{at}iupui.edu

Historically, the media perpetuate ideas about race and ethnicity that place African American women at a clear disadvantage. Beginning with the welfare queen image during the Reagan administration and moving to the porno chick represented in current videos, society views a daily discourse on race, gender, and class that continues to reproduce dominant and distorted views of African American womanhood and sexuality. The overabundance of this portrayal in popular culture raises serious implications associated with linking sexual promiscuity to the nature and identity of African American women. These popular representations of African American women and men are mostly unchallenged by larger society and the African American community. This article discusses the media as a system of racialization and proposes to challenge this system as a method of social justice and social change.

Key Words: race • African American women • media

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