Black Womanhood: Essence and its Treatment of Stereotypical Images of Black Women

Abstract

One could assume it is a given that Essencemagazine dispels stereotypical images of Black women and that it works to liberate them from the strictures imposed on them by a world in which they live as an undervalued and marginalized minority. After all, this is the only longstanding women’s magazine that targets Black women and addresses specifically their cultural and emotional needs as African Americans and women. This content analysis examines whether Essenceworks as a liberating feminist text that dispels, as opposed to validates, stereotypical images of Black women. We hypothesize that (a) there will be more evidence to dispel the stereotypes than to perpetuate them and (b) that of the four major African American women stereotypes—mammy, matriarch, sexual siren, and welfare mother or queen—the matriarch and sexual siren stereotypes will be dispelled more frequently. Results support the former hypothesis entirely and the latter hypothesis partially.

Keywords

Essence magazine Black women Black womanhood Black stereotypes women stereotypes Black popular culture

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Black venture . (1970, May 4). Time, pp. 79-80.

Bobo, J. (1995). Black women as cultural readers. New York: Columbia University Press.

Collins, P. (1990). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. New York: Routledge.

Essencemagazine media kit, 30th Anniversary [Brochure]. (2000). New York: Essencemagazine.

Guy-Sheftall, B. (Ed.). (1995). Words of fire: An anthology of African-American feminist thought. New York: New Press.

Hall, S. (1990). The whites of their eyes: Racist ideologies and the media. In M. Alvarado & J. O. Thompson (Eds.), The media reader(pp. 7-23). London: British Film Institute.

hooks, b. (1981). Ain’t I a woman? Boston: South End.

hooks, b. (1989). Talking back: Thinking feminist, thinking Black. Boston: South End.

Jewell, K. S. (1993). From mammy to Miss America and beyond: Cultural images and the shaping of U.S. social policy. New York: Routledge.

10.

Matabane, P. (1989). Strategies for research on Black women and mass communication. In P. J. Creedon (Ed.), Women in mass communication: Challenging gender values (pp. 117-122). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

11.

Rhodes, J. (1993). Falling through the cracks: Studying women of color in mass communication. In P. J. Creedon (Ed.), Women in mass communication(pp. 24-31). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

12.

Scarupa, H. J. (1977). The extraordinary faith of Pauli Murray. Essence, 8, 91-110.

13.

Taylor, S. (1995). Introduction. In A. Edwards (Ed.), Essence: 25 years celebrating Black women(pp. 23-58). New York: Abrams.

14.

Thom, M. (1997). Inside Ms. New York: Henry Holt.

15.

U.S. Census Bureau . (2000). The Black population in the United States. Retrieved October 30, 2000, from http://www.census.gov/prod/2000pubs/p20-530.pdf

16.

Whitaker, C. (1995). Essence. In K. L. Endres & T. L. Lueck (Eds.), Women’s periodicals in the United States: Consumer magazines(pp. 79-86). Westport, CT: Greenwood.