Black Lady meets Mammy: Analyzing the emergent televisual trope of the Black Lady therapist

Abstract

Abstract This article explores the recent trend of Black women playing therapists in U.S. television programs to understand how these programs negotiate the controlling images of two seemingly unrelated tropes: the Mammy and the Black Lady. Using sociocultural analysis of two programs featuring a Black Lady Therapist (BLT) from the past decade, we argue the BLT typically functions as a “false positive” representation and she is, in fact, a plastic character whose race is generally reinforced through a combination of boundary violations and asexuality. We aim to articulate how BLTs in television programming rely on and reinforce intersectional oppressions against Black women while simultaneously recognizing the ways their presence serves to advance progressive representations of Black women. Exceptions to these patterns point to the potential for more meaningful representations of Black women professionals on television.