A Wholistic View of Black Women on Scripted TV: A Content Analysis

Abstract

Existing analyses of Black women on TV have tended to focus on their general prevalence or employment/family status. As such, less is known about the extent to which they reflect broader attributes associated with women and with Black women. Accordingly, we examined portrayals of Black women on 12 scripted programs, focusing on 33 behaviors associated with mothering, friendship, work, and stress, in addition to role status and appearance. Our results indicated that Black women on scripted television programs were often single, mothers, dark-skinned, thin, and in high-status occupations. The most prevalent behaviors depicted were giving orders or commands, engaging in occupation-related actions or statements, and showing emotion (e.g., crying, storming off). Implications of these characterizations are discussed, both in terms of the breadth and accuracy of their representation and in the potential ways they may be perceived by viewers.