During a recent speaking engagement at the Carmel Art and Film Festival in Monterey County California, Sheila Johnson, the co-founder of BET, had a few choice words about the current state of the network. In reminiscing about the network, she did praise Teen Summit as being one of her greatest accomplishments, “All those young people…
In a recent interview with The Root, Burrell expresses his displeasure in Scandal’s portrayal of black women. I’m not a big television watcher, and it’s only been about a year since I’ve had anything but Netflix in my house. We were a cableless and network television free household for years, and I can’t say that…
I’m infatuated with romantic comedies. Like most cupid-crazed women seeking a soul mate, I purchase rom-coms with fervor, embracing the female heroine as she suffers through the various pangs of love. When the ending credits roll on movies from Legally Blonde to the iconic Pretty Woman, I feel satisfied, full even. These films reignite the…
Last night’s speech delivered by First Lady Michelle Obama was a true testament to the tenacity and perseverance of black women. After being dissected by the media and critics for the last four years: as being an angry black woman, a militant black woman, and most recently reduced to a modern day slave. The minute Michelle…
A few weeks ago I wrote an opinion piece for theGrio.com on how viewers of reality television shows likeLove & Hip Hop Atlanta were actively supporting VH1’s and executive producer Mona Scott-Young’s racist and misogynistic assault on the image of black women in America. Given that L&HHA was the most popular show on cable among black women aged 18-49 this…
On newsstands across Spain, Michelle Obama can be seen gracing the August 2012 cover of Magazine Fuera de Serie, a lifestyle supplement to the newspaper Expansión. She is seated on a chair draped in the American flag, partially nude in slave attire, complete with one of Aunt Jemima’s chicer headscarves. Perhaps because it seems so…
Ah, women’s track and field. It’s among the most exciting competitive divisions at the Summer Olympics. The absolute fastest, highest-leaping female athletes vie for the lowest finish times and the highest honors, while the rest of us sit at home yelling and tweeting and cheering about it. It’s clear that black Olympics fans love track…
If you’ve ever stumbled upon a YouTube video where little girls perform a hypersexualized dance routine set to a dancehall tune or a slow jam, then you won’t be surprised at the results of a recent study that showed 68 percent of girl participants, aged 6 to 9, want to look “sexy.” The study presented two paper…
In the past four years, you’ve probably learned a lot about black women. We are eternally single, but we refuse to marry outside of our race. We are fat and proud, but we’re also considered the least attractive. And, even though our wild curly hair is not attractive, we are still obsessed with it —…
