The document discusses portrayals of African American women in reality television. It reviews literature finding that they are often depicted through negative stereotypes like violence, an emphasis on body image, and using sexuality/aggression for empowerment. The paper then analyzes one season of the show Love & Hip Hop, finding that while most cast members fit these stereotypes, one woman, Yandy Smith-Harris, portrayed herself professionally and avoided the negative behaviors. The paper concludes more research is needed on shows featuring positively depicted African American women to counter stereotypes.

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Reality TV: The Media Depictions and Portrayals of African American
Women (Case Study)
Literature Review
Stereotypes/Perceptions of Violence: The first concern about reality television is the
representations of stereotypes that African American women tends to portray negative and
violent images, that violence is always the answer to the problem. Tyree (2011) found that
African American women in reality television portrayed new stereotypes such as the loud ghetto
fabulous girl or the hood girl. Tyree also believed that the young African American audience
tend to embrace and imitate these stereotypes more which leads to negative effects in their
personal lives. Smith (2013) found African American women were portrayed more negatively in
the media than African American men. Based on these studies, African American women are
viewed in a negative manner because they are more likely to engage in cat fights and verbal
altercations, which is very amusing to the average television viewer.
Perceptions of Body Image: The cultivation effects of mental body images of one’s body is an
important factor to African American women in reality television and to the American society.
Cato (2010), believed that women are only acknowledged and recognized by their bodies or if
they are dressed provocatively in order to gain attention, not by their credentials or character.
Smith (2013) believes that body image is an important requirement for any reality television
show, meaning a woman who is fair skinned, has big breasts, a tiny waist, and voluptuous curves
are attention getters and are accepted by men and the American society.
Potential Empowerment: In reality television African American women use empowerment in
a different perspective. Cato (2010) believed that empowerment is mostly involved with being
sexually characterized and using sexual power to maintain control and to be rewarded with

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physical and emotional attention. Smith (2013) believed that empowerment portrayed with
aggressiveness and demand respect from female cast members and others of the opposite sex.
Marwick (2010) found that the popularity of cosmetic surgery is empowered by women and
women of color so they can happily accept themselves after they have fixed their physical flaws.
Research Question: These three concepts are very important to African American women in
reality television because they are only remembered by the negative stereotypes and behavior
they are portraying on national television. But is there a possibility for any positive stereotypes
or depictions of African American women showing positive aspects of their characters and lives
in reality television?
R1: Can African American female cast members develop more positive stereotypes in the
media and be less affected by the perceptions of body image?
R2: Is there a possibility for African American women to gain empowerment rather than
using sexual or aggressive power?
R3: Are African American women less violent in present reality television?
Narrative
Love and Hip Hop is an American reality TV series on the VH1 network. The show
follows the lives of six African American women connected to the hip hop industry. Since the

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debut of Love and Hip Hop in 2010, the franchise has grown consistently which made it one of
the five most popular shows on cable TV. According to the Nielsen ratings, Love and Hip Hop is
the most watched show among African American women in the 18 to 49 age demographic with
3.6 million viewers. The major downfall of this television show is the negative portrayals of
African American women, majority of the depictions are women being verbally and physically
violent, the pressure of body image and beauty, and being a viewed as a sexualized character in
order to gain empowerment.
The issues with shows such as Love and Hip Hop is the black female audience are
embracing a show about black women struggling with their personal relationships, economic
disempowerment, sexually exploitation, and emotional and physical abuse from their spouses.
But throughout the show, the African American female cast members tend to show positive
portrayals of their personal and professional lives, which developed a few positive stereotypes of
African American women. Some African American female cast members carried themselves
with class and were barely in any drama because they wanted to show the world that black
women should have the ability to be seen and heard without degrading their integrity.
Results:
To explore the positive portrayals and positive stereotypes, I watched a few episodes of the
television show to observe which female cast members did not represent any negative behaviors
or stereotypes. The episodes were watched on the VH1 network and on the website at VH1.com.
Looking at the episodes, only one female cast member caught my attention, and what I loved
about her was she represented herself in a professional manner.

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Yandy Smith-Harris
Yandy Smith-Harris is one of the original cast members of Love and Hip Hop. She is an
entertainment powerhouse and entrepreneur who is part owner, President, and brand manager of
the lifestyle brand Everything Girls Love. Born and raised in Harlem, New York Yandy decided
to pursue a career in business and management. She paid her way through college at Howard
University and worked two jobs as a bank teller and a clothing retailer. After college Yandy
worked as an executive assistant at Violator Management and also worked at Warner Bros.
Music where she managed famous rap artists such as Missy Elliot, LL Cool J, Jim Jones, and
many upcoming hip hop artists in the industry.
Throughout the show Yandy is portrays and conducts herself in a positive manner and she
barely gets into any confrontation with the cast members. She tries to stay neutral and advises the
female cast members to handle conflict in a mature manner. In the body image perspective,
Yandy has a strong self-confidence personality. She eats healthy and exercises regularly and
does not believe that cosmetic surgery is the gateway out of one’s insecurities. Another
important aspect of Yandy’s portrayals in Love and Hip Hop is the way she shows empowerment
through professionalism and hard work. Yandy is a firm believer of how the only way to succeed

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in any career you choose is to work hard and show people your worth through your hard work
and integrity, not to use your body to make your way up to the top.
Discussion
The popularity of this show is still getting high rates consistently, Love and Hip Hop
continues to show African American women in a negative perspective. Though the show had one
African American cast member with positive portrayals and depictions, the show tends to bring
more violence and drama because it would bring more ratings and gain more viewers. Future
research should continue to find more reality television shows involving African American
women who have more positive portrayals and depictions in the media rather than engaging in
negative behaviors. Even though it is shameful that young African American viewers find that
positive cast members in reality television shows are categorized as uninteresting and boring,
they tend to find cat fights, drama, and relationship problems, and sexual exploitation as
appealing and amusing. It is important to believe there are positive African American women in
reality television, we just have to stop overlooking them.

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References
Cato, M., & Dillman, R., F., (2010). Conceptualizations of female empowerment and
enjoyment of sexualized characters in reality television. Mass Communication and Society, 13,
270-288.
Dalisay, F., Zhang, L., Zhang, Y., & Tan, A. (2009). Stereotypes of african americans
and media use among chinese high school students. The Howard Journal of Communications,
20, 260-275.
Marwick, A. (2010). There’s a beautiful girl under all of this: performing hegemonic
femininity in reality television. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 27(3), 251-266.
Smith, S. (2013). And still more drama!: a comparison of the portrayals of african
american women and african american men on BET’s college hill. The Western Journal of Black
Studies, 37(1),39-47.
Tyree, T. (2011). African american stereotypes in reality television. The Howard Journal
of Communications, 22, 394-413.