Examining the Impact of Sexual Stereotyping in Black Women

Abstract

Among all women in the U.S., African American women are the most likely to experience denigration and sexualization (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 1999) due to being devalued as human beings and sexually objectified. The U.S. is plagued with a history of oppression of Black women based on their race, gender, and class. These intersecting forms of oppression have resulted in the devaluation of Black women and the promotion of negative stereotypes regarding their sexuality. The hip hop culture has been an outlet where the promotion of stereotypes of Black women has been normalized and accepted. Within this medium Black women are depicted as promiscuous, money-hungry, loud-mouthed, and manipulative individuals. Such widespread and culturally-accepted negative sexual stereotypes of Black women can have grave impacts on the way Black women view themselves and negotiate their sexual experiences. Black women with frequent exposure to the negative sexual stereotypes in the hip hop culture may internalize the negative images of themselves and develop cognitive sexual schemas based on those images. A large amount of hip hop videos depict women as having great sexual desire and as sexually uninhibited and these depictions serve as representations for how women should view themselves (Roberts 1996; Stephens and Few, 2007). Because risky sexual behavior and STIs are disproportionately prevalent among Black women, the current study explored the relations between internalized sexual stereotypes, Black women’s self-schemas and their self-reported risky sexual behavior.