5 Controlling Images that Affect Black Women - Blackfeminisms.com

Introduction to Controlling Images

• Black feminism focuses on challenging stereotypes that affect Black women.

• Introduced by Patricia Hill Collins in 1986, controlling images describe the dehumanization and exploitation of Black women.

Five Controlling Images of Black Women

1. Mammy

   • Represents Black women as domestic servants, e.g., Hattie McDaniel in Gone with the Wind.

   • Symbolizes faithfulness and obedience, reinforcing racial and gender hierarchies.

   • Functions to justify social positions of various groups and teaches Black children to subordinate themselves to whiteness.

2. Matriarch

   • Describes Black families headed by unmarried mothers, linked to poverty and social issues.

   • Portrayal by Mo'Nique in Precious exemplifies the stereotype.

   • Suggests that hard-working Black mothers emasculate Black men, leading to negative views on Black familial structures.

3. Welfare Mother

   • Portrays poor Black mothers as responsible for societal decline, reinforcing stereotypes from slavery.

   • Bastion of social control through federal policies targeting Black women's fertility and participation in welfare.

4. Black Lady

   • Represents middle-class Black women in professional roles, showcasing the politics of respectability.

   • Exemplified by Claire Huxtable in The Cosby Show, this image often faces criticism and misrepresentation.

5. Jezebel

   • Depicts Black women as hypersexual and hyperfertile, impacting perceptions in media (reality TV, rap).

   • Objectifies Black women, aligning with the desires of cisgender, heterosexual men.

   • Associations with notions of deviance and the sexualization in contemporary culture.

Impact of Controlling Images Today

• These controlling images foster harmful stereotypes and internalized racism.

• They uphold binary thinking comparing Black and white women, affecting societal standards of beauty.

• Resistance to these images often leads to the development of unique sexual politics among Black women.