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Freaks, Gold Diggers, Divas, and Dykes: The Sociohistorical Development of Adolescent African American Women's Sexual Scripts
Abstract
The development of a sexual self is based in an understanding of the messages and meanings an individual is given about sexual roles and behaviors. To understand how meanings become scripts unique to adolescent African American women’s experiences, it is important to look at how their images have been framed within a racialized and sexualized sociohistorical context. The remnants of the foundational Jezebel, Mammy, Matriarch, and Welfare. Mother images of African American womanhood remain today, as exemplified by similar, yet more sexually explicit scripts that include the Freak, Gold Digger, Diva, and Dyke. This paper explores the sociohistorical development of current sexual scripts for African American female adolescents through an interpretation of Hip Hop culture documents, and the available empirical research. The relevance of these current sexual scripts to sexual identity development, sexual risk-taking behaviors, and interpersonal relationship dynamics are also addressed.
... Misogynoir is a common theme in studies of parent-child sexual communication (e.g., Crooks et al., 2019;O'Sullivan et al., 2001;Stephens & Phillips, 2003). Some parents reported conversations about sexuality in which they perpetuated misogynoiristic beliefs. ...
... Caregivers used this language intentionally to send girls the message that there was something wrong with how they dressed, behaved, or who they were with (Crooks et al., 2019, p. 21). In other studies with Black families, parents reported endorsing gold digger stereotypes (i.e., women who trade sex for material goods; Stephens & Phillips, 2003) and warned children to avoid dating or being these women (Akers, Yonas, et al., 2011). Black mothers in two studies, now dated, saw teen pregnancy as an inevitable intergenerational pattern due to daughters' interest in men (Aronowitz et al., 2007;O'Sullivan et al., 2001), although daughters in one of these samples explicitly disagreed with this belief (Aronowitz et al., 2007). ...
... Stereotypes of Black women, such as "Mammy," "Sapphire," and "Jezebel" are deeply ingrained within U.S. culture (Stephens & Phillips, 2003;Thomas et al., 2004;West, 2004). These stereotypes function to normalize and perpetuate interlocking systems of oppression and social injustice against Black women (Collins, 2000). ...
Black women may adhere to the Superwoman Schema (SWS), which may be associated with psychological distress in particular contexts. Emotion regulation may be an important factor in understanding the relationship between SWS and psychological distress. In this cross-sectional study of 167 college Black women, we examined the relationship between dimensions of SWS and psychological distress. We also investigated if two aspects of emotion regulation, expressive suppression, and cognitive reappraisal, mediated these
relationships. Findings indicated that all dimensions of SWS were positively associated with psychological distress. Expressive suppression mediated these relationships for all dimensions except for an obligation to suppress emotions and an obligation to help others. However, the intense motivation to succeed, despite limited resources, was positively associated with cognitive reappraisal,
which was inversely associated with psychological distress. Findings underscore the complex nature of the Superwoman Schema and highlight the importance of understanding and addressing emotional regulation strategies in clinical settings to support Black women’s mental well-being effectively.
... Racist sexual stereotypes during Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras have morphed into contemporary misrepresentative labels (e.g., freak, gold digger, welfare queen, player, pimp, downlow) to maintain the pathologization of Black sexualities (Calabrese et al., 2018;Collins, 2004;Stephens & Phillips, 2003). The vehicles of anti-Black representations of sexuality included eugenic sex science, as well as inaccurate media depictions, inadequate sex education, and misuse of Christian doctrine, all of which informed political strategy to subjugate Black sexualities (Maurer, 2000). ...
More recently, Black sexologists have advanced conceptual frameworks developed by humanities scholars using empirical research to address understudied areas such as sexual pleasure, intimacy, orgasm, and desire. Frameworks such as #HotGirlScience (Hargons & Thorpe, 2022) invite qualitative methodologists to investigate these constructs with more authenticity, pleasure, joy, sex-positive discourses, and a commitment to citing Black women; this is a radical pleasure disruption to scholastic anti-Blackness. In addition to the epistemologically liberating undertaking, there may also be opportunities to facilitate sexual healing—the movement toward an optimal sexual self—through the qualitative research process. Lee et al. (2023) noted healing research methodologies include six petals: maintains social justice ethics, adopts liberation methodologies, implements healing methods, embraces interdisciplinary approaches, catalyzes action, and promotes community accessibility. This qualitative (i.e., collaborative autoethnography and thematic analysis) study used the healing methods framework to examine how researchers and participants in the Big Sex Study articulated the healing and liberatory benefits of engaging in the qualitative phases of a #HotGirlScience, community-based participatory action research project. Results of this study showed that Black participants and research team members felt liberated, heard, valued, reassured, and experienced heightened curiosity and shifts in their sexual perspectives. Throughout the interviews, participants reported four of five petals in the healing methodologies framework, with Petal 3 being the most frequently reported. Implications for the use of healing methodologies in Black sexology are discussed.
... Black Feminist Thought relies on Black women's expression through storytelling to reclaim their collective voice, challenging the male gaze that often dictates how the story of Black womanhood is told (Collins, 1990). These films challenge the sexual scripts and stereotypical representations often ascribed to Black women on screen (Stephens & Phillips, 2003), providing a visualization of Black womanhood directly aligned with the tenets of Black Feminist Thought. ...
... Furthermore, race and the period of music release not only influence the perception of sexualized content but also shape associated emotional responses. Racial dynamics can impact the interpretation of explicit content, with non-White artists potentially facing criticism due to prevailing racial stereotypes (Stephens & Phillips, 2003). Existing research indicates that music videos featuring non-White artists tend to incorporate more sexualized content and objectification, with reports suggesting even double the amount compared to their White counterparts (Cougar Hall, West, & McIntyre, 2012;Frisby & Aubrey, 2012;Karsay et al., 2019). ...
This study explores the interplay between sexualization, emotional valence, and audience reactions to music videos in the rap and pop genres, focusing on the effects of genre, gender, race, and release year. The study employs the Linguistic In-quiry and Word Count (LIWC) and Valence Aware Dictionary and sEntiment Reasoner (VADER) to quantify sexualization and emotional responses. Results indicate that rap music videos generate comments that feature more sex-related terms than pop. Female artists' videos elicited more emotional language, while failing to discriminate sexualized reactions compared to male artists’ videos. Additionally, videos by artists of color and more recent releases garnered heightened emotional responses, highlighting the influence of race and changing cultural norms. Correlation analysis revealed a positive association between sexual content and negative emotional valence, aligning with the negativity bias theory. These findings emphasize the need to consider the diverse audience reactions to sexualization and advocate for more sensitive portrayals in music videos.
Resumen
La teorización feminista negra se desarrolló fuera del mundo académico formal para satisfacer las necesidades de las mujeres negras, pero no terminó ahí. Esta reseña ofrece acceso a algunas “guerras” y debates actuales acerca de las políticas del conocimiento sobre teorías, conceptos y praxis feministas negras que se han profundizado dentro de la sociología y se extienden cada vez más a paneles de conferencias en vivo, debates en línea y legislaturas. Las características compartidas dentro del feminismo negro incluyen una atención persistente y crítica a la producción de conocimiento, el poder y el cambio social de las mujeres negras, pero hay mucho más que eso. Basándose en la sociología y otras disciplinas, esta reseña del feminismo negro/interseccionalidad cubre familias de feminismos negros, tendencias de citación disciplinaria, consideraciones metodológicas y tensiones en torno a la encarnación en las demandas sobre el feminismo negro y la interseccionalidad. En las conclusiones proponemos rumbos para destrabar conflictos, desestabilizar guerras y avanzar hacia la alegría y la liberación mientras la lucha continúa.
An English translation is available online at https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-090123-032434
Black feminist theorizing developed outside the formal academy to meet the needs of Black women but did not end there. This review offers entrée to some current “wars” and debates on politics of knowledge about Black feminist theories, concepts, and praxis that have deepened within sociology and increasingly extend into live conference panels, online debates, and legislatures. Shared characteristics within Black feminism include persistent and critical attention to Black women's knowledge production, power, and social change—but there is much more. Drawing on sociology and other disciplines, this review of Black feminism/intersectionality covers families of Black feminisms, disciplinary citation trends, methodological considerations, and tensions around embodiment in claims to Black feminism and intersectionality. In the conclusions, we propose directions to untether conflicts, unsettle wars, and move toward joy and liberation as the struggle continues.
A Spanish translation is available online at https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-030424-062839
Evolutionary and sociocultural theories of mate selection preferences contend that men place greater value on physical attractiveness than do women. Thus, meta-analyses were conducted of findings from 5 research paradigms that have examined the hypothesis: (a) questionnaire studies, (b) analyses of lonely hearts advertisments, (c) studies that correlate attractiveness with opposite-sex popularity, (d) studies that correlate attractiveness with liking by a dyadic interaction partner, and (e) experiments that manipulate the attractiveness and similarity of an opposite-sex stranger. The anticipated sex difference emerged in all five meta-analyses, although it was larger in research that examined self-reports than in research that examined social behavior.
The study of adolescent risk-taking behavior gained prominence in the 1980s as it became increasingly evident that the majority of the morbidity and mortality during the second decade of life was behavioral in origin. The term risk-taking behavior has been used to link, conceptually, a number of potentially health-damaging behaviors including, among others, substance use, precocious or risky sexual behavior, reckless vehicle use, homicidal and suicidal behavior, eating disorders, and delinquency. The linkage of these behaviors under a single domain is theoretically useful because it allows for the investigation of particular behaviors in the context of other behaviors. The construct of risk-taking behavior also suggests a more parsimonious use of interventions, targeting groups of behaviors rather than applying multiple more narrowly targeted interventions.
