Jessica Jenkins

 In today's society the hip-hop culture is a very debatable topic in the African American community, due to the representation of African American women within this culture. African American females are viewed in very stereotypical ways and degrading ways in some cases. These negative images of African American females in the media can affect the way they view themselves and how the world views them. Programs such as Black Girls Rock! is a program that was started in 2006, with the sole purpose of helping to develop and build young African American girls self-esteem and self-worth and to help African American girls and women celebrate the beauty of being African American and to be best they can be, by being positive role models within their communities.

For my cultural analysis paper, I plan to view the history of how the African American women has been seen in the United States. Second, how African American females are viewed today in the United States. Third, I will explain what Black Girls Rock! is and I will talk about the Black Girls Rock! Award show. In my paper, I will discuss mostly African American women and girls perceptions about beauty, self-esteem, the media, and etc. I will discuss class topics such as the interactionist approach as it applies to how these women and girls view themselves, the functions of popular culture, how the representation of social inequality and dominant ideologies relate to how these women and girls feel about themselves, search for authenticity, collaborative circles, and cultural conventions.



Here is the Black Girls Rock! link >>> http://www.blackgirlsrockinc.com/

Below are some discussion on the topics of medias influence on African American females, African American females views of body image, how they define themselves as a black women, and the history of how African American females were viewed.