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Description

The media has shaped Black perception, rooting back to slavery, and continues to plague the Black community today, specifically Black teenage girls. Hollywood presents Black girls coming of age as a disappearance, especially now, erasing them from the screen and confining Black teenage girlhood to harmful tropification. Through the lens of Black Feminist theory and Black Girlhood Studies framework, I will examine the rise of the disposable Black girl trope, race swapping, and the token Black girl character since the 2010s to now versus the difference in the representation of Black girlhood on TV in the 90s and 2000s. This research will seek to understand the intersectionality of Black girlhood through mixed methods research, defining the common themes in the current state of Black girlhood in Hollywood. Thus far, the research in this field suggests that adultification, whitewashing, and neglecting of Black teenage girls attributes to this problem. Through my research, I hope to expand these ideas through specific case studies of Black sitcoms, erasure of the monoracial Black actress, and lack of effort toward these projects from their production companies.

Publication Date

4-1-2025

Keywords

Black girlhood, media representation, Hollywood tropes, Black Feminist theory, Black Girlhood Studies, disposable Black girl trope, race swapping, tokenism, 2010s media, 1990s and 2000s television, adultification, whitewashing, monoracial Black actresses, production company bias, mixed methods research, intersectionality, Black sitcoms, erasure in media

The Erasure and Confinement of Black Teenage Girlhood in Media

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