“Whoever Controls the media, controls the mind”-Jim Morrison The power and presence of the media ensures that what is seen, heard and experienced in and through the media influence the behavior of teenagers whether they are conscious of it or not.
When most people think of the influences of the media on youth, they think about the negative body images. They think about how the media is constantly bombarding children and teens with unrealistic beauty standard, or they think about violence in video games. They don’t really think about the lack of diversity represented in the mainstream media. When the Black community and the media are mentioned the first thing most people think about are the police brutality and how the media portrays …show more content…
Speaking about the colorism and lack of diversity in our media gives a deeper understanding of just how the mainstream media affects the black community. According to “A Colourstruck world: skin tone, achievement and self- esteem among African American women,” Verna M. Keith looks at the relationship between skin tone and self-esteem. She provided two graphs which show the relationship between the levels of self-esteem in adolescents and adulthood. There was very little difference between adolescents, but with adults it drops significantly. Very dark brown skinned women had the lowest self-esteem on the chart. It’s not hard to imagine why. From birth, those with dark skin are treated poorly. It is almost at the point where having dark skin is considered a stigma, something to be ashamed of. Even our hair is considered horrid. At a young age, we grow up with the idea that having straight hair is considered womanly and beautiful, while our original hair is considered a mark of childhood, and as unkempt and unruly. Companies such as Olay and Maybelline advertise hair products that show women of color with straight hair or rather exaggerated hairstyles that are meant to connect to women of color but instead subtly degrade our natural
When most people think of the influences of the media on youth, they think about the negative body images. They think about how the media is constantly bombarding children and teens with unrealistic beauty standard, or they think about violence in video games. They don’t really think about the lack of diversity represented in the mainstream media. When the Black community and the media are mentioned the first thing most people think about are the police brutality and how the media portrays …show more content…
Speaking about the colorism and lack of diversity in our media gives a deeper understanding of just how the mainstream media affects the black community. According to “A Colourstruck world: skin tone, achievement and self- esteem among African American women,” Verna M. Keith looks at the relationship between skin tone and self-esteem. She provided two graphs which show the relationship between the levels of self-esteem in adolescents and adulthood. There was very little difference between adolescents, but with adults it drops significantly. Very dark brown skinned women had the lowest self-esteem on the chart. It’s not hard to imagine why. From birth, those with dark skin are treated poorly. It is almost at the point where having dark skin is considered a stigma, something to be ashamed of. Even our hair is considered horrid. At a young age, we grow up with the idea that having straight hair is considered womanly and beautiful, while our original hair is considered a mark of childhood, and as unkempt and unruly. Companies such as Olay and Maybelline advertise hair products that show women of color with straight hair or rather exaggerated hairstyles that are meant to connect to women of color but instead subtly degrade our natural