I am a professional black woman and I love ratchet reality shows. From Real Housewives of Atlanta to virtually all of the Love and Hip Hops I love them all. They are fun and ridiculous. These shows provide an escape from my reality and I enjoy them. Recently VH1 (the undisputed champ of ratchet reality TV) had a show called Sorority Sisters which was about black women who are members of various black sororities and like in all of these shows they argued and fought and looked petty and ignorant at times. The sororities got so mad about this show that there were petitions and outrage and discussions and advertisers pulling out of the show and finally this week it was announced that VH1 was cancelling the show and burying the remaining episodes on the TV wasteland that is Friday night. The sororities applauded and other respectable black people called for similar action for the other reality shows that show black women in a bad light.
This isn't the first time there has been outrage about these reality shows but this is one of the few times the efforts worked. Here's my problem with the outrage about the negative portrayals of black women in reality shows: it wouldn't be a problem if there were a variety of portrayals of black women on TV and in movies and if the negative stereotypes of black women weren't so persistent. On TV the portrayals of black women are limited to reality shows, Kerry Washington on Scandal, Viola Davis on How to Get Away With Murder and random black sidekick. The stereotype of black women as loud, angry, eye rolling and neck rolling has been around for awhile and admittedly these reality shows illustrate that stereotype.
White women look bad on these reality shows also, on Real Housewives of New Jersey Teresa flipped over a table, on Mob Wives those women threaten to kill each other every week yet there are a plethora of positive portrayals of white women on TV and in movies. The public at large doesn't think all white women are violent because there are positive and varied images of white women to contradict the negative (also white women don't have the same negative stereotypes as black women, they have their own stereotypes which is a subject for another blog). While the positive and varied images of black women are few and far between.
When it comes to these reality shows often what I hear from black people who dislike the shows is that they reinforce the negative stereotypes and make us all look bad or as I've heard and said often "they set black people back." When those shows make up the majority of black women's representation on TV then that's a problem because it does make it seem like all black women are loud and fight all the time. However if there were more of a variety of roles for black women on TV then the negative aspect wouldn't matter as much because there would be other perspectives. If black people were truly equal (as some of y'all who say we live in a post racial society believe) we should be able to be catty and fight on TV alongside our white sisters as well as be funny as leads on sitcoms and have a variety of dramatic roles that showcase our complexity as people.
Growing up black in America I've been taught to put my best foot forward when in mixed company (meaning when white people are around). The thought process behind this is that we have it hard enough as it is and we shouldn't play into the negative stereotypes of black people. So when I'm around white people I may speak a little differently and carry myself in a different way to make sure I portray the nice acceptable negro. When I watch the news and hear about a criminal committing a particularly stupid crime I hope he/she isn't black because if one of us does something bad/stupid it makes us all look bad or so I've been taught to believe.
So it's on black people to combat the negative stereotypes by acting positively, which is just unfair. We get the bad stereotypes put on us and we have to combat them by acting intelligently and calmly. If I want to get loud and roll my neck I better wait until only black people are around and that's just not fair. I should be able to act a fool without shaming my entire race. However this "you better act right in front of company" mentality is what causes black people to get in an uproar about these ratchet reality shows. The women on these shows aren't following the rules and are acting a fool in front of white people. Well I say it shouldn't be on each individual black person to constantly combat negative stereotypes with our behavior we should be able to be wonderfully flawed individuals without being a reflection of our race as a whole. Every time a white person publicly does something wrong that's not an indictment of all white people so why should it be so for black people?
While it's great that black women used our voice to get a negative show cancelled it would be even better if we could use our voice to force TV executives to hire more black writers and producers so we can have more shows featuring black people in a variety of lights. The same goes for Latinos and Asians, TV and movies in general need to be more diverse. I realize that I'm asking black people to create the change after I just complained about black people having to combat negative stereotypes themselves but it has to start somewhere and it should not start and end with black people, white people and latino people and asian people all need to be involved. There are some networks *cough* CBS *cough* where there can be a whole night of prime time programming with not a face of color in sight. That needs to change.
So stop fighting ratchet reality TV in part because I love it and have loved it for a long time (I'm looking at you Flavor Flav, remember Flavor of Love? that was the best) but also because it's only a symptom of a larger problem which is a lack of diversity in the media altogether. So start that petition, boycott that network, write a good script and change the system but do not take my ratchet reality TV.
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