Black Beauty: Womanist Consciousness as a Protective Factor in Black Women’s Body Image Satisfaction

2021 ◽  
pp. 009579842110349
Author(s):  
Speshál Walker Gautier
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Body Satisfaction ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
Black American ◽  
Body Type ◽  
Body Image Satisfaction ◽  
American Women ◽  
Black American Women

Black American women are exposed to mainstream beauty standards, which may have implications for body image satisfaction. Given that beauty standards are often based on idealized depictions of White women’s physical features, scholars have called for body image research that extends beyond body type/weight (e.g., skin tone/hair) to better examine the experiences of Black women. In examining body image satisfaction and protective factors (e.g., ethnic identity), empirical research has yet to attend to these experiences at the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender. The current study used an online survey to examine whether womanist consciousness (WC) was a protective factor for Black American women ( N = 211). Findings indicated that after controlling for ethnic identity, higher womanist consciousness significantly predicted higher body satisfaction with historically racially defined features (e.g., skin tone/hair) and lower self-ideal discrepancy. Darker skin tone was linked to higher body importance and higher ethnic identity level. Last, increased frequency of wearing hair weaves was associated with lower body satisfaction while more frequently wearing Afrocentric hair styles/textures was associated with higher body satisfaction.

scholarly journals “I’m Supposed To Be Thick”: Managing Body Image Anxieties Among Black American Women

2020 ◽  
pp. 002193472097244
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Body Dissatisfaction ◽  
Body Satisfaction ◽  
White Women ◽  
Black American ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Strong Black Woman ◽  
American Women ◽  
Black American Women

Prior literature on Black women’s body image heavily relies on comparative studies to confirm Black women’s greater body satisfaction relative to white women. Collectively, these studies argue that “cultural buffers” exempt Black women from the thin ideal and instead, encourage women to embrace thickness as a mark of racial pride. And while the literature largely establishes Black women’s preference for a curvaceous figure, I take a different approach by examining women who describe failing to embody thickness and how they reconcile this conflict. Thus, this article asks how women negotiate body dissatisfaction when violating racialized bodily ideals. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 31 Black American women of diverse body sizes and shapes, I demonstrate how women rely on discursive frameworks such as healthism and the “strong Black woman” ideology to reconcile their self-image. While these discourses enable women to defend criticisms of violating thickness, they also participate in stigmatizing other forms of embodiment in their attempts to assuage body dissatisfaction. Overall, these findings reveal Black women’s agency to challenge idealized–and essentialized–notions of thickness that weighed heavily on their body image. Lastly, I discuss the broader implications of my findings within the literature of body politics and offer suggestions for future research.

scholarly journals #BodyProudMums: Promoting Body Positivity through Brand Storytelling on Social Media

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-341
Author(s):  
Ruvira Arindita
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Body Image ◽  
Body Satisfaction ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Perinatal Period ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Appreciation ◽  
Body Image Satisfaction ◽  
Body Acceptance

Previous researches showed that there is relation between body image satisfaction and depression in perinatal period. Given this fact, it is important to educate and find ways to enhance mothers’ postpartum self-esteem and body satisfaction. For the last decade body image literature has risen and brought to new discussion about body positivity. This research focuses on women’s body positivity campaign presented by Mothercare called #BodyProudMums. The objective of this research is to identify the storytelling elements used to promote women’s body positivity campaign and whether the issue creates good brand story for Mothercare. The concepts used are body positivity, postpartum, brand storytelling, and social media with qualitative content analysis as research method. The unit of analysis are ten posts of #BodyProudMums campaign on @mothercareuk, while the samples are three randomly chosen posts. This research notes that the body positivity messages of body appreciation, body acceptance, and love, as well as broad conceptualization of beauty are carried out by the elements of storytelling namely: basic plots (the quest), archetype (the change master) with the following story objectives: communicating who they are, fostering collaboration, transmitting values and sparking action. There are only three out of four elements of good brand story present on the campaign. However, the absence of humor element is justified because of the nature of the postpartum story in which it shares mothers’ hardship and how they finally cope with it. Therefore, it can be said that the issue of mothers’ body positivity creates good brand story for Mothercare. Key words: positive body image, postpartum, brand storytelling, social media

African American Women, Racism and Triple Oppression

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-117
Author(s):  
Rajendra Prasad Chapagain
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Black Men ◽  
Black Males ◽  
White Women ◽  
Black American ◽  
American Women ◽  
Black American Women ◽  
Sexual Repression

African American women have been made multiple victims: racial discrimination by the white community and sexual repression by black males of their own community. They have been subjected to both kind of discrimination - racism and sexism. It is common experience of black American women. Black American women do have their own peculiar world and experiences unlike any white or black men and white women. They have to fight not only against white patriarchy and white women's racism but also against sexism of black men within their own race. To be black and female is to suffer from the triple oppression- sexism, racism and classicism.

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