The Symbolic Annihilation of the Black Woman in Rap Videos: A Content Analysis Item Type text; Electronic Thesis Authors Manriquez, Candace Lynn Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 28/09/2021 03:10:19 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/624121 THE SYMBOLIC ANNIHILATION OF THE BLACK WOMAN IN RAP VIDEOS: A CONTENT ANALYSIS by Candace L. Manriquez ____________________________ Copyright © Candace L. Manriquez 2017 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2017 Running head: THE SYMBOLIC ANNIHILATION OF THE BLACK WOMAN 2 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR The thesis titled The Symbolic Annihilation of the Black Woman: A Content Analysis prepared by Candace Manriquez has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for a master’s degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: Candace Manriquez APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: Defense date Jennifer Stevens Aubrey May 8, 2017 Associate Professor of Communication Running head: THE SYMBOLIC ANNIHILATION OF THE BLACK WOMAN 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ 4 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. 6 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 7 2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ........................................................................................... 10 3. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................... 19 4. RESULTS ......................................................................................................................... 23 5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION .............................................................................. 29 6. LIMITATIONS ................................................................................................................. 39 7. REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………..66 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................. 56 A. SYMBOLIC ANNIHILATION CODEBOOK ................................................................. 56 B. LIST OF SONGS, ARTIST(S), AND YEAR OF RELEASE .......................................... 60 Running head: THE SYMBOLIC ANNIHILATION OF THE BLACK WOMAN 4 LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1. INTERCODER RELIABILTY ALPHA COEEFICIENTS…………………...….....42 TABLE 2. REPRESENTATION OF RACE OF PRIMARY FEMALE CHARACTERS ..........43 IN RAP MUSIC VIDEOS OVER TIME TABLE 3. REPRESENTATION OF SKIN TONE FOR BLACK WOMEN IN RAP................44 VIDEOS OVER TIME TABLE 4. REPRESENTATION OF HAIR TEXTURE FOR BLACK WOMEN IN RAP.........45 MUSIC VIDEOS OVER TIME TABLE 5. REPRESENTATION OF POSTERIOR SIZE FOR BLACK WOMEN....................46 IN RAP MUSIC VIDEOS OVER TIME TABLE 6. SKIN TONE CHANGES FOR NON- BLACK WOMEN OVER TIME…………...47 TABLE 7. SKIN TONE CHANGES FOR WOMEN CODED AS “OTHER” OVER TIME…..48 TABLE 8. RACE AMBIGUITY AMONG PRIMARY FEMALE CHARACTERS…………...49 TABLE 9. RACE AMBIGUITY AMONG BLACK WOMEN…………………………………50 TABLE 10. RACE AMBIGUITY AMONG WHITE WOMEN………………………………...51 TABLE 11. RACE AMBIGUITY AMONG “OTHER” WOMEN……………………………...52 TABLE 12. RACE PROMINENCE OVER TIME……………………………………………...53 Running head: THE SYMBOLIC ANNIHILATION OF THE BLACK WOMAN 5 The Symbolic Annihilation Of The Black Woman In Rap Videos: A Content Analysis Candace L. Manriquez University of Arizona Running head: THE SYMBOLIC ANNIHILATION OF THE BLACK WOMAN 6 Abstract Racial and ethnic minorities are often exploited within the larger societies to which they belong, often having aspects of their cultures appropriated and commodified. The commodification of certain aspects of marginalized groups’ cultures, or the selling of cultural expressions to the dominant group, act as a way to keep representations of minorities squarely in the realm of the stereotypical. Historically, there have been trends, such as in fashion and language, associated with racial/ethnic minorities that gained legitimacy only once adopted by Whites (Avins, 2015; Flynn, 2015). According to fans and critics, Black women, once highly visible and overly sexualized, have seemingly been pushed out and replaced by women of different races in rap and hip- hop music videos (Iandoli, 2013; Longfellow, 2014). This lack of representation and replacement of Black women is similar to Gerbner’s (1972) notion of symbolic annihilation. In the current study, I argue that contemporary Black artists commodify Whiteness, and, in turn, validate their art and themselves, through visual and lyrical veneration and fetishization of the White female form, which has historically been seen as a more valuable currency than the Black female form. Through a quantitative content analysis, 210 rap videos were assessed to evaluate whether there has been a symbolic annihilation of Black women in rap/hip-hop music videos over the last 20 years. The current study found that representation of Black women has decreased while the representation of non-Black women has increased. Further, the results suggest that Black women’s skin tone has gotten lighter, and they have become more racially ambiguous, suggesting an adherence to Eurocentric standards of beauty that symbolically annihilates Black women. Running head: THE SYMBOLIC ANNIHILATION OF THE BLACK WOMAN 7 The Symbolic Annihilation of the Black Woman in Rap Videos: A Content Analysis Historically, women of color, particularly Black women, have been seen as less pure, less decent, and less demanding of respect than their White counterparts. In order to understand representations of White and Black female sexuality today, it is beneficial to consider the historical context of the public perceptions of Black versus White women’s sexuality. Since the days of U.S. slavery, White womanhood has been held in the highest regard, a concept to be protected against threat (Henckler, 2007). Contrarily, Black womanhood has not been nearly as revered. During slavery, public perceptions held that White women were delicate, virtuous, domestic, and inherently more beautiful than African-American women, while Black women were objectified, merely made up of a collection of useful body parts upon an auction block; spectacles of saleable goods with “strong robust constitutions” (hooks as cited in White, 1999, p. 30). Sexually speaking, White women were considered to be chaste and pure, while Black women were, as characterized by the South Carolina Gazette, libidinous, animalistic “creatures” who were “not easily jaded,” but able to serve their lovers “by night as well as day” (as cited in White, 1999, p. 30). As such, White womanhood and Black womanhood were interdependent. The White woman’s sense of self was directly shaped by and relied on her perceived superiority over Black women. The White woman’s chastity was dependent on the Black woman’s depravity (White, 1999). These beliefs about womanhood gave life to beliefs that Black women were sexually available to White men at any given time and that it was the Black woman’s “want of virtue” that caused Black men’s “commission of rape upon White women” (White, 1999, p. 39). Similarly, it was believed that, unlike Northerners who “debased the civilized” White prostitute, by enabling Running head: THE SYMBOLIC ANNIHILATION OF THE BLACK WOMAN 8 her lewd behavior, Southern men were able to keep their White women “pure from the taint of immorality” by using Black women as a sexual buffer (White, 1985, p. 40). Remnants of these troublesome beliefs still circulate through U.S. culture today. While the idealized image of womanhood, a good, innocent, and virginal girl, continues to be associated with White women, whereas this image is all but unattainable for African-American women (Stephens, 2003). This socially fabricated image of White womanhood is contingent upon the myth that Black women are not and do not have the capacity to be sexually innocent (Brown & McNair, 1995; Hill Collins, 2000; hooks, 1992). We see these myths played out in the sexual scripts that Black women have had bestowed upon them versus the sexual scripts that White women have had bestowed upon them. While there is there is the “girl-next-door” trope for White women, the quiet, book-smart trope for Asian women, and