When I heard that there was a show that centered on a successful, smart and beautiful black woman, I almost peed myself in excitement. Since the middle of the 2000s, television has been lacking the presence of black-oriented shows. Naturally, I was extremely excited when I was told about "Scandal," a show about a Washington D.C. fixer. No longer were we the sassy sidekick, we were movin’ on up.
The first thing I did was binge watch seasons one and two. I was in love; Olivia Pope was a bad mam-a-jam-a. Nobody messed with her and didn’t feel the consequences. She was here to kick ass and take names, and she did it while looking stunningly professional. What I liked about Olivia Pope was that she wasn’t perfect, she lived off of popcorn and wine and, of course, sleeping with a married man is nothing to be proud of. But that was the point. She wasn’t perfect but she still did good things and wanted to be a good person.
But then seasons three, four and five came and with them, disturbing plotlines where she was thrown, chocked and treated like a maid who had not realized she had been dismissed. All through the show, she was referred to as a woman who only knew how to use her sexuality to get anywhere--basically a prostitute. To say I was pissed and surprised would be an understatement. What happened to the Olivia Pope I loved and respected? In her place was a cowering woman who cried constantly, made rash and stupid decisions, and constantly let people read (tell off) and step all over her. This was not the Olivia Pope I signed up for!
While I understand the idea of character development, this wasn’t development so much as character assassination. The Olivia Pope who handled sh*t was replaced by a woman who had become accustomed to, and welcomed, being looked at as a piece of ass. She was over-sexualized and voiceless. I took particular issue with the episode in which she was kidnapped and then took part in the plan to sell herself to the highest bidder. While it may have appeared as her taking control, it did not appear that way to me. A dread filled the pit of my stomach at the idea that she was so comfortable selling herself like a slave, no idea of where she was going, but fully along for the ride. She was so okay with being treated like livestock. For me, it hearkened back to the times of slavery and the way in which slaves were sold like items. The idea of Olivia selling herself was meant to make it "okay" but it really only made it worse.
As frustrated as I was, I simply chose to stop watching because I no longer supported what "Scandal" had become. Luckily, it seemed like the year of the black women, because numerous shows starring black women leads had popped up. So I shimmied on over to "Empire."
While I fully enjoy and love watching "Empire," I can’t help but notice the way the black women are treated on the show. Serayah, a young talented singer, first appears as a play-toy for Hakeem, the youngest and most troublesome son; she is highly sexualized and appears only goal-orientated. While it was cool to see that she was willing to do anything to see herself succeed, it also felt much like "Scandal," in that she had to use her body to get there. The same can be said for Anika, Lucious’ ex-girlfriend. She is used and discarded. She is a toy for Lucious and then his son. The fact that she was used as a way to get back at Lucious was so beyond degrading and insulting for women everywhere. (Hakeem has sex with her and then shoves it in the face of his father. She is referred to as sloppy seconds.)
Even Cookie, the mother and main character, is over-sexualized. I also find it very interesting that when Lucious was put in jail, their children constantly nagged her to visit him. But when she was in jail, for over a decade, their children said nothing when he didn’t visit her once and then left her.
The way in which black women on television are treated as objects to be used and thrown out bothers me greatly. Why is it that we must be depicted as mindless sex objects? Why is it that when violent acts are done against us, nothing is done? (This is in reference to "Scandal," when Olivia was hospitalized because Jake shoved her so hard, and when he choked her in her office and not one person objected.) So many violent and cruel things are done to black women in real life. According to Domestic Violence: Communities of Color, “African American females experience intimate partner violence at a rate 35% higher than that of white females, and about 2.5 times the rate of women of other races.”
Why do we need to see it happening to us in the media? I feel that perpetualizing the depiction of violence and over-sexualization to black women will only harm us further by making it common to the public. It will only make the racial empathy gap large. The racial empathy gap is a realization concluded from many studies that people believe that black people feel less pain than white people. The portrayal of black women in television has not been great, but I do think that with better writing, we can show that black women are just like everyone else and deserve the same respect.
