"It's the workhorse," says Gail Wyatt, author of the acclaimed 1997 book on black female stereotypes "Stolen Women: Reclaiming Our Sexuality, Taking Back Our Lives." "The black woman who's achievement-oriented, kind of no-nonsense, overworked, exhausted, not particularly kind or compassionate, but very driven." This tart-tongued, neck-rolling, loud-mouthed sister reigns on reality television. You see elements of her in Alicia Calaway of "Survivor: All-Stars," who indulged in a temperamental bout of finger wagging during an argument in 2001's "Survivor: The Australian Outback." Coral Smith, who rules with an iron tongue on MTV's "Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno," browbeat one female castmate so badly a week ago that she challenged Smith to a fight. Then there's Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth of "The Apprentice," who rode the angry-black-woman stereotype to the covers of People and TV Guide magazines even as she made fellow African-American businesswomen wince. Looking for comic relief? In the fictitious worlds of film and television, it's usually found in the form of a raving ABW. Think Wanda Sykes, whose character on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" gives Larry David a regular tongue-lashing. Or Eve's role as Terri, who shouts her way through 2002's "Barbershop" and its recent sequel, "Barbershop 2: Back in Business."
"You see this character so often in movies," Wyatt says. "They're always telling somebody off. The media plays a very strong role in perpetuating the stereotype."
| We missed Vanessa E. Jones' Boston Globe article "The angry black woman" (as in The Angry Black Woman) last week
posted in articles on April 28, 2004 3:46 AM | t (1)
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