Black Girls and How We Fail Them

Halliday (gender and women’s studies and African American and Africana studies, Univ. of Kentucky) gives a straightforward overview of U.S. society’s misogynoir, specifically against Black girls and young women, using references from pop culture. She examines how, through films, music, TV shows, and more, society signals that Black girls don’t matter. Critically, Halliday argues that the increasing racial diversity of media in the last 20 years has coincided with an increase in bias against Black girls. She provides insightful examples of mistreatment and stereotypical tropes. Among her objects of criticism are movies like 2016’s The Girl with All the Gifts, in which the Black girl characters sacrifice their physical and emotional needs for the sake of others. In addition to criticizing the portrayal of fictional Black girls, Halliday indicts media reactions to young celebrities like Malia and Sasha Obama. She also makes a point of noting how “girl dad” status is cynically used to elevate famous men; for instance, the media narrative around hip-hop mogul Diddy (née Sean Combs) was that fathering daughters made him a better man, before the allegations broke of his yearslong sexual abuse of women.