by Carol Rucker

Created on: March 15, 2009   Last Updated: April 06, 2009

Media Targets-

A Black teenage girl doesn't wake up thinking, 'I'm a Ho and today I think I'll go for the 5 dollar hooker look;' like many young woman, her visible thong, bare skin and runway strut are media inspired choices. By blindly following such self-destructive trends, she is not simply giving in to today's Black woman stereotypes; she is fulfilling her assigned role as a living media target. She is becoming a willing victim of 24/7 BET video offerings , VH1 reality shows and Hip Hop lyrics that dress up bad behavior, poor grammar, violence and sexuality and pawn them off as Black culture.

From The Cradle to the Grave-

It begins with young children when a mother may not intend to park her baby girl in front of an X rated video; but that's what happens anyway. A child's mind absorbs those negative stereotypes like nursery school lessons, grasping colorful movements and unedited X-Rated lyrics. When a toddler's eyes are drawn to the rump-shaking rhythm on the small screen, her mind is being molded for a future a mother might not have anticipated.

Whether intended or not, what a young child sees and hears will stick with her, reminding her to move this way and that when the music plays and to act like the hip-shaking ladies do on TV. When she performs the moves she's learned, her parents will certainly laugh and say, 'how cute,' positive feedback that makes their daughter want to do it even better next time.

Buying the Thong-

Inspired by a constant stream of media hype, a young Black Girl will become a teenager with a part-time job and cash to spend. By then she will take for granted the violence, sexuality and caustic lyrics seen many times over during her lifetime. They will be a part of her, an influence on auto-pilot by then, visible in the way she moves, speaks and interacts and how she chooses to live her life.

She will buy the sexiest thong, allow it peek-a-boo above her low rise jeans. She will walk the streets with her girlfriends, showing off for the guys in the neighborhood. Or perhaps she will slip into a skin tight skirt, revealing more skin than is appropriate as she dances the night away. She might be drawn to the outfit that says '5 dollar hooker,' the one with flash and sparkle that bares most of her skin but seems normal because she saw something like it on MTV and they sell it at her local shopping mall.

Unless someone convinces her otherwise, a Black teenage girl will rely on personal tastes set by a lifetime of female role models. For many

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