This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Cal Poly chapter.
Yesterday, Chicago Taskforce, the Save Wįyąbi Project and Know Your IX, organizations dedicated to reporting on and educating about gender-based violence, rallied up their Twitter followers on November 8 at 11 a.m. EST to provide insight on how the media portrays women of color, using the hashtag #HowMediaWritesWOC.
The hashtag was trending for a brief moment when the tweeting session started, and a massive number of people provided their two cents into how they’ve seen women of color in the news, movies, television and so forth. Of course, these tweets often come from social activist point-of-views and intend to make the readers aware that the media shows women of color in a light that’s barely positive.
A good chunk of the tweets dealt with politics and how others respond when WOC have an opinion.
Many of them contrasted the differences between White women and WOC…
and addressed the disappointing double standard involving the photo of a graduate breast-feeding her child that went viral very recently.
And this photo trended along with it:
A few others focused on how WOC are portrayed in movies and other entertainment.
Finally, we have those who keep it painfully blunt:
Issues like this need to be broadcasted to the public, because if everyone doesn’t realize this problem of portraying WOC, hurtful stereotypes will perpetuate and we will take even a longer time to progress into an equal and inclusive society. The feminist movement has been growing stronger, but we shouldn’t forget that gender, race, sexualit, and many other factors interlock in terms of segregation and bigotry. #HowMediaWritesWOC just gives us one more thing to think about and be aware for.