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Mean Girls or Bad Girls: Expressions of Conflict and Aggression by Black and White Female Siblings on Family Sitcoms

This thesis examines the expression of anger and aggression in interactions of 6 black and 4 white female siblings on family sitcoms from the 1980s, 1990s and the 2010s. The interactions were examined to determine whether black girls on TV sitcoms were depicted as more conflictual than their white counterparts, whether the content of the portrayals of black girls differed from white girls based on racialized gender stereotypes related to female anger and aggression, whether these depictions changed over three eras of television ranging from the 1980s-2010s, and finally, whether birth order and relationship to the girl (family vs. non family) determined whether relationship context influenced conflict. The findings revealed that by race and across time black girls are less conflictual than their white counterparts. This contradicts the acceptance of solely black girls as representations of the violent and aggressive “bad girl.” / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_40859
ContributorsSomersall, Akilah Sharifa (author), Backstrom, Laura (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Sociology
PublisherFlorida Atlantic University
Source SetsFlorida Atlantic University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text
Format101 p., application/pdf
RightsCopyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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