The Continuing Discrimination Toward American Black Women In Their Portrayals In Cosmopolitan(2010-2015)

In the 21^stcentury,America has been a tireless initiator for democracy and racial equality,yet racial discrimination still exists in all aspects of American society.Although American black women own equal rights legally just like American whites,they are still a vulnerable group in American society facing large amounts of racial problems.In general,they enjoy lower economic status with lower educational levels compared with white group in American society.American people insist that they are not racists and they don't discriminate against women of color like black women,while in fact American black women actually suffer some indescribable troubles and unfair treatment from American society.For instance,they have difficulties in finding ideal jobs or attaining higher education,or they even get verbal and actual discrimination from American society.Culture is a true reflection of economic and social condition.In order to figure out American black women's portrayals in mass media and their racial issues,this thesis has selected Cosmopolitan,one of the most famous women fashion magazines in America as the researching object.Cosmopolitan,founded in 1886,is a very influential magazine with huge quantities of followers both in America and in the whole world.Based on black women's portrayals in 72 issues of Cosmopolitan from 2010 to2015,this article aims at analyzing the features of American black women's portrayals adopting the method of content analysis to figure out if black women are still discriminated in Cosmopolitan in nowadays America.This study is conducted from three aspects.First,the study examines the settings of black women's portrayals including their frequency of representation,the importance of model placement,product category representation and body exposure.According to the statistics conveyed in Cosmopolitan,black women have been outnumbered by American white women and only two females have been displayed on covers.In addition,they have usually been put in unremarkable positions juts like foils to present the beauty of white women.They usually feature in advertisements of personal skin care products exposing large part of their dark skin with obvious racial features.Secondly,light-skinned black women are more popular than dark-skinned black women in Cosmopolitan.Thus skin color discrimination toward American black women exists.Lastly,black women with more European features such as slender noses,thin lips and straight hair are preferred than African-looking black women.Hence,Appearance discrimination still exists.The results imply that American black women are not completely accepted in Cosmopolitan and there is continuing discrimination toward them from American society.