Desperate and Desired Housewife: An autoethnographic textual analysis of Black motherhood from The Real Housewives of Atlanta
Date
2021-08
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MAPC, The University of Tampa
Abstract
This research is intended to shed light on the relationship between Black women struggling with fertility issues, specifically uterine fibroids, and
their acts of performance in popular media balancing desire and desperation. Using intersectionality theory as a backdrop, the purpose of this
research is to bring awareness to how popular media uses the politics of respectability to frame the idea of desperation through the desire of
Black motherhood. Through the qualitative methods of autoethnography and textual analysis, I juxtapose examples from my personal, lived
experiences against scenes from the Real Housewives of Atlanta. The results of my analyses strengthen the presence of how Black women, in
popular media, as desperate, bolstered by levels of shame, in their desire to become mothers. In conclusion, I challenge the medical field,
society, and popular media to be more supportive in helping meet the motherly desires of Black women burdened with uterine fibroids while
simultaneously removing the perception of the desperate, Black woman.
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Keywords
Black, Desire, Motherhood, Uterine fibroids, Desperation, Reality television, Shame