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= Controlling images of Black women = Controlling images is a term coined by Patricia Hill Collins in her book Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment. She uses the term to describe how images of Black women are portrayed in society that contribute to behaviors of racism and sexism. The messages of such images exacerbate the oppression of African-American womanhood through discriminatory and stereotypical ideology.

Explanation
In her book Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment, Patricia Hill Collins explains that these images are used to normalize oppressive behaviors such as: racism and sexism. "'As part of a generalized ideology of domination, stereotypical images of Black womanhood take on special meaning. Because the authority to define societal values is a major instrument of power, elite groups, in exercising power, manipulate ideas about Black womanhood.'"According to Mae King, stereotypes, myths and images are social instruments that systemically marginalized Black women in the creation of societal roles and characters. These identities make Black women inferior to white women through societal norms, depicted through political values, perceptions and attitudes .The personalities these images create, misrepresent and falsely identify lives according to their political, and socio-economical disposition. According to Collins controlling images reinforce the objectification of the Black women as the other, Black women's oppression, and effect the everyday life of Black women.

In Dorothy Roberts book Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction and the Meaning of Liberty, she explains how the system of thought produced the immoral Black mother as a direct insult to Black womanhood which at the time was the essence of being a woman. The dynamics of Controlling images are intrinsic to multiple functions of society. A variety of Black feminist scholars contend that racism, sexism, classism, and the intersectionality of these oppressions, are dependent on the success of controlling images to sustain systems of oppression and superiority.

Mammy
This image controls Black women's maternal behavior, and gender role in society. The mammy is identified as an asexual, stout Black women with large breasts that symbolizes her ability to breastfeed in abundance. Her hair is hidden beneath a cloth or bonnet because it reveals the nature of her identity and ugliness. This convention of the mammy's physical features contrasts the ideology of White female beauty. She is the faithful obedient domestic servant, who loves, cares, and nurtures for the White family without protest. However, the symbolic meaning of the mammy character, still excluded women from motherhood. It was the rationality that mammies only had the ability to care for the White children of their master's, but could not adequately raise their own children.

In modern society controlling images of the mammy still persist. Abdullah coined the termed mammy-ism which is identified when an African American woman demonstrates intense motherly qualities of care taking. Women in the workforce are challenged by the diagnosis of mammy-ism which is a commonly ascribed role. According the Carolyn West, professional Black women are often times expected to take on the role of a loving, caring and nurturing personality in their careers and professions. Oprah Winfrey is a prime example of an educated woman who is controlled by stereotypical images and struggles to challenge societal ascribed roles as people often times call her the mother of America.

Aunt Jemima
Aunt Jemima is a reinvented version of the mammy. The mythological identity of a Black motherly figure with the characteristics of a content subordinate woman of slavery, has become a trademark. Her image is found on breakfast packaging labels like pancake mix and syrup. The trademark image of her demonstrates the characteristics described are the mammy archetype which includes her warm smiling expression and physical features.

Matriarch
A Black female who is the dominant figure of the household reflected as the counter character of the mammy. The myth is that by deviating from American cultural norms which is the patriarchal system these women emasculate their men. The consequences for the Black male society is reflected in their lack of intellectual success, along with, their inability to support their families, criminal activity and personality disorders. The fabrications that blame Black mother's as the cause of their families inferiority in the American society was reported in The Negro Family: The Case for National Action or also known as the Moynihan Report in 1965. "'In essence the Negro community has been forced into a matriarchal structure, which, because it is so out of line with the rest of the American society, seriously retards the progress of that group as a whole.'"Dorothy Roberts explains in her book, Killing the black body: race, reproduction, and the meaning of liberty, the control of Black fertility is accomplished by incriminating Black women with the ideology of the Black matriarch. The outcome is that these women have undergone public policies that heavily restrict them from bearing children, such as, birth control requirements and other forms of sterilization.

Black modern single working mother's are challenged with being negatively labeled as a matriarch. In addition, their identity is simultaneously challenged by the mammy characterization in the work force. Collins explains that the creation of these controlling images, makes it difficult for even the modern woman to escape the social infrastructures of oppression.

Jezebel
A woman who demonstrates characteristics heavily aligned with sexual activity and promiscuity. This stereotypes women who have been marginalized to this identity as overly sexual. The objective is to create a class of otherness that is paradoxical to femininity. The image of an ideal woman is therefore reinforce by their associated characteristics of whiteness in relation to chastity. One of the objectives for this controlling image has been identified as a mechanism to exclude Black females from potential matrimony with White males.

The portrayal of Black females having a hyper-sexuality can be found in much of pop culture, many Black feminist scholars refer to 2 Live Crew as a primary example of the exploitation of Black women's sexuality. In modern times these woman can be referred to as, "hoodrats", and "hoochies". Accordingly, her partners or potential sexual partners are assumed similar characterizations, which is labeling Black males as overly sexual as well. The stigmatization of Black women's sexuality can make particular Black women vulnerable in the aspects of rap culture.

Sapphire
A Black woman with a short temper who lashes her anger out because she has no control of her emotions and can escalate to being physically abusive. This is known as a person with attitude, but with a negative connotation that has been associated with Black females.

An angry Black woman is known as the contemporary Sapphire. The characteristics established with this image stem from historical devices of controlling Black female emotions. Some Black women choose to empower this character, such as the comedy relief character Madea, however it is a slippery slope to the stereotypical term as an angry Black woman.

Also see
Stereotypes of African Americans

Racial discrimination