Flavor of What?  Representation of African-American Women on the Flavor of Love

In his article, "Effects of Stereotypical Television Portrayals of African-Americans on Person Perception", Thomas Ford argues that portrayals of African-Americans on television influences "whites perceptions of those groups" (266). Ford points out that many of the character portrayals of African-Americans on television are "based on disparaging stereotypes" (267); furthermore, the stereotypical portrayals of African-Americans are more visible in shows with primarily African-American casts (267). “’Fun-loving,’ ‘happy-go-lucky’ (clownish), and ‘poor’” (267) are some of the stereotypes associated with African-Americans on television. African-American women, in particular, are often represented as "innately promiscuous" and "hyper-sexual" (Jim Crow Museum).

VH1’s hit reality television show “Flavor of Love,” featuring Flavor Flav, a “gold-tooth-flashing, Mad Hatter-dressing, alcohol-loving has-been rapper” (Dickerson), is no exception to these stereotypes. Flavor is looking for love and hopes to find it among the twenty scantily clad women, most of them African American, who literally fight for his attention and compete by displaying their overt sexuality.

While Flavor may be the name behind the show, the real stars are the women who will do just about anything to win the ultimate prize – Flavor’s pick at the end of the show and hopefully fame and fortune.

The show is controversial, to say the least, and has been called racist (Dickerson) because of its stereotypical representations of African-American women. The African-American women on the show are definitely represented as hyper-sexual; this is not to say that the other women are not sexual, but the African-American women are particularly sexualized. Jennifer Richeson and Clemlyn-Ann Polydore agree with Ford that television portrayals of African Americans influence Whites perceptions of this group. They argue that Blacks have a preference for television shows with African-American casts regardless of the stereotypical depictions of the characters and that potential negative consequences could occur from watching these shows (262).

In order to understand the current perceptions and behavior of African-American women on Flavor of Love, it is important to look at historical representations of this group. How do stereotypical representations of African-Americans on television and other media influence others’ perceptions of them? Does Flavor of Love perpetuate the stereotypes by its representation of African-American women? What are the effects of these types of stereotypical representations on African-Americans?