Representations & Television Introduction Over the years, the black community has constantly been attacked by the media. The discrimination of the black people by television and film has caused them serious social and psychological damage. Television series ignore racial discrimination by showing that black people have an equitable access to economic success. Racial discrimination has often been portrayed in the television as not being the cause of the issues existing within the black community. Racial Slur on Live Television The belief that superiority of abilities, values and culture of a certain group are related physical characteristics has rationalized white domination (Feagin & Sikes, 1994). Racism is a deliberate system of hindrances and deceptions that prevent the black people from attaining economic, social or educational advancement. Racial discrimination is a significant hindrance to progress in people of color. Every major sector of the society is dominated by the white people (Feagin & Sikes, 1994). Over the past few decades, there has been an influx of African American characters in American television series. At the moment, there is no a single individual person or group that has managed to unify the black community against these detrimental portrayals of the black community. Black people necessitate access to expensive material goods in order to achieve high economic status. Television series such as How to Get Away with murder and Scandal show how women achieve economic success at the expense of their own vulnerability. The television series show that black women need to acquire more masculine traits and lack vulnerability in order to be successful unlike white female characters that are portrayed in similar situations. Television series such as Scandal show that women need to be tragic in order to be successful. Tragedy is a necessity for a plot device in a number of television series. Black women are represented as being sexual objects for white people. Television series and programs show that racism is indirectly encouraged by normal crime coverage that give a picture of blacks (Entman, 1992).This has significantly contributed to modern white racism and contributed towards denial of black rejections. I also find a television series such as Cops showing various instances of racism. The show is racist since it focuses on the black people as being the cause of numerous crimes. There has been a long history of racism in boxing. For instance, McGregor showed various instances of racism during his fight with Mayweather. The support Mr. McGregor received from the crowd made him enjoy his ethnic pride. Racial discrimination must be genuinely acknowledged in order to fight the present oppression of the black community. The white people have for long enjoyed many privileges thus largely ignore any claims of discrimination. A step towards ending racial discrimination is allowing black producers and act ...

1. Representations & Television
Introduction
Over the years, the black community has constantly been
attacked by the media. The discrimination of the black people
by television and film has caused them serious social and
psychological damage. Television series ignore racial
discrimination by showing that black people have an equitable
access to economic success. Racial discrimination has often
been portrayed in the television as not being the cause of the
issues existing within the black community.
Racial Slur on Live Television
The belief that superiority of abilities, values and culture of a
certain group are related physical characteristics has
rationalized white domination (Feagin & Sikes, 1994). Racism
is a deliberate system of hindrances and deceptions that prevent
the black people from attaining economic, social or educational
advancement. Racial discrimination is a significant hindrance to
progress in people of color. Every major sector of the society is
dominated by the white people (Feagin & Sikes, 1994).

2. Over the past few decades, there has been an influx of African
American characters in American television series. At the
moment, there is no a single individual person or group that has
managed to unify the black community against these detrimental
portrayals of the black community. Black people necessitate
access to expensive material goods in order to achieve high
economic status. Television series such as How to Get Away
with murder and Scandal show how women achieve economic
success at the expense of their own vulnerability.
The television series show that black women need to acquire
more masculine traits and lack vulnerability in order to be
successful unlike white female characters that are portrayed in
similar situations. Television series such as Scandal show that
women need to be tragic in order to be successful. Tragedy is a
necessity for a plot device in a number of television series.
Black women are represented as being sexual objects for white
people.
Television series and programs show that racism is
indirectly encouraged by normal crime coverage that give a
picture of blacks (Entman, 1992).This has significantly
contributed to modern white racism and contributed towards
denial of black rejections. I also find a television series such as
Cops showing various instances of racism. The show is racist
since it focuses on the black people as being the cause of
numerous crimes. There has been a long history of racism in
boxing. For instance, McGregor showed various instances of

3. racism during his fight with Mayweather. The support Mr.
McGregor received from the crowd made him enjoy his ethnic
pride.
Racial discrimination must be genuinely acknowledged in order
to fight the present oppression of the black community. The
white people have for long enjoyed many privileges thus largely
ignore any claims of discrimination. A step towards ending
racial discrimination is allowing black producers and actors
control their narrative. Black producers, writers, actors and
audiences should be provided more opportunities to tell their
stories. This will consequently make the black people more
confident in their cultural identity.
At the present time, racial discrimination has become extremely
relevant. Both blacks and white people have not learnt to treat
each other in the appropriate away. A peaceful and flourishing
society will necessitate people to learn to respect and support
each other regardless of skin color, gender or religious views.
References
Neal, K. (2017). From Mammy to black-ish. Violence Against
Black Bodies: An Intersectional Analysis of How Black Lives
Continue to Matter, 145.
Entman, R. M. (1992). Blacks in the news: Television, modern
racism and cultural change. Journalism Quarterly, 69(2), 341-
361.

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8RHxv0bxzo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z8ybuZ5aMc
November 16, 2017
Tagging onto #MeToo
mastersofmedia.hum.uva.nl/blog/2017/11/16/tagging-onto-
metoo/
Halleluja!
Alyssa Milano was preaching to the choir with her tweet on
october 15th 2017. As a young
feminist that has experienced her share of harassment and
patriarchal justifications, she could
not have found a more receptive public.
But my high on the possibility of gender equality did not
necessarily extend to the rest of the
world. As male co-workers used the phrase as a joke and female
friends commented ‘hysteria,’
the question ‘if a hashtag is even capable of social change?’
occupied my mind.
So this exploration in into the historical context of online
feminism, hashtag activism and the
challenges of #MeToo is a personal quest. Is there value in
tagging onto #MeToo?
#MeToo
While #MeToo has not been the first hashtag addressing sexual
harassment, even in 2017, it

5. is certainly the most successful one (Main n.p.).
After Charmed star Rose McGowan was temporarily banned
from Twitter as a result of her
accusatory tweets at the address of Harvey Weinstein, her co-
star Alyssa Milano reacted with
this tweet that was retweeted more than 17.000 in the first 24
hours that followed (Connellan
n.p.).
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https://mastersofmedia.hum.uva.nl/blog/2017/11/16/tagging-
onto-metoo/
A large part of the mainstream media attention goes to
allegations of sexual harassment by
prominent figures in the entertainment industry, like Weinstein
or Kevin Spacey. But the fact
that the hashtag was used in 1.2 million tweets by the 19th of
October shows, as Alyssa
herself said, ‘the magnitude of the problem’ (Lekach n.p.). The
pandemic use of the hashtag
shows that sexual harassment is not a problem confined to
Hollywood. Under #MeToo victims
of sexism, sexual harassment and assault have been able to
communicate the enormity of the
issue (Parham n.p.).
What sets #MeToo apart from the other hashtags addressing
sexual harassment is not that it
introduced a feminist debate on social media or that it uses a
hashtag as an activist tool in the
battle against sexism, but the sheer magnitude in which it is

6. being used.
A Framework for Digital Feminist Activism
The Online Opportunities for Feminism
From Twitter, #MeToo spilled over to Instagram and Facebook.
This new social media give the
opportunity for marginalised voices to speak out. Because
participants do not have to venture
into a physical public space and can comment anonymously, the
risks of speaking about
contested issues is reduced (Antonakis-Nashif 104). While at
the same time they can find
comfort and support in like-minded individuals (Morahan-
Martin 686).
Feminists have a conflictual relationship with the dominant
discourse, that is mostly of
patriarchal nature. They therefore position themselves as a
counter public in the space of
political action (Drüecke and Zobl 39). Twitter gives feminist a
possibility they would have
never had offline: it connects them to a global audience, with
short messages that are
published without any intervention from an editing party
(Morahan-Martin 684). This way they
can insert their thoughts in the general public discourse.
These possibilities increases the opportunity of feminists
activist to have their voices heard
(Stache 162).
The Hashtag

7. The hashtag is a tool in itself. It connects tweets that are related
to an individual subject
thereby creating a public for that issue. In turn, users can add to
the topic by incorporating the
hashtag in their message (Burns and Burgess 15-17). This gives
the possibility to individuals
that feel marginalised to not only share their story, but to
include themselves in a movement
around the subject. (Antonakis-Nashif 101)
Historical Hashtags
Over the years multiple attempts have been made to raise
awareness about sexism through
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hashtags. In 2012 The Everyday Sexism Projects instigated
#shoutingback and
#EverydaySexism, which were internationally used (Drüecke
and Zobl 36). #YesAllWomen
surfaced more spontaneous after the Elliot Roger shooting in
2014 and culminated 61,500
tweets in two days After Donald Trump’s “pussy grabbing”
incident the hashtag #NotOkay
entered the arena and stories about harassment and assault were
shared with this tag.
However, after he was elected president this initiative died
quietly (Main n.p.).
#Aufschrei
Notably in this regard is also the hashtag #aufschrei. The
hashtag was introduced by young
feminist Anne Wizorek in the night of 23-26 January 2013. Like

8. Milano’s #MeToo, she aimed
to gather experiences with sexism to highlight the problem
(Antonakis-Nashif 104). Here
efforts had effect. Concretely, the attention for the issue created
a greater demand for anti-
discrimination facilities and services were diversified
(Antonakis-Nashif 111). Her hashtag
focussed attention on a topic that was previously marginalised,
mobilised the issue and made
it part of the general public debate (Drüecke and Zobl 48-50).
Challenges to #MeToo
Cultural differences
Within five days #MeToo measured 1.7 million tweets
originating from over 85 countries in the
Middle East, Europe, Asia and the America’s (Lekach n.p.). The
widespread not only shows
that sexual harassment is a worldwide issue, it has also created
a global movement on the
subject. Within this digital community physical boundaries fade
and all nationalities, provide
they have access to internet, can participate in the political
debate (Carter Olson 780).
However, the universal use of a hashtag often disregards the
cultural specifics that can impact
an issue. Especially for women in developing countries, the
possibility for equal rights and the
existence of sexism are related to the prosperity of the country,
culture and religion. So for
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9. activism to have an impact, it needs to be tailored to the local
situation (Carter Olson 780).
This issue is illustrated by Turkish journalist Kübra Gümüsay,
after the upsurge of #Aufschrei.
She felt disconnected from the main movement as in here
experience sexism was always
combined with racism. To that end she launched the hashtag
#Schauhin, meaning ‘look
closely’ (Antonakis-Nashif 105)
Hashtag Hazards
Especially, feminists of colour have used social media to draw
focus to the relation between
sexism and racism (Antonakis-Nashif 103). In this tradition,
activist Tarana Burke started the
“Me Too” campaign on MySpace as a way for young women of
colour to speak up about
abuse (Schwartz n.p.). Last October, nearly ten years later,
Milano refashioned the phrase as
an hashtag to represent all stories of sexual abuse. Although it
cannot be denied that this
created a surge in the attention to sexism, for the original
target, women of colour, it does not
have the same meaning.
The uncoordinated existence of hashtags can hurt a movement
in two distinct ways. On the
one hand, several hashtags about an issue can come into
existence and compete for the
same public. Thereby it hinders the development of one unified
movement (Burns and Burgess

10. 18). On the other hand it is not uncommon that the same hashtag
serves multiple purposes
(Stache 163). While the popular use of #MeToo remained close
to its original meaning, the
hashtag can be hijacked to diminish its influence over an issue.
Ridicule, victim blaming and
victimising can create a situation where the issue is taken less
serious (Antonakis-Nashif 106).
The expense of going viral
The flood of messages with the hashtag #MeToo illustrate a
moral outrage. With the increasing
number of posts, the possibility for societal change can decline.
The exorbitant use exhausts
the meaning behind the hashtag. The safety of commenting on
social media, makes it easy to
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participate and therefore the nuances between slightly
disagreeing and being totally outraged
disappear. In addition, online participation could result in less
offline actions like donations or
volunteering, having already fulfilled the social duty online, for
all to see (Crockett 771).
Patriarchy
Some men are more critical of the #MeToo movement. Tweets
like “Where is the line? Can’t I
longingly stare down someone’s blouse” or “Do I have to
apologise for having balls?” appeared
on Dutch accounts (Verlouw n.p.). Words that excuse sexist

11. behaviour as ‘manly.’ This is to
bad as the contribution of men to the movement could really
increase its social impact. Men
who speak up against sexism are perceived as more legitimate
than the women, because they
do not benefit for the action themselves (Drury and Kaiser 643).
New hashtags like #Ihave,
#HimThough and #HowIWillChange, actually do give men the
opportunity to involve
themselves in the issue.
Tagging on
My idealistic enthusiasm after the initial #MeToo tweet has met
the more uncertain reality of
hashtag activism. While a viral hashtag does not ensure change,
awareness can help
progress. So consider me tagged on too #MeToo.
The social impact of a movement like #MeToo is hard to
measure, especially in this early
stage. Past initiatives have shown that a hashtag addressing
sexism can enhance awareness
and stimulate the formation of a online community or
movement. #Aufschrei even inspired
societal changes.
The #MeToo movement faces several challenges. Among those
are medium specific
challenges like the ambiguity of a hastags and the drawbacks of
a viral message. Other
concern the cultural diversity of the public and the more
traditional criticism on issues
concerning sexual harassment.
#MeToo did provoke a debate on the issue in the European

12. Commission (Schreuer n.p.), but
no structural changes have been made in the aftermath of the
viral hashtag. Right now its
main accomplishment is making sexual harassment part of the
mainstream public debate.
However, it is one thing to talk about sexual harassment and a
whole other thing to make
significant impact (Stache 163).
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References
Antonakis-Nashif, Anna. “Hashtagging the Invisible: Bringing
Private Experiences into Public
Debate: An #outcry against Sexism in Germany.” Eds. Nathan
Rambukkana. #Hashtag
Publics: The Power and Politics of Discursive Networks. New
York: Peter Lang Publishing,
2015. 101-115.
Bruns, Axel and Jean Brugess. “Twitter Hashtags from Ad Hoc
to Calculated Publics” Eds.
Nathan Rambukkana. #Hashtag Publics: The Power and Politics
of Discursive Networks. New
York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2015. 13-19.
Carter Olson, Candi. “#BringBackOurGirls:digital communities
supporting real-world change
and influencing mainstream media agenda’s.” Feminist Media
Studies 16 ( 2016): 772-787.

13. Connellan, Shannon. “#MeToo: Hashtag shared by Alyssa
Milano encourages personal stories
of sexual harassment.” Mashable. October 16, 2017. Accessed
15th November 2017.
http://mashable.com/2017/10/15/me-too-alyssa-milano-twitter-
harassment/#PONkcsbx9SqD
Crockett, M.J. “Moral outrage in the digital age” Nature Human
Behaviour 1 (2017): 769-771.
Drüecke, Ricarda and Elke Zobl. “Online feminist protest
against sexism: the German-
language hashtag #aufschrei.” Feminist Media Studies 16
(2016): 35-54
Drury, Benjamin J. and Cheryl R. Kaiser. “Allies against
Sexism: The Role of Men in
Confronting Sexism.” Journal of Social Issues 4 (2014): 637-
652.
Lekach, Sasha. “#MeToo hashtag spreads beyond the U.S. to the
rest of the globe.” Mashable.
October 20, 2017. Accessed 15th November 2017.
http://mashable.com/2017/10/19/me-too-
global-spread/#TI1YSlU.GmqI
Main, Allison. “The #MeToo hashtag was used in an enormous
number of tweets.” Mashable.
October 17, 2017. Accessed 15th November 2017.
http://mashable.com/2017/10/16/me-too-
hashtag-popularity/#zWfpahBL9iqn
Morahan-Martin, Janet. “Women and the Internet: Promise and
Perils.” CyberPsychology &
Behaviour 3 (2000): 683-691.

14. Parham, Jason. “After Harvey Weinistein, It’s Time To Ask:
Can the System Change?” Wired.
November 11, 2017. Accessed 15th November 2017.
https://www.wired.com/story/harvey-
weinstein-system-change/
Schreuer, Milan. “A #MeToo Moment for the European
Parliament.” The New York Times.
October 25, 2017. Accessed 15th November 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/25/world/europe/european-
parliament-weinstein-
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http://mashable.com/2017/10/15/me-too-alyssa-milano-twitter-
harassment/#PONkcsbx9SqD
http://mashable.com/2017/10/19/me-too-global-
spread/#TI1YSlU.GmqI
https://www.wired.com/story/harvey-weinstein-system-change/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/25/world/europe/european-
parliament-weinstein-harassment.html?_r=0
harassment.html?_r=0
Schwartz, Alexandra. “#MeToo, #ItWasME, And The Post-
Weinstein Megaphone of Social
Media.” The New Yorker. October 19, 2017. Accessed 15th
November 2017.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/metoo-
itwasme-and-the-post-weinstein-
megaphone-of-social-media
Stache, Lara C. “Advocacy and Political Potential at the
Convergence of Hashtag Activism and
Commerce.” Feminist Media Studies 15 (2015): 162-164.

15. Verlouw, Charlotte. “Na #metoo colgt nu #Ihave: Ook ik ben
schuldig aan seksueel geweld.”
Trouw. October 19, 2017. Accessed 15th November 2017.
https://www.trouw.nl/samenleving/na-metoo-volgt-nu-ihave-
ook-ik-ben-schuldig-aan-seksueel-
geweld~a75d35b9/
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https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/metoo-
itwasme-and-the-post-weinstein-megaphone-of-social-media
https://www.trouw.nl/samenleving/na-metoo-volgt-nu-ihave-
ook-ik-ben-schuldig-aan-seksueel-geweld~a75d35b9/Tagging
onto #MeToo#MeTooA Framework for Digital Feminist
ActivismThe Online Opportunities for FeminismThe
HashtagHistorical Hashtags#AufschreiChallenges to
#MeTooCultural differencesHashtag HazardsThe expense of
going viralPatriarchyTagging on