For decades African-American women and Latinas have lamented the abundance of negative and unrealistic images of them reflected on television. Such images appear to be pervasive today on reality television shows, the most popular television show genre, where many historic negative stereotypes of women of color are conveyed. Social television, the practice of watching television and simultaneously commenting on social media, is now common among viewers. The aim of this research is to determine if the same old stereotypes of women of color on television are finding their way to the new medium of Twitter. This study is a textual analysis of tweets from viewers who watched episodes of seasons one and three one of the Vh1 reality show Basketball Wives LA and the WE TV reality program Mary Mary. Both shows feature women of color in the cast. This study found that the social television conversation among viewers of these shows detected racial and gendered stereotypes.
Key words: Twitter, reality television, social television, stereotypes, black women, Latinas, Basketball Wives LA, Mary Mary.
","abstract_html":"<p>For decades African-American women and Latinas have lamented the abundance of negative and unrealistic images of them reflected on television. Such images appear to be pervasive today on reality television shows, the most popular television show genre, where many historic negative stereotypes of women of color are conveyed. Social television, the practice of watching television and simultaneously commenting on social media, is now common among viewers. The aim of this research is to determine if the same old stereotypes of women of color on television are finding their way to the new medium of Twitter. This study is a textual analysis of tweets from viewers who watched episodes of seasons one and three one of the Vh1 reality show Basketball Wives LA and the WE TV reality program Mary Mary. Both shows feature women of color in the cast. This study found that the social television conversation among viewers of these shows detected racial and gendered stereotypes.</p> <p>Key words: Twitter, reality television, social television, stereotypes, black women, Latinas, Basketball Wives LA, Mary Mary.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Williams, Sherri Marie"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Mass Communications","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Carol M. Liebler"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2015-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:55:06Z","subjects":["Black","Social media","Social television","Stereotypes","Television","Twitter","Social and Behavioral Sciences"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://surface.syr.edu/etd/312","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Carol M. Liebler"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Williams, Sherri Marie"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Mass Communications"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Black","Social media","Social television","Stereotypes","Television","Twitter","Social and Behavioral Sciences"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://surface.syr.edu/etd/312"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["For decades African-American women and Latinas have lamented the abundance of negative and unrealistic images of them reflected on television. Such images appear to be pervasive today on reality television shows, the most popular television show genre, where many historic negative stereotypes of women of color are conveyed. Social television, the practice of watching television and simultaneously commenting on social media, is now common among viewers. The aim of this research is to determine if the same old stereotypes of women of color on television are finding their way to the new medium of Twitter. This study is a textual analysis of tweets from viewers who watched episodes of seasons one and three one of the Vh1 reality show Basketball Wives LA and the WE TV reality program Mary Mary. Both shows feature women of color in the cast. This study found that the social television conversation among viewers of these shows detected racial and gendered stereotypes.
Key words: Twitter, reality television, social television, stereotypes, black women, Latinas, Basketball Wives LA, Mary Mary.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Screens and stereotypes: The transmission of images of women of color on Twitter and television"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Carol M. Liebler"],"dc:creator":["Williams, Sherri Marie"],"dc:description.abstract":["For decades African-American women and Latinas have lamented the abundance of negative and unrealistic images of them reflected on television. Such images appear to be pervasive today on reality television shows, the most popular television show genre, where many historic negative stereotypes of women of color are conveyed. Social television, the practice of watching television and simultaneously commenting on social media, is now common among viewers. The aim of this research is to determine if the same old stereotypes of women of color on television are finding their way to the new medium of Twitter. This study is a textual analysis of tweets from viewers who watched episodes of seasons one and three one of the Vh1 reality show Basketball Wives LA and the WE TV reality program Mary Mary. Both shows feature women of color in the cast. This study found that the social television conversation among viewers of these shows detected racial and gendered stereotypes.
Key words: Twitter, reality television, social television, stereotypes, black women, Latinas, Basketball Wives LA, Mary Mary.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://surface.syr.edu/etd/312"],"dc:subject":["Black","Social media","Social television","Stereotypes","Television","Twitter","Social and Behavioral Sciences"],"dc:title":["Screens and stereotypes: The transmission of images of women of color on Twitter and television"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Mass Communications"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:55:06Z"}