Analyzing the Portrayals of Black and White Women in Television Sitcoms from 1990 – 2020

In this thesis, I asked, "How are Black women and white women portrayed differently in male-created sitcoms from 1990 – 2020 regarding their careers, personalities, and the number of their romantic partners?" I hypothesized that there would be differences observed across each category. The purpose of this thesis was to compare the portrayals of two groups of women and evaluate the messages that these portrayals communicate to viewers. I performed a content analysis of fifty-three male-created sitcoms and examined 127 Black (forty-nine) and white (seventy-nine) female characters. I utilized a variety of sources to gather data for this analysis, such as episode descriptions and clips from shows. I discovered that there were differences in the portrayals of Black and white women in the "Careers" and "Personalities" categories but virtually no differences in the "Number of Partners" category. Many of these portrayals relied on stereotypes and controlling images regarding women overall and Black women as a specific group. These images can be harmful to women in real life. Given that men created the shows in my sample, I suggest that women must have a role in creating female characters to avoid the reproduction of stereotypes and controlling images.