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Video Essay
Student Submission CUNY Hunter College Spring 2025 Joviann Seepersad Black Women in Digital Spaces May, 2025 Through the process of creating a video essay on the effects of misogynoir in online spaces, I have gained a much deeper and more personal understanding of how systems of oppression operate digitally. While I had previously encountered the term “misogynoir,” this project required me to go beyond surface level definitions and examine the emotional, psychological, and social toll that Black women, especially dark-skinned, queer, or trans women endure while navigating the internet. Misogynoir is not just a matter of harmful words or rude comments. It is a structural problem coded into the algorithms,…
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Final Project – Controlling Images
Student Submissions – Final Project VCU SPR2025
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Final Project – Misogynoir vs. Colorism
Student submission – Final Project VCU SPR25 Final Reflection Paper Misogynoir, the extreme dislike and prejudice of Black Women, stems from the practice of misogyny and anti-Black racism they face, especially in social media. In class, we talked about the stereotypes Black women often face, as well as the bullying and violence that impact their mental health and physical well-being. For my final project, I decided to make a collage comparing the effects of misogynoir and colorism that Black Women used to face and still face today. Colorism is the main way harmful stereotypes shape misogynoiristic views and categorize women based on their backgrounds to essentially antagonize and compare…
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Current Event – Too Hot to Handle
Student Submission – Current Event SPR2025 https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT26qLccD This week’s current event comes from TikTok, specifically from the beauty community. In the video, Melinda Berry, a former Too Hot to Handle contestant turned beauty influencer, is trying on blushes gifted to her by a beauty brand. She begins with one shade of blush that complements her skin tone, already on her face, as she showcases a lighter shade that would not suit her skin tone. Melinda tried the lighter product, but it didn’t work as expected. She continues to make the point of the video that one suits her and the other doesn’t. She remarks, “That one is for fair skin…
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Current Event – 2025 Grammys
Student Submission – Current Event VCU SPR25 https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8Y2bJt9 https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8Yj1uEy
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Current Event – Soft Life
Student Submission – Current Event VCU SPR25 These findings are a lot more obvious about the subject of misogynoir, but I wanted to discuss them anyway. As they both mentioned, they have presented a more reserved persona which has been mistranslated as them being inherently aggressive. As we have discussed, there is this notion that black people, especially black women, are a lot tougher than their white “counterparts.” Society just cannot see a black woman as “soft” and “delicate.” Which is why we have the “angry black woman” stereotype. I find it especially interesting with the original tweet as it comes across like she did not see the underlying misogynoir.…
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Silenced Screens
Student Submission – Final Project VCU FA24 Silenced Screens In the glow of screens where voices rise, Lies a shadowed truth, a web of lies. Where Blackness blooms with radiant grace, And womanhood carves its sacred space. But here, the storm begins to brew, An endless torrent, cruel and untrue. Trolls sharpen words into jagged spears, Algorithms blind to her hopes and tears. Memes like masks, they laugh, they jeer, Turning joy to whispers laced with fear. Microaggressions slip through the seams, Invisible threads unravel her dreams. The hashtags pile, a digital pyre, Fueling the flames of unholy fire. Her name, her story, her every thought, Reduced to rubble, discarded,…
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Pop the Ballon or Find Love ?
Student Submission – Current Event VCU FA24 My current event is a tweet sharing a clip from a YouTube ‘dating show’, in which a woman enters a room with 20, or so, men with balloons, which they pop if they would not date her. These videos have recently become popular with many creators making their own versions. The premise of these videos is problematic, upholding transactional views of, particularly romantic, relationships. The specific clip, posted to Twitter (X) by user Raye (@sweetbabyrayes), shows a Black man explaining why he popped his balloon, stating that he isn’t a fan of weave and implying that her application reveals her natural hair braids…
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Digital Art
Student Submission – Final Project VCU FA24 In this project, I seem to have learned how deep and widespread misogynoir is in digital platforms. Misogynoir, which has been coined by scholar Moya Bailey, is a term derived from racism of Black women. At first, I treated misogynoir as a phenomenon where Black women are discriminated against. When I was trying to know more about it, I did not know how it affects black women mentally, emotionally and on a personal level and how even some black men perpetrate this. Through participating in this project I learnt how social media, a network that links people together and a platform for the…
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Misogynoir in Female Sports
Sanaa Banks – Final Project VCU FA24
