Pleasing the Masses: Messages for Daily Life Management in African American Women's Popular Media Sources

Objectives. Using African American women's insights on their own health experiences, we explored how their daily life management was linked to the strong Black woman (SBW) script, and the health implications of that script. Methods. Using the search term strong Black woman, we identified 20 articles from African American women's magazines and 10 blog sites linked to the SBW script and analyzed their content. We created thematic categories (role management, coping, and self-care) and extracted issues relevant to African American women's health. Results. Adherence to the SBW script was linked to women's daily life management and health experiences. Themes such as self-sacrificial role management (please the masses), emotional suppression (game face), and postponement of self-care (last on the list) incited internal distress and evinced negative health consequences. Conclusions. Scientists, activists, and health care professionals would be aided in forming initiatives aimed at reducing health disparities among African American women by heeding the insights on their health experiences that they express in popular media sources. (Am J Public Health. 2011;101:144-150. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2009.167817)