Perspectives 85 AFRICAN-AMERICAN TEENAGE GIRLS AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF BLACK WOMANHOOD IN MASS MEDIA AND POPULAR CUL- TURE Rana A. Emerson, Department of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin Introduction As Black youth culture, especially Hip-Hop, in the late 1990’s and at the turn of the 21 st century, dominates global media and popular culture, young African-American women are more present than ever before in the mass media and popular culture as performers, producers and consumers. As a result, it is more important than ever to pay close attention to the ways in which Black womanhood is constructed and repre- sented in the media, and how those images of Black femininity inform the social contexts and impact the lives of teenage African-American girls. The following paper will provide a review of the literature pertinent to a consideration of the salient issues surrounding Black adolescent girls, media, and society. Controlling Images, Media and Society In the late 20 th and at the dawn of the 21 st century, mass media and popular culture have become primary sites for socialization and the perpetuation of hegemonic ide- ologies. Because of our dependence upon the media to inform us about the world we live in, it serves as one of the main sources for the dissemination and reinforcement of images of Black femininity. According to K. Sue Jewell, these mass media images of Black womanhood work to legitimize and justify social policies which blame Black women for their own social position (Jewell, 1993). The nonthreatening, asexual Aunt Jemima figure is related to the role of Black women as domestic workers and caretakers of White children both ante- and post-bellum, while the Black male-castrating Matriarch/Sapphire has been utilized in placing the blame upon Black women for the so-called “dysfunction” of the female-headed Black family. An excessive and even instrumental sexuality has been attributed to poor and working-class Black women through the figures of the Welfare Mother, “Goldigger” and “Baby Momma.” Collins, in Fighting W ords, also describes how the Black Lady Overachiever has emerged since the 1980’s to perpetuate the image of the Black “superwoman,” who, through conformity to ideals of hard work, piety and virtue, has managed to achieve middle-class status and professional success, thereby serving as an example of the assertion that race and gender are no longer impediments to the attainment of equality (Collins, 1998). As Collins states in Black Feminist Thought: