The Social Thinker

We could have told you that. But maybe people will listen since a white woman said it.

Tongue in cheek, but only mostly. Well written. Thanks.

Hi Melissa,
After reading this article,and having first hand experience in dealing with Black women..I was wondering if you think the results of the study could've been swayed by the participants preconceived notions of what a Black woman is/has to contribute?
Through my perception,I feel like the media has gone a long way to make Black people in general,look like buffoons for many years now..and when Black people adopt that as a style,or code of conduct,it is not helping our case.
However,it's through this avenue of "entertainment" that stereotypes are built,and disseminated into people's subconscious mind to shape the way they feel about,react to,and deal with people of another race/gender group.
The image of the Black woman in the media,as characters on television shows is particularly damaging..The characters are usually portrayed as uneducated,spiteful,unreasonable,and the list goes on for miles..
The abbreviated point I'm making here is,the things we take into our minds(ESPECIALLY subconsciously)shape the way we perceive others,whether that be fictional or factual,and usually goes on to manifest itself as a bias in most cases.

There's a lot I could say about this topic,as it has been something I've studied and pondered for the majority of my life,using a combination of first hand experience,and my own casual, "mini"perception experiments I've conducted to gain a broader perspective on the matter..but I'll leave it off as I don't want to write another article in the comments section,lol-Nice article;)

I will definitely look up the research and look at the methodology the researchers used. Without knowing the background of the subjects I would venture a guess that they were mostly White or more specifically, non-black.

When researchers ask the question, "Are Black Women Invisible," I have to ask, to whom?
The reason I write this is because as a person who happens to be Black I don't have the problem of not being able to remember another human being who happens to be Black. My mother, sisters, wife, friends or strangers are never relegated to a backdrop in the scenery of my life.

On the other hand, imagine if you were Black how peculiar it would make you feel to see studies such as these. Most are always conducted from the standpoint that anyone who isn't White is an other and consequently not viewed as normal. It would be interesting to see if studies could be conducted using mostly people of color and to see if there would be similar results (for White women). I know people can throw back at me findings of the IAT, etc., but I am talking about conducting studies using people of color as the majority of the participants.

Either way, anyone who thinks this way, consciously or unconsciously is missing out on a wonderful experience.

This study was done at the University of Kansas which may not be much of a multi-cultural center. I'm wondering if there would be a difference in results if the participants were taken from different regions. There may be a difference in perception in Atlanta, New York, Chicago, New Orleans, etc.

There may also be other influences that may not have been mentioned in the study. I've not looked at all the data, but how the people in the photos were dressed might contribute to perception. Someone dress in a professional manner might be remembered more than someone dressed as a store clerk or cleaning person. I admit that those latter categories of any race tend to be invisible to me when passing on the street.

UHHHHHH THE ONLY RACES THEY TESTED WERE BLACK AND WHITE?

....

IF BLACK WOMEN WHO ARE REPRESENTED IN TESTS, ARE INVISIBLE THEN WHAT DOES THAT MAKE ASIANS AND LATINOS? NON-EXISTENT?

In your article you've named two notable black women who are definately not invisible. You have not named women of any ethnic minorities. People are ignored world wide wether they're men, women, white, black, asian, oriental, albino or mixed race.
Maybe your next article should be about the socio-cultural visibility of innuit hermaphrodites...

Before I would fall for Melissa Burkley's assessment of the "invisible black woman,” I would have to see two or more studies presented from researchers (preferably researchers of color) from BLUE states such as California or New York where I know very visible black women exist.

Melissa Burkley is a Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University located in a very RED state from the Jim Crow South, the possibility of tainted data is not out of the question. Political bias, race and social studies are totally interconnected today with an African American President pushing economical and social change and the Fox News Network pushing in the opposite direction.

In the end I would need a far broader range of assessments, presented by a diverse group of researchers (on this subject matter) before my personal beliefs would be affected.

No, we're not invisible. You just choose not to see us.

Isn't it funny how this comes from a magazine that very rarely features a person of color on its cover? And the only time that it has, it features a woman with carrots around her neck to make her seem "exotic." And the last cover features the western standard of beauty: blonde, white, slim. hmmm...I'm pretty sure covers don't come with built-in models, there is someone who decides who goes on the cover. So, I'm pretty sure I exist but you would rather not think so...

http://www.psychologytoday.com/magazine/archive/2003/09 to make her seem "exotic"

I have to disagree with most of the comments here and agree with the article. I've experienced this invisibility for a long time. I grew up in Atlanta, I currently live in South Florida, and I've been to East Asia. In all places it seems like when I walk into a place like a store or restaurant alone I get looked over so often unless I'm with someone else. Today I walked into Moe's (the place is famous for yelling out "Welcome to Moe's" when you walk in) but it rarely happens to me. I walked in and no one welcomed me. 4 seconds later a white man walks in and every employee says "Welcome to Moe's" - made me think of this article.

And about the black female celebrities that were mentioned in this article as not being invisible - that's because they're known for actually doing something meaningful. How many black Kim Kardashians, Kate Gosselins, Paris Hiltons, Snooki's, Octomoms, and Tila Tequilas are there? I'm sure there could be plenty, but because no one is paying attention to them, they won't get the fame those "famous for doing nothing" people get because they're ignored.

The black women on Housewives of Atlanta are famous for doing nothing. Michelle Obama is a noticed and beloved black woman. What about Asian women?? In my experience the majority of them have been much more quiet, much less noticeable than black women.

Lets put it this way I am not black or white in ethnicity. Today, I had the worse day ever at work. It first started with one 40 something year old black woman acting rude, screaming, cussing me out, lying about a situation, and threatening this and that. She was screaming on top of her lungs like she was giving birth to Chucky. Then towards the end of my shift, another black women approached me and accuse me of this and that, demanding me to do this and that. Blah, blah, blah!!! And I don't work in the ghetto. Don't get me wrong, I rarely have confrontations with black people. But I have only gotten yelled at by MEAN BLACK WOMEN at work, no other ethnicity so far. Most women are moody but I just ignore them. It's harder to ignore a women screaming in your face and threatening and accusing you of this and that though.

I grew up poor in a mix neighborhood. I grew up with whites, Asians, Latinos, and blacks. I didn't even know what racism was until I was closer to high school. Watching violent movies on TV was my true education of how black people had it bad with beatings by cops and inequality. In my neighborhood, we were friends and neighbors. However, after I graduated high school, and went to college. I was expose to a new breed of people, MEAN BLACK WOMEN. When i say mean, I mean MEAN. Just nasty, loud, rude, disrespectful, aggressive, and always provoking everyone around them. I was not a racist and I always think people are stupid for being racist. But I was developing feelings of hate towards them. I mean REAL hate. I did not like my emotions. I decided that they are who they are and what can you do.

I tried to understand where they were coming from, with the inequality, prejudices, cheating men, black men leaving them for white women, and ect. But it simply just does not justify being so mean. Many other ethnicity experience war, country separations, suppression, poverty, cheating,inequality but they don't go around acting nasty and mean to people. Please don't misunderstand me and think that I am only talking about uneducated poor ghetto black women. There are plenty of educated middle class mean black women also.

I am so tired of them, I hate interacting with them. It takes them 60 seconds to get from normal to aggressive. It's impossible to speak logic to them because they don't listen and everyone is out to get them. It's ingrained so deeply into them that aggression and violent is pride and power. But it's not unless you are at war with an enemy state with a gun and you are a great sniper. Everyone from old to young from white to Latinos talk about how much they HATE and can't stand being around MEAN black women. Mean black women are not doing themselves any good by being mean. Most mature people don't want to argue with stupid so they just leave the situation, it definitely does not mean they just won another argument. It really means they just inherited another person that is officially prejudice toward their kind. They are the bad seeds of the great crops of African Americans.

They are INVISIBLE because they have created a very negative stereotype for themselves. No body wants to see them or hear what they have to say. Americans have developed this on a unconsciousness level.