We are to come away with Lynn’s perception of “Tanya, just being Tanya”.Īt the end, Tanya presents herself as altruistically attaining Blackness as a way to support her trans-racially adopted mixed race sister Lynn and as a form of authentic “cultural appreciation”.Īs the episode begins, I prepare myself for the fast forward button reminded of the Adeles, Krugs, and Dolezals of the world - and wonder if “Sister, Sistah” is their favorite Girlfriends episode.īlackface minstrelsy is the forefather of “blackfishing” and “cultural appropriation”. The audience is presented with authentic portrayals of Blackness as Tanya gaslights her way through the Black women characters and condescendingly shows off her knowledge of Black/African cultures.
In the midst of Jessica Krug’s recent blackface appropriation for personal and professional gain in academia - and my personal call for reparations, I had to fast forward through many parts of this episode. The character of Tanya, played by Eliza Schneider, is well traveled throughout Africa and very comfortable around Black people. In the episode entitled, “Sister, Sistah” the audience is introduced to Lynn’s sister Tanya as a head wrap wearing, Afrocentric white woman displaying intonations of AAVE. Although revisiting the show presented all types of problematic early 2000s narratives about Black life, womanhood, and community, I still accepted the nostalgia linked with consuming “my favorite show” as a teenager. This week while watching Girlfriends (2000–2008) on Netflix, I became annoyed.