Girlfriends, Through Thick & Thin: Exploring Black Maternal Health in Tyler Perry’s Sistas

Sista circle programs have been sparse since their initial inception in the early 1990s, with Living Single. Since then less than 7 programs have featured the deep relationships between Black women friend groups and their sisterly bonds as they explore and transform throughout their onscreen journeys. Though few and far in between, the impacts of the sista circle program remain one that is beneficial for those who engage in them in real life and on-screen. The topics these shows generate further reveal the discourse in the real lives of its viewers while exposing the lived experiences of many Black women. In this article, our team conducts a critical discourse analysis to explore the Black maternal health topic found in Tyler Perry’s Sistas Season 9. Framing our study with the theorizing on media representation, misogynoir, and controlling images, we found 5 major themes present in the visuals and oral storytelling in the season, illuminating the connections between stereotypes and tropes, and impacts of those images on Black mothers before, during, and after childbirth. This research contributes to the ongoing conversations that merge Black maternal health with health communication and media studies and produces a discourse at its nexus.