Podcast Summary: "Black Girls and How We Fail Them" – New Books Network

Host: Dr. Christina Gessler
Guest: Dr. Aria Halliday
Date: December 4, 2025

Overview

This engaging episode features Dr. Aria Halliday discussing her book Black Girls and How We Fail Them. The conversation explores how U.S. popular culture consistently fails Black girls through harmful representations, societal neglect, and collective complicity. Dr. Halliday delves into the many ways Black girlhood is either missing, misrepresented, or commodified, revealing a pressing need for both acknowledgment and healing.

Dr. Aria Halliday: Background & Motivation

• Academic Journey: Dr. Halliday is an Associate Professor and Marie Rich Endowed Professor at the University of Kentucky, specializing in Gender and Women’s Studies, American Studies, and Cultural Studies ([02:11]).
• Personal Path: Dr. Halliday shares she originally aspired to be a lawyer or psychologist, but an influential undergraduate class shifted her sights to academia ([03:29]).
• Origins of the Book: The book "came out of rage" over persistent negative portrayals and systemic failures regarding Black girls, particularly after viewing the film Project Power ([07:26]).
  • "This book feels like the book I always wanted to write, but maybe didn't have the information or the confidence or both to write it." – Dr. Halliday ([06:24])

Key Concepts and Foundational Themes

The Central Problem: Harmful Representations and Erasure

• Black girls are often depicted as means to others' growth, dispensable, or lacking agency ([08:42]).
• These tropes are pervasive in both media and public discourse, leading to real-world consequences.

Notion of "Missing Girls"

• The book opens with poems about missing Black girls, inspired by Jasmine Mann’s “Black Girl, Call Home.”
• The “missing” theme reflects not only physical disappearance but also emotional and societal erasure – often, Black girls are “missing to themselves” ([16:23]) due to internalized narratives.
  • "If we looked for black girls, we could find them, like words in a word search. But if we don't know to look for them, if we don't know their names even, how can we possibly find them?" ([16:04])

Misogynoir: The Specific Hatred Facing Black Women and Girls

• Definition: Coined by Dr. Moya Bailey and blogger Trudy; describes contempt directed specifically at Black women ([13:32]).
• Dr. Halliday argues for extending this term to focus on Black girlhood, acknowledging how race, gender, and age intersect to create unique vulnerabilities ([13:56]).
  • "There’s a specific hatred for the intersections of race and gender, and in my case, age, that allows us to see Black girls as people who are not worth defending, who are not worth protecting..." ([13:56])

In-Depth Discussion Points (with Timestamps & Notable Quotes)

The Introduction & Case Studies

Red Table Talk & The Breakfast Club ([10:15])

• Red Table Talk is critiqued for platforming problematic voices (e.g., T.I.), inviting discussions that trivialize Black girls’ pain ([10:15]).
• The Breakfast Club is called out for antagonistic, disrespectful treatment of Black women and queer people.
  • "I have a personal disdain for The Breakfast Club. I think it sucks... The way that he interacts with his guests is antagonistic at best." – Dr. Halliday ([11:10])

Chapters Overview and Highlights

Chapter 1: Hip Hop's Daughters – Fathers, Image & Harm ([18:43])

• Looks at Jay Z, Diddy, and T.I., specifically how their “fatherhood” narratives in public life mask histories of harm against women.
  • "Being a father has supposedly shifted their public personas... So much so that we don't name or talk about the harm that they've caused to the women in their lives..." ([20:34])

Chapter 2: Hypervisible Black Girlhood – The Obama Daughters & Surveillance ([24:04])

• Focuses on Sasha and Malia Obama as case studies of extreme public scrutiny.
  • Surveillance and discourse about their lives are used as a lens for broader issues of control, fascination, and double standards imposed on Black girls ([25:40], [27:12]).
  • "Their classmates are being interviewed about, you know, did you sit next to her? What does she say? What does she wear?" ([27:12])

Chapter 3: The "Fast Girl" Trope – Sexuality, Theology, and Abuse ([29:37])

• Examines where and why the idea of the “fast girl” arises, especially as seen in shows like Queen Sugar.
  • This trope is rooted in theological misogyny and white supremacy.
  • "I don't know that there is a thing called a fast girl. Let me be clear. But in our discourse, we are kind of fascinated with the idea..." ([30:12])

Chapters 4-6: Film Archetypes (Condensed)

• Chapter 4: "Salvic Black Girl" – Films like The Girl with All the Gifts and Beasts of the Southern Wild.
• Chapter 5: "Dispensable Black Girls" – Examples include A Wrinkle in Time and Project Power.
• Chapter 6: "The Mean Girl" – Explores Selah and the Spades and Cuties ([40:06]).
  • Even Black writers/directors can recycle harmful tropes.
  • "That infectious, cancerous malignancy of misogynoir... the need to really examine how this bias is everywhere." ([40:49])

Foundational Quotes & Reflections

• "Misogynoir is a malignancy, that it has infected everyone and everything..." – Dr. Gessler paraphrasing Dr. Halliday ([33:54]).
• "We are all complicit in upholding it... We give up allegiances to ourselves. We give up our ability to advocate for ourselves and for other people who don't fit into these narratives." ([35:29])
• "The exhaustion of presentation... the code switching..." ([37:50])
• Referencing Audre Lorde, Dr. Halliday highlights self-negation and the cost of external performance:
  "By doing something for other people, that means she doesn't do something for herself or vice versa." ([38:01])

Healing, Acknowledgment, and Moving Forward

On Healing Through Failure ([41:05])

• Healing requires facing and acknowledging collective failures, not shaming.
• Borrowing from bell hooks and Sara Ahmed, Dr. Halliday emphasizes that naming a problem is the first step.
  • "That acknowledgement of where fault happens, where failure happens, is the point where healing can, can absolutely step in because it is a point of vulnerability. And vulnerability allows us to make connection with other people." ([42:35])

Community and Solidarity

• Real healing and resistance come from finding and building community, engaging in collective recognition, and supporting one another ([43:27]).

Black Girl Agency

• Despite pervasive harm, moments of Black girls' agency and refusal to comply with harmful scripts signal hope for more liberating futures.
  • "Black girls show up with these moments of agency where they decide... I won't allow you this space. I won't allow you this point of connection that you think you should have or control that you think you should have." ([43:27])

Opaqueness as Resistance

• Savannah Shange's concept of "black girl opaqueness": some things about Black girls cannot and should not be known or controlled by outsiders ([44:44]).

Resources and Final Reflections

• The book concludes with "Resources for Failing Less," a list for continued learning and self-improvement ([47:03]).
• Dr. Halliday’s hope:
  "I hope it encourages you to show up for yourself. And that means speaking your truth, naming when you’ve been harmed, and holding people accountable for how they mistreat you." ([47:38])

Where to Start Listening

| Topic | Timestamp | |---------------------------|-------------| | Dr. Halliday’s background | 02:05 - 04:34| | Book’s premise & impetus | 05:48 - 08:42| | Red Table Talk/Breakfast Club | 10:15 - 13:20| | Misogynoir definition | 13:32 | | “Missing Girls” motif | 15:36 - 18:16| | Hip Hop’s Daughters | 18:43 - 21:52| | Surveillance: Obama daughters | 24:04 - 29:37| | The "fast girl" trope | 29:37 - 33:39| | Malignancy of misogynoir | 33:54 - 37:50| | Healing & acknowledgment | 41:05 - 44:44|

Conclusion

This episode is an incisive, passionate exploration of how Black girls are failed by wider society and popular culture, and the urgent necessity of recognizing, naming, and healing from these systemic failures. Dr. Halliday offers listeners both a critique and a call to action: to acknowledge complicity, seek out better representation, and—above all—show up for Black girls and for themselves.

Recommended for: Educators, cultural critics, parents, and anyone committed to anti-racist and feminist praxis—or simply seeking to understand the stakes and nuances of Black girlhood in America.