2.2 Sexism and Stereotypes

Racialized Sexist Stereotypes

Gender stereotypes can also be influenced by racial/ethnic identity. In one study, researchers asked primarily white college students to assess the communal and agentic characteristics of 20 people who were described differently in terms of gender (female, male), race (Black, white), and age (adolescent, young adult, middle-aged, young-old, and old-old; Andreoletti et al., 2015). Responses showed that while gender stereotypes about agency and communion generally held up across the lifespan, they were more applicable to white people than Black people. In particular, Black women were less likely to be perceived in gender-stereotypic ways across the lifespan.

In another study, researchers asked American undergraduate students to generate attributes of different groupings of people based solely on race/ethnicity or gender (e.g., Asian Americans, Black Americans, Latine Americans, Middle Eastern Americans, or white Americans; men or women), or by groupings based on race/ethnicity-by-gender pairings (e.g., Black men or Latine women; Ghavami & Peplau, 2013). As shown in Table 2.3 (p. 64), the researchers found many stereotypes that differed by both race/ethnicity and gender as well as by the interaction of the two. In the race/ethnicity-by-gender condition, participants generated different and unique attributes that weren’t generated when students worked with groupings focusing on only race or gender. For example, Middle Eastern women were described as family oriented, quiet, and housewives, but these attributes weren’t offered when participants were asked about Middle Eastern people in general or Middle Eastern men. Attributes associated with ethnic groups when no gender was specified were more similar to those given for men than for women in each group. Also, when participants were asked to list attributes of women and men with no race/ethnicity specified, their descriptions were most similar to those provided for white women and white men as compared to ethnic minority women and ethnic minority men. Black women, in particular, who were described as “loud, assertive, and having an attitude,” were found to share few attributes with white women (p. 118).

When considering people with multiple socially marginalized identity characteristics, it’s not always clear which aspect of identity a person might focus on when stereotyping. For example, a Black woman may experience stereotypes based on being Black, being a woman, or being a Black woman (Petsko & Bodenhausen, 2020). Recent psychological research indicates that different intersecting stereotypes can be activated depending on the context and accessibility of the stereotype, which can vary from situation to situation. For example, a South Asian woman may be perceived (and stereotyped) more as South Asian if she is surrounded by other women, but she may be perceived (and stereotyped) more as a woman if she is surrounded by South Asian men. Certain contexts (e.g., the criminal justice setting) may make race more salient, whereas other contexts (e.g., a childcare facility) may make gender more salient (Petsko & Bodenhausen, 2020).

Some stereotypes are very specific to particular intersecting identities and can have unique effects. For example, Black women are often seen as tough, naturally strong, and self-sacrificing (Collins, 2004; Wallace, 1990), a stereotype known as the Strong Black Woman (SBW). While there are many strengths associated with this stereotype, we will discuss in Chapter 13 how it can interfere with Black women’s ability to engage in self-care and seek help when needed. In addition to the SBW stereotype, there is another, more pejorative stereotype of an angry Black woman, which depicts Black women as hostile, irrational, and overbearing (Ashley, 2014). This stereotype can serve to silence Black women who are afraid that if they express any negative emotion, they will be characterized as an angry Black woman and consequently be dismissed.

Similarly, other common stereotypes may appear positive, but they can have negative effects on people. One example is the stereotype of the model minority, or the belief that Asian American people are the ideal example of a minority group because they are hard-working, smart, and overachieving. Although this perception may, on the surface, seem positive, research shows it has drawbacks (Kim et al., 2021). For example, when teachers treat Asian American students in differential ways, that behavior can create conflict with other students; perpetuate the stereotype that all Asian American people are good at math; and result in different academic, professional, and social pressures than those experienced by people with other social identities (Thompson et al., 2016; Williams et al., 2014).

One reason stereotypes of women of color are problematic is that there are so few positive images of these women in popular media (Rios & Stewart, 2016). For example, Black and Latine women are often portrayed as criminals or villains (Rios & Stewart, 2016; Slakoff, 2020). An analysis of stories about crime found that white female victims were more often portrayed as sympathetic, while Latine and Black victims were more likely to be portrayed as “bad” women who were taking unnecessary risks (Slakoff & Brennan, 2019). One privilege of being a member of a dominant group is seeing a diverse array of representations of your group in the media (Schug et al., 2017). For example, even though white women are often sexualized and stereotyped in the media, there are many more images of them, so any one stereotypical or sexualized image carries less weight. Women of color, women with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ women are less visible. Because the few images that exist are largely negative, people may develop discriminatory attitudes and behaviors based on that limited information (Rios & Stewart, 2016).

How Stereotypes Shape Behavior

How do stereotypes shape behavior in relation to both the self and others?

In addition to influencing how girls and women are viewed by others, gender stereotypes convey how they should behave. As we’ll discuss in Chapter 5, most children learn rules about gender very quickly, and they can apply rigid stereotypes to both themselves and others. An exception is trans children and the siblings of trans children, who endorse gender stereotypes less than cisgender children do (Olson & Enright, 2018). Although adults are generally less rigid in their beliefs about gender, knowledge of gender stereotypes continues to affect the way people view themselves and how they choose to act. This is called self-stereotyping. In other words, individuals can act in ways that confirm stereotypes because that’s how they think they’re supposed to act.

More information

A photo shows five scientists standing dressed in white lab coats engaged in a conversation in a lab.

As an example, there’s a pervasive stereotype of a scientist as a straight, white man in a lab coat working alone in a lab (Archer et al., 2015). An analysis of biology textbooks found that most of the scientists portrayed were white men, although more women were featured in newer books (S. Wood et al., 2020). Unfortunately, few scientists of color were included even in more recently published books. The image of the prototypical scientists probably alienates many people who don’t identify as white and/or male. As a result, women, people of color, or LGBTQ+ individuals may not feel as though they belong in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professions, or the even more gendered engineering, math, computer science, and physics (EMCP) subset of professions. Such beliefs may discourage them from entering these fields or make them feel less comfortable if they do (Figure 2.4). In one study, researchers found that many LGBTQ+ individuals working in STEM/EMCP fields weren’t completely “out” to their colleagues, although those working in STEM/EMCP fields with better female representation reported a higher degree of openness (Yoder & Mattheis, 2016). Other research showed that trans women were more likely to avoid male-dominated professions because of fear that the climate wouldn’t be supportive (Brown et al., 2012). These examples show how stereotypes influence behaviors and life decisions.

Stereotypes can also interfere with performance. The term stereotype threat refers to the idea that when people think members of their social group do poorly on a certain task (or think that others believe they do), their anxiety about confirming that stereotype can actually undermine their performance (Steele & Aronson, 1995). In a testing situation, stereotype threat likely interferes with performance because becoming self-conscious and having distracting, stressful thoughts about doing poorly can hijack attention and memory resources that are needed to do well on the test (Schmader et al., 2008). In fact, a study of 9th-grade adolescents found that Black and Latine students experienced higher levels of stereotype threat than white students, which predicted both higher levels of math anxiety and lower levels of achievement (Seo & Lee, 2021).

One study showed that when women and men were told that performance on the math test they were taking typically showed large sex/gender differences, the differences in participants’ actual test scores were very large (Spencer et al., 1999). But participants who were told that the same test typically did not show sex/gender differences had no differences in performance. In other words, thinking there was a sex/gender difference magnified it, and thinking there was no difference eliminated it. Meta-analysis (a type of research discussed in Chapter 3) indicates that a wide array of interventions can significantly decrease the impact of stereotype threat (Liu et al., 2021). In the absence of an intervention, however, women generally come into math tests with internalized negative stereotypes about their math abilities. In fact, research has shown that despite having similar math abilities, women generally have lower math self-confidence than men (Else-Quest et al., 2010). Ironically, women’s reduced self-confidence in math seems unjustified given that the sex/gender differences in math achievement are small enough to be negligible (e.g., Hyde et al., 1990) and that women get better grades than men in math all the way through college (Voyer & Voyer, 2014).

It’s not always straightforward to address the impact of stereotypes. For example, there are two contrasting stereotypes about math performance by Asian American women (Shih et al., 1999), which makes it difficult to generalize about stereotype threat related to math performance. As women, they’re stereotyped to perform poorly in math, but as Asian Americans, they’re stereotyped to perform well. In a classic study, researchers randomly assigned Asian American women to three groups (Shih et al., 1999). One group answered questions designed to make them think about their sex/gender (e.g., whether they lived on a co-ed or single-sex floor). Another group answered questions designed to make them think about their race or ethnic background (e.g., how many generations it had been since their family immigrated). For the control group, researchers asked questions unrelated to the women’s social identities (e.g., whether participants liked the phone service provided by the university). All participants then took the same math test. Women who were prompted to think about their sex/gender performed worse than those in the control group, and women who were prompted to think about their race or ethnic background performed better. Another study showed that more than half of Asian American female scientists surveyed felt the need to continuously prove their competence to colleagues, suggesting that the negative stereotype about women was probably more salient than the positive stereotype that Asian American people are good at math and science (Williams et al., 2014). It may be that the positive stereotype benefits Asian American men more than women.

Of course, the more that people act in ways that confirm gender stereotypes, the more the stereotypes continue. This reflects a circular process in which social expectations influence the performance of gender, which in turn influences social interactions. This is known as doing gender (West & Zimmerman, 1987). There’s also tremendous pressure to adhere to traditional stereotypes. Many people notice and react when stereotypes are violated. When individuals violate gender stereotypes, they often experience some degree of social and economic penalties, known as backlash effects (Rudman, 1998; Rudman & Fairchild, 2004). For example, as we’ll discuss in Chapter 10, when women in leadership positions act in traditionally masculine ways, they’re more likely than other female leaders to be criticized and seen as unlikable (Eagly & Carli, 2007). However, other research showed that white female and Black male leaders were punished when demonstrating dominance, but Black female and white male leaders were not (Livingston et al., 2012). Another study showed that Latine female scientists reported experiencing more backlash than white, Asian, and Black scientists for expressing frustration in the workplace (Williams et al., 2014). Latine female scientists reported that if they weren’t deferential, colleagues perceived them as being angry or “too emotional” (p. 6). Black women, however, were given a bit more latitude to act assertively—as long as they weren’t seen as “angry Black women” (p. 6).

Since people are often punished for violating stereotypes, most people work hard to conform to them, so stereotypes are quite resistant to change. Despite considerable advancement for women in all domains of public life, many people continue to hold the same beliefs about stereotypical differences between women and men that they did in the 1980s (Haines et al., 2016).