White Female Bystanders’ Responses to a Black Woman at Risk for Incapacitated Sexual Assault

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Katz ◽  
Christine Merrilees ◽  
Jill C. Hoxmeier ◽  
Marisa Motisi
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
White Women ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Female College Students ◽  
Victim Blame ◽  
White Female ◽  
Potential Victim ◽  
Path Analyses

We investigated White female college students’ responses to risk for an incapacitated sexual assault involving a Black potential victim. Participants ( N = 160) read about attending a party where they saw a man lead an intoxicated woman into a private bedroom. The potential victim was referred to as having either a distinctively Black name (e.g., LaToya) or a non-distinct control name (e.g., Laura). After random assignment to one of these two conditions, participants reported on their intent to intervene and their perceptions of the situation and the potential victim. As expected, participants assigned to the Black potential victim condition reported less intent to intervene, less personal responsibility to intervene, and greater perceived victim pleasure than participants assigned to the control condition. Neither the certainty of risk nor the perceived victim blame differed as a function of the potential victim’s race. In path analyses, personal responsibility to intervene mediated the relationship between victim race and intent to intervene. The current results suggest that White women in college may choose not to help Black women at risk for sexual assault. Bystander education programs should explicitly address race as a potential barrier to helping others in need.

White Female Bystanders’ Responses to a Black Woman at Risk for Sexual Assault:

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 739-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine E. Merrilees ◽  
Jennifer Katz ◽  
Natalie DuBois ◽  
Claire Grant
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Black Woman ◽  
White Women ◽  
Intergroup Contact ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
White Female ◽  
Cultural Heterogeneity ◽  
Group Members ◽  
White Campuses

Although much research suggests that intergroup contact reduces prejudice, less research has examined the effects of contact on prosocial intergroup bystander behaviors. The current study examined mediators between White undergraduate women’s (N = 139) contact with racial/ethnic minority group members and their intent to help a Black woman at risk for sexual assault. As expected, White women who had more frequent and higher quality contact reported greater intent to intervene. Results showed that the effect of quality intergroup contact was mediated by diversity beliefs, or the attitude that cultural heterogeneity leads to favorable outcomes. These results suggest that promoting high-quality opportunities for intergroup contact and education regarding cultural diversity could promote the safety of racially and ethnically diverse students on predominantly White campuses.

Determinants of Racial Disparities in Female Incarceration Rates, 2000–2018

2021 ◽  
pp. 003464462110510
Author(s):  
Samuel L. Myers ◽  
William J. Sabol ◽  
Man Xu
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
African American Women ◽  
White Women ◽  
National Research Council ◽  
The United States ◽  
White Female ◽  
Opioid Use ◽  
Incarceration Rate ◽  
Women In Prison

In The Growth of Incarceration in the United States, the National Research Council documents the large and persistent racial disparities in imprisonment that accompanied the more than quadrupling of the U.S. incarceration rate since the 1980s. Largely unnoticed by policy makers and opinion leaders in recent years is an unprecedented decrease in the number of African American women incarcerated at the same time that the number of white women in prison has grown to new heights. The result of these recent changes is a near convergence in black-white female incarceration rates from 2000 to 2016. In some states, the changes occurred abruptly and almost instantaneously. In other states, the convergence has been gradual. We find that changes in the population composition—the fraction of the population that is black—was the major contributor to the decline in the disparity among women. We also find that race-specific differences in drug overdose deaths stemming from the recent increases in opioid use lowered the disparity by increasing the white female imprisonment rate and lowering it for black women.

The Natural Hair Bias in Job Recruitment

2020 ◽  
pp. 194855062093793
Author(s):  
Christy Zhou Koval ◽  
Ashleigh Shelby Rosette
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Black Women ◽  
White Women ◽  
Job Applicants ◽  
White Female ◽  
Job Interview ◽  
Natural Hair ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Job Recruitment

Across four studies, we demonstrate a bias against Black women with natural hairstyles in job recruitment. In Study 1, participants evaluated profiles of Black and White female job applicants across a variety of hairstyles. We found that Black women with natural hairstyles were perceived to be less professional, less competent, and less likely to be recommended for a job interview than Black women with straightened hairstyles and White women with either curly or straight hairstyles. We replicated these findings in a controlled experiment in Study 2. In Study 3A and 3B, we found Black women with natural hairstyles received more negative evaluations when they applied for a job in an industry with strong dress norms. Taken together, this article advances the research on biases in the labor market in the age of social media use and highlights the importance of taking an intersectional approach when studying inequity in the workplace.

Premenopausal Black Women Are Uniquely at Risk for Coronary Heart Disease Compared to White Women

2000 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 105-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn T. Gerhard ◽  
Gary Sexton ◽  
M. René Malinow ◽  
Rosemary C. Wander ◽  
Sonja L. Connor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Coronary Heart Disease ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Black Women ◽  
White Women

The link between stereotypical leader traits and perceived electability: Do Black women politicians face double jeopardy?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Elizabeth Mosier ◽  
Evava Pietri
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
White Women ◽  
White Male ◽  
White Men ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
White Female ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Double Jeopardy ◽  
Leader Traits ◽  
Voting Intentions

This paper examined whether Black women political candidates face double jeopardy in voter perceptions of electability due to Black women being perceived as having fewer traditional leader traits compared to White male, White female, and Black male candidates. Due to increasing political polarization in the U.S., concerns over electability are at the forefront of many voters’ minds when casting their ballots. Traditional conceptions of electability are built upon racialized and gendered notions of what traits connote an effective leader; thus, women and racial minority candidates are often perceived as less electable compared to White men. However, research has not adequately examined the intersectional aspect of electability bias. The current study proposed a double jeopardy effect: we expected that participants (n = 454) would perceive Black women, compared to White men, White women, and Black men, as lower in competence and leadership ability, which would lead to lower electability perceptions and voting intentions. Unexpectedly, there were mixed findings for the effects of race/gender on competence and leadership ability, and we did not find any evidence that candidate race/gender related to electability or voting intentions. We discuss potential explanations for these null findings and suggest avenues for future research.

Description of Personality Similarities and Differences of a Sample of Black and White Female Engineering Students

1997 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 603-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina W. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
White Women ◽  
White Female ◽  
Adjective Checklist ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Mean Differences

45 black and white female engineering students were assessed on Gough's Adjective Checklist and Schultz's FIRO-B. Nine Adjective Checklist scales showed significant mean differences between black and white women with black women having higher mean scores on Succorance and Abasement. White women had significantly higher mean scores on Achievement, Dominance, Counseling Readiness, Self-confidence, Military Leadership, Masculinity, and A-4. Comparison of scores on the FIRO-B by race showed only one scale with a significant difference, Wanted Inclusion.

An ally you say? Endorsing White women as allies to encourage perceptions of allyship and organizational identity-safety among Black women

2020 ◽  
pp. 136843022097548
Author(s):  
India R. Johnson ◽  
Evava S. Pietri
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Organizational Identity ◽  
White Woman ◽  
White Women ◽  
White Female ◽  
Stigma Consciousness ◽  
Organizational Environments ◽  
Female Employee ◽  
Identity Safety

Black women often question their belonging in organizational environments, and exposure to an allyship cue, such as a White woman endorsed as an ally, may help mitigate such concerns. We examine whether ally endorsement can help a White female employee cue allyship, and in turn, serve as an effective organizational identity-safety cue for Black women high in stigma consciousness. We found that, relative to viewing a White female employee, Black women that viewed a White female employee endorsed as an ally reported greater perceptions of allyship, which had important downstream consequences for organizational identity-safety. Specifically, perceptions of allyship predicted greater anticipated trust and belonging within the organization among participants both high (Experiments 1 and 2) and low (Experiment 2) in stigma consciousness. The present studies demonstrate that ally endorsement effectively cues allyship, and in turn, signals organizational identity-safety for Black women across varying levels of stigma consciousness.

Racial and Gender Biases in Magazine Advertising

1997 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 627-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Plous ◽  
Dominique Neptune
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Female Body ◽  
White Women ◽  
White Men ◽  
White Female ◽  
Male Body ◽  
Black Females ◽  
Gender Biases ◽  
Predatory Animal ◽  
And Gender

Recent evidence suggests that racial and gender biases in magazine advertisements may be increasing. To explore this possibility, a content analysis was performed on 10 years of fashion advertisements drawn from magazines geared toward White women, Black women, or White men ( N = 1,800 advertisements from 1985–1994). The results indicated that (a) except for Black females in White women's magazines, African Americans were underrepresented in White magazines; (b) female body exposure was greater than male body exposure, and White female body exposure rose significantly during the 10 years; (c) White women were shown in low-status positions nearly twice as often as were other models; and (d) Black women wore the majority of animal prints, most of which were patterned after a predatory animal. These findings suggest that racial and gender biases in magazine advertising persisted, and in some cases increased, between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s.

A Structural Approach to Sexual Attitudes

1988 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith A. Howard
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Behavior ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
White Women ◽  
Sexual Attitudes ◽  
Structural Approach ◽  
Sexual Values ◽  
Female Relationships ◽  
Black And White

This article evaluates the utility of cultural and structural perspectives in accounting for interracial patterns in sexual values and attitudes, as reflected in anticipated responses to and definitions of both consensual and nonconsensual sexual behavior, drawn from interviews with 932 adolescents. There were no racial differences in attitudes toward rape or toward male-female relationships. The responses of black and white women to a “classic rape” were very similar, while differences were found in responses to a less stereotypic nonconsensual sexual assault and to a consensual sexual incident. Blacks anticipated more negative reactions from the police and expressed greater distrust of other institutional agencies than did whites. Accordingly, black women were more likely to anticipate turning to their parents or other family members for support. The results are interpreted as supportive of a structural perspective.

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