An Intersectional Approach to Black/White Interracial Interactions: The Roles of Gender and Sexual Orientation

Although researchers have long advocated taking an intersectional approach in order to better understand how race, gender, and other social identities influence social experiences, this approach is only beginning to take hold in the interracial interaction literature. This paper describes the importance of considering gender (as well as other social identities, such as sexual orientation) in addition to race in the context of Black/White interracial interactions in the United States. The role of prior experience is discussed (i.e., encounters with prejudice at the intersection of race and gender, gender differences in the content of racial stereotypes, and the sometimes-conflicting messages of racial and gender socialization). The ways in which gender and racial identities interact with situational aspects of interracial interactions are also considered. Finally, the current representation of gender in the interracial interaction literature is reviewed, and recommendations for future research are provided, including techniques for recruiting racial minority participants.     

An Intersectional Analysis of Gender and Race for Sexual Minorities Who Engage in Gay and Lesbian Rights Activism

Social movements aimed at increasing rights for sexual minorities have mobilized in the United States and throughout the world, yet studies on why gays and lesbians from a variety of racial backgrounds join and participate in these collective actions are rare. To address this gap, this study used a survey to identify the key factors that inspired four types of gay and lesbian rights activism: voting, petition signing, protesting, and civil disobedience. After conducting an intersectional analysis on 285 self-identified gays and lesbians from throughout the U.S. of how gender, race, and framing factors impacted these political behaviors, this study concluded that the act of publicly revealing one’s sexual identity and experiencing heterosexist discrimination generally increased activism on the behalf of gay and lesbian rights (regardless of gender or race). However, race and gender differences were noted, as White lesbians were less likely to protest and vote than lesbians of color. For gay men, race was less crucial to activism but experiencing workplace discrimination and embracing an activist identity were especially relevant in predicting activist behaviors.     

Race, income, and perceptions of the U.S. court system

This article reports on the effect of income within race on African Americans' perception of the courts. Our findings are somewhat consistent with the previous research on black middle-class relative dissatisfaction with various American institutions. That is, unlike whites and Latirios in our study, we find that higher-income African Americans are more skeptical of the notion that blacks receive equal treatment in the courts. This same group also reported less confidence in the court's handling of specific types of cases (e.g., civil, criminal and juvenile delinquency cases.) However, better off blacks were more likely than poor blacks to have confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court and community courts. These findings point a more complex account of African American perceptions of the courts, an account that draws a distinction between diffused and specific support of the courts.     

Playing the Woman Card: Ambivalent Sexism in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Race

Late in the 2016 U.S. Presidential primary, Donald Trump attacked Hillary Clinton for playing the “woman’s card.” Theories of system justification suggest that attitudes about gender, particularly endorsement of hostile and benevolent sexism, likely shaped reactions to this campaign attack. Using a set of two studies, we find that hostile sexists exposed to the attack showed increased support for Trump and decreased support for Clinton. Benevolent sexists, however, reacted to Trump’s statements with increased support for Clinton, consistent with benevolent sexism’s focus on protecting women (Study 1). We further found that the woman card attack produced distinct emotional reactions among those with low and high levels of hostile and benevolent sexism. The attack also increased political participation among hostile sexists (Study 2). Our results offer new insights into the role of sexism in the 2016 presidential contest and further the discipline’s understanding of the gendered dimension of negative campaigning.     

Gender,Race, and Delinquent Behavior: An Extension of Power-Control Theory to American Indian Adolescents

Research testing Hagan’s power-control theory has largely been tested with samples of non-Hispanic whites. We extend prior research by testing the theory’s merits with a sample of American Indian (AI) adolescents. Overall, we find mixed support for the theory’s merits. However, we find that our measure of patriarchy is a robust predictor of AI female delinquent activity. We also find that a grandparent in the household serves to greatly reduce involvement in violent behavior among AI females. Compared to a sample of non-Hispanic whites, these results reveal the importance of testing explanations of deviant behavior across racial and ethnic groups.     

Sexual Harassment,Racial Harassment,and Well-Being among Asian American Women: An Intersectional Approach

ABSTRACT

Harassment of Asian American (AA) women has received little attention in popular culture and academic research despite their long legacy of sexualized racial stereotyping (e.g., Geisha, sexually submissive; Shimizu, 2007) and additional risk of mistreatment due to their membership in both marginalized gender and racial groups (Beale, 1970 Beale, F. (1970). Double jeopardy: To be Black and female. In T. C. Bambara (Ed.), The Black woman: An anthology (pp. 90–100). New York: New American Library. [Google Scholar]; Settles & Buchanan, 2014 Settles, I. H., & Buchanan, N. T. (2014). Intersectionality: Multiple categories of identity and difference. In V. Benet-Martinez and Y. Hong (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Multicultural Identity (pp. 160–180). New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc. [Google Scholar]). This study addresses this dearth of research using an intersectional theoretical framework to comprehensively examine sexual and racial harassment with a sample of AA women. Results validated the underlying factor structure of the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire (Fitzgerald, Gelfand, & Drasgow, 1995 Fitzgerald, L. F., Gelfand, M. J., & Drasgow, F. (1995). Measuring sexual harassment: Theoretical and psychometric advances. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 17, 425–445. doi:10.1207/s15324834basp1704_2[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and the Racial Acts, Crimes, and Experiences Scale (RACES; Bergman & Buchanan, 2008 Bergman, M., & Buchanan, N. T. (2008). Development of the Racial Acts, Crimes, and Experiences Survey (RACES). Unpublished instrument. [Google Scholar]) for AA women. Additionally, our results replicated previous research indicating that participants often reported experiencing behaviors that constitute harassment, but did not label them as such. This supports the use of behavioral measures over items that require individuals to label their experiences as harassment. Finally, we examined the associations between these forms of harassment and two indicators of psychological well-being, depression, and posttraumatic stress (PTS). Our results found that gender harassment was associated with more depression, whereas unwanted sexual attention, sexual coercion, and racial harassment were associated with increased PTS. This supports the utility of including both sexual and racial harassment in providing a more nuanced understanding of AA women’s harassment experiences overall and the relationship of harassment to psychological well-being. We discuss theoretical and clinical implications of these findings.     

I Share,Therefore I Am: A U.S.−China Comparison of College Students' Motivations to Share Information About Climate Change

This study examines social cognitive factors that influence information sharing related to climate change. Survey data were collected in the United States and China. Social and epistemic motivations, negative emotion, and information seeking were significant predictors of information sharing in the U.S. sample. In the Chinese sample, however, social motivation and information seeking were the only significant predictors. These results suggest that psychological collectivism fosters information sharing. For theory development purposes, these findings suggest that besides information seeking and processing, the Risk Information Seeking and Processing model could account for information sharing as well, although evidence only surfaced in the U.S. sample. Practically, this study offers important pathways to improve information sharing related to climate change in the public sphere.     

Constructions of Therapy, Race, Ethnicity, and Gender; An Anthropological Metaphor

This article develops an anthropological metaphor for conducting therapy with families of a racial and/or gender identification different from that of the therapist. This metaphor is grounded in constructionism. It is suggested that when gender and/or racial issues arise in the course of therapy, the therapist must avoid both adhering too stringently to cultural/racial stereotypes, as well as ignoring such stereotypes altogether. Committing either of these errors not only does a disservice to the family, but jeopardizes the therapy. It is also suggested that such issues must be dealt with openly in order to maximize the effectiveness of the interventions.     

Gender role identity among adolescent Muslim girls living in the U.S.

Gender role identity is acquired through exposure to societal expectations and beliefs about behaviors and characteristics appropriate for males and females. This study examined influences on gender identity among ninety-six Muslim adolescent girls living in the U.S. and attending an Islamic high school. Over three-quarters of the sample characterized themselves as Middle-Eastern or Arab-American. Participants completed a survey in English or Arabic containing background questions, the Bern Sex Role Inventory (Bern, 1974), the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (Phinney, 1992), and a religiosity scale. These young women had comparable femininity scores, but higher masculinity scores than Bern's normative female samples. Results also indicated that those girls who had lived in the U.S. for longer periods reported more masculine attributes. Greater sense of belonging to one's ethnic group and greater religiosity were associated with greater femininity. Thus, identification with one's own culture, adherence to religious practices, and exposure to foreign cultural values were related to gender role identity.     

Gender role identity among adolescent Muslim girls living in the U.S.

Gender role identity is acquired through exposure to societal expectations and beliefs about behaviors and characteristics appropriate for males and females. This study examined influences on gender identity among ninety-six Muslim adolescent girls living in the U.S. and attending an Islamic high school. Over three-quarters of the sample characterized themselves as Middle-Eastern or Arab-American. Participants completed a survey in English or Arabic containing background questions, the Bern Sex Role Inventory (Bern, 1974), the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (Phinney, 1992), and a religiosity scale. These young women had comparable femininity scores, but higher masculinity scores than Bern's normative female samples. Results also indicated that those girls who had lived in the U.S. for longer periods reported more masculine attributes. Greater sense of belonging to one's ethnic group and greater religiosity were associated with greater femininity. Thus, identification with one's own culture, adherence to religious practices, and exposure to foreign cultural values were related to gender role identity.     

Race,Gender, and Class Distinctions Among Aging Middle Class Black and White Women: Implications for Feminist Interventions

Although Black¹For the sake of simplicity, the generic terms Black and White are used to denote differences between the two groups of women. and White women’s relationships have received considerable attention, the important questions of how and if these relationships change with age and social class have received less attention. This article using the metaphor of intersectionality, and grounding women’s relationships in historically and contextually relevant frameworks, provides an understanding of the social and cultural tensions that continue to influence the standpoints of aging middle class Black and White women. The authors pose many probing questions about whether or not aging middle class Black and White women are capable of developing genuine friendships rather than superficial acquaintanceships. The article concludes with implications for Black and White feminist therapists, which highlight the necessity for personal reflections about issues of power and oppression and how they permeate interactions, depth of historical knowledge, and the promotion of positive aging techniques. Each of these and others help to forge a greater understanding of relationship building between these two groups of heterogeneouswomen.     

Gender Roles and Cultural Continuity in the Asian Indian Immigrant Community in the U.S.

Ethnic identity is a part of positive self-concept that consciously anchors an individual to a particular ethnic group. Central to this identity is a sense of belonging, as well as a commitment to the group's values, beliefs, behaviors, conventions, and customs. This study focuses on the Asian Indian community in the U.S. to investigate their concerns with the continuity of ethnic identity via maintenance of traditional culture. Intergenerational synchrony in two specific values, attitudes toward women and dating, were examined as indicators of successful transmission of culture and identity. Forty-sixeducated, middle class Indian immigrant families, the majority of whom were foreign born and Hindus,participated in this study by responding to three questionnaires: Attitude Toward Women Scale, Dating Scale, and IPAT Anxiety Scale. Although the results show a strong similarity between parents and children on target attitudes, distinct intergenerational and gender asymmetries emerged. The conscious attempt to preserve certain critical attitudes, values, and behaviors characteristic of the group was labeled “judicious biculturalism,” an expression of active involvement on the immigrants' part to control the course of their own acculturation. The study has implications for women's status within the Asian Indian community.     

Measuring Perceptions of Gender Roles: The IAWS for Pakistanis and U.S. Immigrant Populations

A new scale called the Islamic Attitudes Toward Women Scale (IAWS) was developed and administered to a sample of 195 Pakistani adults and to a sample of 140 Muslim immigrants in the United States. In support of the construct validation of the scale, it was found to significantly differentiate between liberal and conservative Muslims in Pakistan, and in both samples, men held more conservative attitudes than women. For both women and men, more liberal scores on the IAWS were correlated with less accepting beliefs about marital violence toward women. In the U.S. immigrant sample, those who had been in the United States longer had less conservative attitudes.     

Gender Role Beliefs and Attitudes toward Lesbians and Gay Men in Chile and the U.S.

We compared the relationship between gender role beliefs and antigay prejudice in Chile and the United States. Participants were Chilean and American university students. In Study 1, Chileans were more prejudiced than Americans, and men were more prejudiced than women. In Study 2, gender role beliefs mediated cultural and sex differences in prejudice. Chileans held more traditional gender role beliefs and were more antigay than Americans. Men were more prejudiced than women, particularly in their attitudes toward gay men. Further, sex differences in attitudes toward lesbians and gay men were completely mediated by gender role beliefs. Nationality differences in attitudes toward lesbians were completely mediated, and nationality differences in attitudes toward gay men were partially mediated, by gender role beliefs.     

Predicting Pay Grade in the U.S. Military by Gender and Ethnic Minority Status1

This study examined predictors of pay grade for ethnic minorities and women in the U.S. military using hierarchical regression analyses. In the analysis including all personnel, being a woman and ethnic minority status were negative predictors of pay grade after controlling for education and years of service. In the analysis using enlisted personnel, the interaction between years of service and minority status showed that more years of service was associated with higher pay grade among ethnic majority enlisted personnel after controlling for education and years of service. In the model using officers, being a woman was a negative predictor of pay grade after controlling for education and years of service. Future studies, implications, limitations, and strengths are discussed.     

Religious Attendance and Body Mass: An Examination of Variations by Race and Gender

Studies of the association between religious attendance and body mass have yielded mixed results. In this paper, we consider intersectional variations by race and gender to advance our understanding of these inconsistencies. We use data from the 2006–2008 Health and Retirement Study to examine the association between religious attendance and three indicators of body mass: overall body mass index, waist circumference, and waist-to-height ratio (n = 11,457). For White women, attendance is either protective or unrelated to body mass. For Black women, attendance is consistently associated with increased body mass. We find that religious attendance is not associated with body mass among the men.