Perceived COVID-induced racism and contextual predictors of fear and psychological distress among Black men

The present study examined if Black men's perceptions of COVID-induced racism (i.e., the extent to which racism increased during the beginning months of the COVID-19 pandemic) were associated with their reported fear of COVID-19 and psychological distress. Self-report COVID-related variables and psychological distress data from 231 Black men in the U.S. were analyzed alongside archival percentages of confirmed cases and deaths by participants' county at the time of participation. Hierarchical regressions identified perceptions of COVID-induced racism as a significant predictor of Black men's psychological distress over and above contextual (e.g., county-level COVID-19 case %) and individual-level predictors (i.e., perceived race-related infection risk and self-reported COVID-related stressful life events). This work contributes to the growing literature on health inequities during the COVID-19 pandemic with a snapshot of Black men's experiences during the COVID-19 and racism pandemics of 2020 in the U.S.     

Unit Social Cohesion in the Israeli Military as a Case Study of “Don't Ask,Don't Tell”

U.S. military policy “Don't Ask Don't Tell” (DADT) restricted integration of gays in the U.S. military based on the premise that knowledge of gay peers would decrease interpersonal bonds among unit members. Despite the heated debate over DADT, this social cohesion thesis, reflecting the tensions of homosocial desire, has not been tested empirically. The Israeli military provides an operative case‐study for this thesis, given its nonexclusionary policy and intensive combat experience. Measures of perceived social cohesion and knowledge of gay peers were obtained from a sample of 417 combat and noncombat male soldiers using an inventory of interpersonal emotions towards unit members. A MANOVA of social cohesion by knowledge of gay peers and combat/noncombat unit yielded the hypothesized increase in cohesion in combat versus noncombat units. Yet contrary to the DADT premise, knowledge of gay peers did not yield decreased social cohesion. Comparisons with the U.S. military are presented, suggesting in both cases a loose coupling between stated policies and soldiers' experience on the ground. Implications of these findings for the reassessment of DADT and its repeal are discussed.     

Individual differences in women's perceptions of other women's dominance

Recent research on men's dominance perception suggests that the extent to which men perceive masculine men to be more dominant than relatively feminine men is negatively correlated with measures of their own dominance. In the current studies, we investigated the relationship between indices of women's own dominance and their perceptions of other women's facial dominance. Women's own height and scores on a dominance questionnaire were negatively correlated with the extent to which they perceived masculine women to be more dominant than relatively feminine women. In follow‐up studies, we observed similar individual differences when (i) women separately judged other women's social and physical dominance, suggesting that individual differences in women's dominance perceptions generalize across two different types of dominance judgment and (ii) we assessed the perceivers' dominance indirectly by using a questionnaire that measures the extent to which women view interactions with other women in competitive terms. These findings present new evidence that the extent to which people perceive masculine individuals to be more dominant than relatively feminine individuals is negatively correlated with measures of their own dominance and suggest that competition and conflict among women may have shaped individual differences in women's dominance perception. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cues and categories: Revisiting paths to racial phenotypicality bias

We conducted a targeted review of the literature exploring racial phenotypicality bias (RPB): perceivers' sensitivity to within-race variation in facial target features in perceptions and judgment of others. This review revealed evidence that two distinct mechanisms underlying these effects, categorical and featural, tend to be conflated in the literature. The categorical route suggests that the pathway from target cues to stereotype application is mediated by category activation. The featural route suggests that the pathway from target cues to stereotype application is direct, bypassing category activation. The categorical route is more closely represented when researchers discuss RPB, and more often of empirical focus. With a focus on research exploring RPB toward African American people, we explain the two routes and evidence supporting their distinction. We next offer evidence estimating the degree to which they may be conflated in the empirical literature and discuss limitations to our approach. Next, we describe some potential implications of this conflation for theory, research, and applications concerning RPB. Finally, we end with some recommendations for future empirical research.     

Reactions to Intragroup Deviance: Does Disidentification Have a Role?

In this study, we address previous evidence about the interchangeable use of derogation and disidentification in protecting the self from intragroup deviance. We argue that when the in-group stands for a valued social identity, members may disidentify from the group, but only if the immediate context provides no opportunity to derogate. In the present experiments (n = 80 and n = 79), we provided or did not provide participants with the opportunity to recommend a punishment for an in-group or an out-group deviant. We also measured in-group identification before and after exposure to deviant behavior and after judgment. The results show that participants first disidentified from the in-group but, when presented with an opportunity to judge the deviant, also derogated. Importantly, participants who could judge the deviant also recovered their initial in-group identification level. Participants’ reactions to the out-group deviant suggest they used an intergroup rather than intragroup strategy.     

Patriarchal influences on the lives of African adolescent girls from child-headed households

This study examined the gendered experiences of patriarchal family life by adolescent girls from a low socio-economic status (SES) neighbourhood in South Africa. The informants were nine girls from an urban setting, three of whom were from child-headed homes. The six others lived with extended family and served to provide typical experiences for girls from the same community. Data on the girls’ experience of patriarchal values were gathered using focus group discussions and a photo-voice booklet. Thematic analysis of the data suggested pervasive patriarchal value influences on the adolescent girls – including pressure from within themselves to prove their academic abilities, as well as being competent and responsible in daily living responsibilities. The informant girls perceived their greater educational aspirations to be discounted by their male peers, who did not seem to take them seriously.     

“A boy cannot marry another boy”: adolescent boys' talk about ‘gay’ boys at school

This study explored how black South African adolescent boys talk about ‘gay’¹1 The term ‘gay’ is put in inverted commas to acknowledge that as an identity category it is a social construct. The author in this article is aware that the term ‘gay’ implies a more liberated or liberatory form of identity, but the boys in the study were using it pejoratively. in schools. Thirty two boys (age ranged from 13–18 years old) attending two high schools in a historically black South African township took part. Data on their understanding of being gay were gathered using individual interviews and focus group discussions. The data were analysed using Edley and Wetherell's (2001 Edley, N., & Wetherell, M. (2001). Jekyll and Hyde: Men's constructions of feminism and feminists. Feminism & Psychology, 11(4), 439–457. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959353501011004002 doi: 10.1177/0959353501011004002[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) discursive interpretive framework. Findings suggest negative bias in the boys' attitudes towards ‘gay’ boys. The boys considered being ‘gay’ as ‘deviant’, ‘abnormal’, ‘un-Christian’ and ‘un-African’. Furthermore, ‘straight’²2 The term ‘straight’ is also put in inverted commas initially to acknowledge that this is also a social construct the participants used in the study to categorise and label each other. boys reported isolating themselves from ‘gay’ boys and avoiding practices stereotypically associated with being ‘gay’, such as wearing colorful pink clothes. Social constructions of hegemonic masculinity and homophobia appear present within an ordinary South African school setting.     

Wild tribes and ancient Semites: Israelite-Indian identification and the American West

Rabbi Henry Cohen of Galveston, Texas, carefully preserved a 1916 pamphlet that claimed a common history for ‘Wild Tribes’ of Indians and Jews of antiquity. Why would a Jewish author tie the customs of ‘uncivilised’ tribes to his own religion, and why might it capture Cohen's attention? This article suggests that the ‘Indian-Israelite’ identification appealed to acculturated Jews like Cohen as part of a wider embrace of a vision of manhood that at once held ties to Jewishness and American identity. That is, identification with the American West and frontier emphasised the harmony between Jewishness, a particular type of enlightened Judaism, and Americanisation. A brief survey of three movements – the relatively small-scale Galveston Movement, Jewish agricultural communities and the larger, more diverse Zionist movement – then demonstrates how the gendered and nationalist ideologies of Henry Cohen and other acculturated Jews like him aligned with their imagined constructions of Indians.     

Sexual Encounters and Manhood Acts: Evangelicals,Latter‐Day Saints,and Religious Masculinities

The experiences of men in traditional religions are complex, at times inconsistent, and not necessarily the direct result of religious teachings. This article draws from two qualitative case studies to examine the ways in which evangelical and Latter‐Day Saint men understand masculinity and their spiritual beliefs in the context of sexual activity. The authors present two masculine practices—acceptance of sexual rejection and sexual indifference—that allow religious men in this study to simultaneously challenge and uphold the system of hegemonic masculinity that their traditions promote. These findings point to the moments when creative, interpretative work helps religious men to reconcile their experiences with religious expectations and to alleviate the tensions they face in their everyday lives. This article offers new insights into how gender and sexuality studies may be integrated into the sociology of religion.