Gendered racial boundary maintenance

Social penalties for White women in interracial relationships

Bibliographic Data

ID6205066
AuthorsAmelia Stillwell (0000-0001-9757-5326, University of Utah), Brian S Lowery (0000-0002-3606-7990, Stanford University)
Year2021
Volume121
Issue3
Pages548-572
Publication date2021-09-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037/pspi0000332
PMID32915039
OpenAlexW3086969290
LanguageEN
Citations received18

Throughout American history, formal laws and social norms have discouraged interracial romantic relationships. Interracial relationships blur the boundaries between racial groups, challenging the essentialized racial categories that define Whiteness as an exclusive, high status identity. Whites, who are the most resistant to interracial marriage of any racial group, have used their dominant position in American society to enforce norms against interracial relationships. Despite the importance of racial homogamy to White identity and status, we argue that gender roles make violating norms against intimate intergroup contact more costly for women than men, leading to Whites' greater resistance to interracial relationships involving White women. In a representative American sample using a natural quasi-experiment, as well as 3 follow-up lab experiments, we find that White women face differential social penalties for intimate intergroup contact-being perceived as gender deviant and low status within the group. By contrast, having a racial out-group partner did not influence status perceptions of men or Black women. Status perceptions of both individuals in the couple predicted attitudes toward the couple as a unit, leading to greater prejudice toward interracial relationships involving White women than White men. This research demonstrates the existence of a gendered double standard for intimate intergroup contact among Whites, revealing that gender norms play a critical role in the maintenance of American racial boundaries. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

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