Pacific Standard May-June 2013 Cover

Swimsuit Issue Aside, ‘Sports Illustrated’ Cover Is a Female-Free Zone

May 9, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
si-female-cover

That recent Sports Illustrated cover featuring Jason Collins was, in one obvious respect, a landmark. But in another way, it was business as usual for the venerable weekly. The openly gay Collins is, after all, a man—and men are featured on the cover of SI about 95 percent of the time. That’s the conclusion of recently published research, which finds that, from 2000 through 2011, women appeared on just 4.9 percent of Sports Illustrated covers. "SI covers have both reflected and swayed their audiences toward corporate sport, particularly lucrative football, basketball, baseball, and ... Read More

More like this: Culture, Findings
Tags: , , ,

Sexists in White Coats: Men Favored for Laboratory Jobs

September 20, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment

Decades into the post-feminist era, there are still pockets of society where women are held back from advancement due to pervasive stereotypes. If that reminder conjures up images of a military base or a corporate boardroom, think again. We’re talking about university science laboratories. “Both male and female faculty judged a female student to be less competent and less worthy of being hired than an identical male student,” a Yale University research team reports in a disturbing new study appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Specifically, the ... Read More

More like this: Culture & Society, Education, Findings
Tags: ,

Female Olympians Sidetracked from Prime Time TV

July 26, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
Summer Olympics Beijing 2008

When it comes to gender-neutral coverage, NBC’s prime-time Olympics telecast is no medalist. That’s the conclusion of two newly published studies looking at the American television network’s prime-time coverage of the most recent summer and winter Olympics. One reported female athletes were marginalized during the 2010 winter Olympics, receiving only 37.8 percent of prime-time coverage. The other found they did significantly better during the 2008 summer Olympics, receiving 46.3 percent of air time during the broadcast network’s evening programming. However, that figure was ... Read More

More like this: Culture & Society, Findings
Tags: , , ,

Gender Wage Gap Skewed By Survey Flaws

February 10, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment

The wage gap between the sexes in America has been narrowing much faster than observers ever realized, although this revelation by a pair of University of Georgia researchers isn’t as good a tiding as it could be. Jeremy Reynolds and Jeffrey Wenger, who have stumbled upon a quirk in existing survey data that could also color how we measure all types of other sociological trends, say statisticians have been as much as 50 percent off in tracking the progress of women’s wages in the work force. “But that’s only because things were worse in the past than we had realized,” Reynolds ... Read More

More like this: Business & Economics, The Idea Lobby
Tags: , , , ,

The Perceived Delicacy of the Female Conductor

February 9, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment

Many factors influence the way classical music fans respond to a recording. The expressiveness of the composer. The virtuosity of the musicians. And, it seems, the sex of the conductor. Researchers Valerie Folkes of the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and Shashi Matta of The Ohio State University provide evidence that gender stereotypes shape our reaction to orchestral performances. But they report these effects aren’t consistent, and for female conductors, they aren’t necessarily negative. “People have strong beliefs about how men and women differ, ... Read More

More like this: Culture, Findings
Tags: , , , ,

Accusations of Sexism Spur Greater Sensitivity

October 11, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment

A woman who bristles when a male friend or colleague uses sexist language has to make a quick decision: Call him on it, or not? Although she might be personally offended, she may be reluctant to speak up, anticipating his response will be dismissive or defensive. Research just published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology suggests such fears may be overblown. It describes a carefully structured study in which college-age males are confronted over the use of sexist language — and respond with heightened sensitivity regarding gender issues. “Confrontation reduces the ... Read More

More like this: Culture, Culture & Society, Findings, NEWS
Tags: , , ,

No Room for Error With Sex Stereotypes

October 1, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment

If you’re drawn to a high-profile line of work generally associated with the other gender, rest easy. Newly published research finds people will respect your choice and accept you in that role. That is, so long as you don't make a mistake. That’s the cautionary conclusion of a team of scholars led by Victoria Brescoll of the Yale School of Management. Writing in the journal Psychological Science, they report that while gender stereotyping may be less overt than in previous generations, those who buck the accepted norms are given only a limited opportunity to succeed. “A ... Read More

More like this: Culture, Culture & Society, Findings, NEWS
Tags: , , ,

Admire Her Body, Hamper Her Brain?

March 15, 2010 • By • 10 Comments

Guys, here's something to consider the next time you ogle an attractive woman: Your desirous gaze may be reducing her capacity to think. That's the startling implication of a research paper titled "My Body or My Mind," recently published in the European Journal of Social Psychology. It suggests some women who are objectified by men internalize this perception and think of themselves as "a sexual object to be scrutinized." For reasons that are not entirely clear, this process appears to undermine their cognitive ability. Psychologists Robin Gay and Emanuele Castano of the New School for ... Read More

More like this: CAROUSEL, Culture & Society, Findings, NEWS
Tags: , , ,

There’s a Pink Elephant in the Room, Too

September 15, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment

Our Tom Jacobs just penned a post on an elephant in the room that the U.S. media has apparently just tumbled into — that some of Obama's critics may delegitimize him because his dad was black. I think there's a bigger quadruped in the room that's trampling around the Obama administration and its critics that no one's yet had the daring to address — sexism. To wit, why is every reference to death panels got granny in the crosshairs and not gramps? Look at Newsweek — "The Case for Killing Granny: Rethinking End of Life Care." Author Susan Jacoby laments in the Washington Post that ... Read More

More like this: Media, Mediator
Tags: , ,

Dorian Gray Lives: Obituary Photos Getting Younger

May 13, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment

A new study of obituary photos in a major Midwestern newspaper finds a steadily increasing percentage feature a dated view of the dearly departed. In 1967, about 17 percent of such portraits in the Cleveland Plain Dealer showed the deceased 15 or more years before his or her death. By 1997, that percentage had increased to 36 percent. Writing in Omega, a journal focusing on death and dying, Keith Anderson of Ohio State University reports the phenomenon is particularly noticeable for women, who were more than twice as likely as men to have an age-inaccurate image accompany their death notice. ... Read More

More like this: Mediator
Tags: , , ,