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A number of recent studies have highlighted similarities in the types of discrimination (e.g., intersectional invisibility) faced by Asian men and Black women relative to Asian women and Black men. For instance, Asian women are much more likely to marry interracially than Asian men, while Black men are more likely to marry interracially than Black women. Both groups are also underrepresented in popular media such as in television and magazine depictions. We conducted a series of studies to first 1) provide data on the relative lack of representation of Asian men and Black women in mass media depictions, and 2) understand the psychological and sociological underpinnings of intersectional stereotypes. First, we show that Asian men and Black women are more likely than other groups to be rendered “invisible.” We find that that Asian men and Black women are more likely than other groups to be rendered “invisible” in popular magazines, textbooks, and in books published over the past several decades. We then show that these patterns of invisibility also occur on a cognitive level, whereby research participants are less likely to remember statements made by Asian men and Black women, and are less likely to imagine an Asian man or Black woman when thinking of a typical Asian or Black protagonist for a story. Together, these results strongly support the idea of intersectional invisibility, whereby some groups (such as Asian men and Black women) may face similar types of marginalization based upon the mismatch between racial and gender stereotypes.

Professor Monika Gosin received a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, San Diego and an M.A. in Sociology at Arizona State University. Gosin’s primary research and teaching interests include Latinx and Africana studies, popular culture and media, and inter-minority relations. She is the author of the forthcoming book The Politics of Racial Division: Interethnic Struggles for Legitimacy in Multicultural Miami (Cornell University Press, 2019). She has also published on raced and gendered media representations of Asian and Black populations within the United States. Her research and writing has been supported by several awards, including a postdoctoral position in the Latino/a Studies in the Global South Program at Duke University.

Professor Joanna Schug received a Ph.D. in Behavioral Science from Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan. Most of her work focuses on the topics of cross-cultural psychology, the evolution of cooperation, and race and gender stereotyping. She is the recipient of a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation for her research examining the adaptive nature of cultural variation in relationships. 

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fjtang@wm.edu

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