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Gender stereotypes
September 17, 2006

There is no lack of studies supporting gender and ethnic stereotypes. It’s a constant barrage of “women can’t do well in math and science” or “white guys can’t play basketball.” Where do these “studies” come from? In the latest incarnation, uncovered by the proprietors of the Website feministing.com (caution: the ladies at feministing have a more evocative vocabulary than we are permitted at this family-style corporate blog), John Philippe Rushton, a professor of psychology at the University of Western Ontario, claims to have found that men are smarter than women, and this superiority in intelligence is the reason behind the glass ceiling. In reality, as other studies have shown, a phenomenon called "stereotype threat" causes people prompted to think about negative gender or racial stereotypes to conform to them while the stereotypical thoughts are fresh in their minds. If you are prompted to think you won’t do well in a math test or in 100-yard dash, you probably won’t.

The comments accompanying the feministing item do a thorough job of debunking this so-called “study,” which is just another attempt to impose the stereotype threat to try to discourage women or minorities from trying to accomplish as much as they might.

Posted by Rick Nelson on September 17, 2006 | Comments (0)