Prototypes of Race and Gender: The Invisibility of Black Women

Biernat, Monica and Amanda K. Sesko. 2009.  Prototypes of Race and Gender: The Invisibility of Black Women.  Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 46: 356-360.

Biernat and corresponding author Sesko in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology present a quantitative research study that examines racial and gender stereotyping and prejudice experienced by black women in relation to the perceptions of white women and black and white men. The study works on the hypothesis that black women are “forgettable” and the least likely to be recognized, hereby going unnoticed.  In addition to quantitative methods, the study also relies on feminist theories of “black invisibility” by bell hooks and other noted black feminist scholars.

 The study was divided into two parts. First, 131 white undergraduates, which included 50 white females, were shown 56 photos of black women’s headshots.  Secondly, participants were asked to distinguish if the photos were old or new. The first study provided evidence that black women’s faces were “forgettable” to white participants, garnering a small percentage of those who correctly identified photos.

 In the second study, participants were asked to identify “who said what” (358-359), which yielded higher errors as the black women in the study were the group most misunderstood among the black male and white male participants. Biernat and Sesko state limitations of the study such as: participants were aware that they were to pay attention to what was said and the definition of “invisibility” may have been too broad.

Although this study is mostly quantitative and from an advocacy worldview, the idea of “invisibility” can be applied to my own research interest. In reading this study the following questions arose: Are women featured in blaxploitation “invisible” and “unheard”? If so, how can we give them a “voice” beyond their physical presence?  Is it because of the “black invisibility” of black women that black women in blaxploitation films have been virtually ignored by the mostly male scholars and film critics? It is my hope that with this research project presenting reactions to blaxploitation films it gives a voice, visibility, and identity to the characters that these women portrayed beyond their stereotypes.