In today’s New York Times, op-ed columnist Nicholas Kristof confessed to being racist.
Well, not exactly. What he did confess to was taking a psychological test which revealed that he was more wary of black men than of white men (click here for full article). This kind of “implicit attitude test” is common in the field of psychology, and is also used to examine the attitudes that we have about gender. He cited a number of such gender tests, all of which pointed to the same conclusion: implicit sexism is harder to overcome than implicit racism. More importantly, these tests revealed that the majority of subjects were reluctant to attribute strong leadership skills to women. Here’s how Kristof explained this:
“The challenge for women competing in politics or business is less misogyny than unconscious sexism: Americans don’t hate women, but they do frequently stereotype them as warm and friendly, creating a mismatch with the stereotype we hold of leaders as tough and strong…Women now hold 55 percent of top jobs at American foundations but are still vastly underrepresented among political and corporate leaders — and one factor may be that those are seen as jobs requiring particular toughness”
Do the women of chick lit reflect these biases??? Definitely.
Lit Chicks 