Gendered racial boundary maintenance: Social penalties for White women in interracial relationships.

Abstract

Throughout American history, formal laws and social norms have discouraged interracial romantic relationships. Interracial relationships blur the boundaries between racial groups, challenging the essentialized racial categories that define Whiteness as an exclusive, high status identity. Whites, who are the most resistant to interracial marriage of any racial group, have used their dominant position in American society to enforce norms against interracial relationships. Despite the importance of racial homogamy to White identity and status, we argue that gender roles make violating norms against intimate intergroup contact more costly for women than men, leading to Whites' greater resistance to interracial relationships involving White women. In a representative American sample using a natural quasi-experiment, as well as 3 follow-up lab experiments, we find that White women face differential social penalties for intimate intergroup contact-being perceived as gender deviant and low status within the group. By contrast, having a racial out-group partner did not influence status perceptions of men or Black women. Status perceptions of both individuals in the couple predicted attitudes toward the couple as a unit, leading to greater prejudice toward interracial relationships involving White women than White men. This research demonstrates the existence of a gendered double standard for intimate intergroup contact among Whites, revealing that gender norms play a critical role in the maintenance of American racial boundaries.

Between Problematisation and Invisibilisation

“…Accordingly, white women who transgressed hierarchies by marrying or partnering (North) African men were targeted because of their societal position at the intersection of race, gender, sexuality and class. Researchers from the UK and the US have argued that the white community subjected women who chose to engage in interracialised relationships to social penalties (Perry & Sutton, 2008;Stillwell & Lowery, 2020;van der Walt & Basson, 2015). This is in line with the narratives of the white women I interviewed.…”

“…Consequently, this body of scholarship does not centre the analysis of racism and racialisation in researching mixed couples. Sociological research in the US and the UK context has been more attuned to these issues, as it has examined discourse on and narratives of interracialised couples as a lens through which to understand how racial boundaries are created, transgressed and perpetuated (Onwuachi-Willig, 2013;Onwuachi-Willig & Willig-Onwuachi, 2009;Perry & Sutton, 2008;Stillwell & Lowery, 2020;van der Walt & Basson, 2015). In so doing, these scholars have contributed to an understanding of how whiteness is constructed through the intimate sphere (Frankenberg, 1993).…”

“…However, the literature on mixed couples does not particularly research race and racialisation in France and has not looked at regulation. In this respect, research on interracialised couples developed differently in France than in other national contexts, such as in the US and the UK, where scholars have explicitly analysed processes of racialisation and racial boundary-making (Childs, 2007;Onwuachi-Willig, 2013;Onwuachi-Willig & Willig-Onwuachi, 2009;Roberts, 2017;Stillwell & Lowery, 2020;Twine & Steinbugler, 2006). I build upon this research to develop a context-specific understanding of processes of racialisation and boundary-making in the position of interracialised couples in French society.…”

The Voices of Interracial and Interethnic Couples Raising Biracial, Multiracial, and Bi-ethnic Children Under 10 Years Old

“…These characteristics affect the equity and power (Knudson-Martin et al, 2019) within the family but also affect how the family relates to other family members, who are also embedded in society, as well as with the broader society where, again, skin color and heritage matter. For example, some research shows that White women are more likely to be socially penalized for marrying outside of their race than Black women or men (Stillwell & Lowery, 2020). Thus, and consistent with Doucet et al's (2019) recommendation to explore the family's intersectionality, a one-size-fits-all approach on the part of social workers is not recommended.…”

Unaffirmed and color‐blind: Racial worldview and stigma experienced in interracial relationships

“…The latter represents a cognitive framing favorable of less committed relationships with white Women in particular (Wilkins, 2012). White women in IRs must also contend with assumptions that they are of lower status if they are in a relationship with a Black man as opposed to a White man (Stillwell & Lowery, 2020). IRs are further stigmatized when those who prefer same‐race partners may resolve to date a person of another race only as a last resort if they are unable to find an acceptable same‐race partner (Luke & Oser, 2015).…”