Sex Roles

Abstract Black women sit at the intersection of sexualized gender and racial oppression which shapes how Black women are socialized and influences how their images are (mis) represented in the media. Guided by sexualization scholarship, the critical media effects (Ramasubramanian & Banjo, 2020) and intersectional (Crenshaw, 1994/2013) frameworks, this study investigated the impact of sexualized social media content on Black women. A sample of 872 Black women (ages 18–81) residing in the United States was recruited to participate in this study. Participants viewed sexualized (vs. non-sexualized) social media images of other Black women whose skin tone varied (darker brown vs. lighter brown). Results indicate that participants made less amiable attributions about sexualized (vs. non sexualized) and lighter brown (vs. darker brown) skinned women. In addition, findings revealed nuances in how Black women perceive representation across media; lighter brown skinned women were viewed as more prototypical representations of Black women in both traditional and social media. Sexualized women were seen as more prototypical in traditional media. Implications and future directions for more culturally sensitive technology research are discussed.

Abstract Latrinalia, or the study of messages left in restrooms, provides a unique record of shared communication among message writers within gendered spaces. Drawing on a conventional content analysis of 1,378 messages left in the women’s restroom of a mid-sized Midwestern university from January 2022 through November 2023, this study contributes to an understanding of women’s lived experience by identifying themes that illuminate how restroom users enact, resist, or reinterpret gender roles, especially within gendered spaces. Emerging themes include: Affirming ( n = 1040), Negative ( n = 11), Miscellaneous ( n = 8), and Unable to Categorize ( n = 319), with additional subcategories in some areas. The results demonstrate messages of social justice, sharing resources, emotional support, and engagement of religious and political matters. These findings provide valuable insight into topics important to women today and encourage reflection on how feminist scholars might direct this energy toward advocacy and community engagement. Using a critical feminist lens for analysis, the findings of this study challenge longstanding stereotypes of women’s communication as trivial or powerless and instead reveal that communication in gendered spaces is rich, robust, and community-focused.

Abstract Worldwide there is persistent gender inequality in the occupational and domestic spheres, with women being underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields and men being less involved in HEED (health care, elementary education, domestic sphere). This preregistered cross-cultural study examined the role of parents in the intergenerational transmission of these gender inequalities to their young adult children. Specifically, we examined whether parents’ division of labor and occupations predicted young adults’ career and family orientation and interest in HEED and STEM careers, and whether associations are different depending on parent and child gender. This study further investigated whether these associations are moderated by country-level variation in collectivism, the value of personal autonomy, gender equality, and gender stereotypes. We used a large dataset with 17,629 young adults (aged 17–25, 63% women) from 44 countries. Results showed that, across countries, a more traditional division of paid labor between one’s parents (i.e., father > mother) was associated with a more gender-typical orientation to family for young adult women. Unexpectedly, having a mother with a HEED job was related to a greater interest in HEED careers and a greater orientation to family vs. career for both young adult men and women. Societal indicators of collectivism, personal autonomy, gender equality, and gender stereotypes did not moderate any of the associations. Thus, gender inequalities in division of labor may be transmitted from parents to their children, similarly across different countries, whereas this process seemed less relevant for explaining gender segregation in STEM and HEED careers.

Abstract Pregnancy apps are increasingly embedded in everyday reproductive health, yet their roles in constructing maternal and paternal identities remains underexplored. This study examined how Chinese pregnancy apps produced gendered parental subject positions through algorithmically curated homepage recommendations and app-generated prompts. To conceptualize this process, we developed the concept of platformed reproductive scripts to capture how apps guide users to understand and perform conception, pregnancy, fetal care, and anticipated parenthood. Five Chinese apps were selected using the systematic review-informed method and analyzed through the walkthrough method. Ten simulated accounts with matched expectant mother and expectant father profiles were created to compare role-specific content across the reproductive journey. Thematic analysis showed that the apps celebrated men’s contribution to conception while assigning women more sustained preconception work. The apps scripted expectant fathers as involved but supervisory subjects whose participation in pregnancy became a process of identity-building through learning, emotional support, planning, and future-oriented educational responsibility. Expectant mothers, in comparison, were positioned as naturalized yet self-disciplined reproductive subjects whose ongoing bodily and emotional labour during pregnancy remains central to fetal wellbeing. These scripts structured expectant fathers and mothers’ sexuality during pregnancy, where men’s sexual desire was centred. And they extended into future parenting, where fathers’ educational involvement was framed as personal growth while mothers’ devotion to fetal wellbeing was intensified. Overall, the findings reveal how pregnancy apps assigned mothers and fathers different forms of participation, authority, and reproductive responsibility.