Sexual Animals”
“SEXUAL ANIMALS”: PERSISTENT SEXUAL STEREOTYPES AT THE INTERSECTIONS OF RACISM, SEXISM, AND SEXUAL PREJUDICE A Dissertation by ANDREA DENISE HAUGEN Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Phia S. Salter Committee Members, Adrienne Carter-Sowell Joshua Hicks James Rosenheim Head of Department, Heather Lench August 2018 Major Subject: Psychology Copyright 2018 Andrea D. Haugen ABSTRACT This dissertation explored hypersexual stereotypes (HS) and their application to members of multiple marginalized groups in the U.S. HS are any characterization— including those related to physical traits, sexual practices, or sexual desires—of a person, based on group membership, that positions their sexuality as more abundant than a perceived norm. Five studies documented the present-day existence, application, and explanation of HS across sixteen diverse target groups: straight and queer White, Black, Latinx, and Asian men and women. With extensive historical evidence, I collected and compared current articulations of HS (Study 1). With findings from Study 1 (N = 157) suggesting HS are still extant and accessible towards members of all target groups, Studies 2-3 then explored the variance in endorsement of HS across target race, gender, sexual orientation, and/or their interactions. Participants in Studies 2 (N = 254) and 3 (N = 360) viewed mock dating profiles that varied by race, gender, and sexual orientation, then selected hypersexual traits and rated agreement with hypersexual statements as the just-viewed gendered, sexually-oriented racial target. Across straight targets, there were very few significant differences except that women targets were more likely than men targets to be ascribed hypersexual traits.
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