Gangster and Geishas: The impact of racial prototypicality on judgments of sexual orientation for Black and Asian targets

Abstract

Across two studies, I apply an intersectional analysis to the judgment of sexual orientation of Black and Asian men. I hypothesize that (i) perceptions of racial prototypicality and (ii) the endorsement of stereotypes that associate racial groups with masculine or feminine traits drive the judgment of sexual orientation for non-White targets, in an American context. To test these hypotheses, I examined the effect of racial prototypicality on perceptions of sexual orientation for Black and Asian male targets and perceptions of masculinity/femininity as a potential mediator of these effects. In Study 2, I investigated the role of endorsement of cultural stereotypes that associate Black culture with masculine traits and Asian culture with feminine traits as a potential moderator of the predicted mediational relationship between racial prototypicality, perceptions of masculinity/femininity, and judgments of sexual orientation, separately for Black and Asian men. These hypotheses were partially supported. In both studies, highly prototypical Black men were judged more masculine and more heterosexual than less prototypical Black men, but the predicted effect of prototypicality for Asian men was not supported. In Study 1, a significant moderated mediation emerged, such that the mediational role of perceived masculinity in the relationship between racial prototypicality and sexual orientation differed by race: For Black men, as predicted, perceptions of higher racial prototypicality predicted lower judgments of homosexuality via increased perceptions of masculinity. For Asian men, the predicted mediational path was not supported. The mediational pattern for Black faces was replicated in Study 2, but stereotype endorsement did not moderate this pattern. Stereotype endorsement only mattered for judgments of Asian men: Counter to prediction, highly racially prototypical Asian men were rated as more masculine than their low racial prototypicality counterparts, but only among those who weakly endorsed the stereotype that Asian men are feminine. The indirect effect of racial prototypicality on sexual orientation judgments via perceived masculinity also varied as result of stereotype endorsement in the case of Asian men. These studies contribute to and extend current research on the influence of multiple, intersecting social identities on social cognition processes.