Do Black women go unnoticed more often?
Are Black Women Invisible?
by Melissa Burkley, Ph.D.
Fifty-five years ago, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a White man, and in doing so, provided the spark that set off the Civil Rights movement. Her actions that day were undeniably brave, but are even more impressive in the wake of recent research suggesting Black women are invisible. No, I don't mean invisible in the superhero kind of way; I mean invisible in a sociocultural way. That is, Black women are more likely than other racial/gender groups to go unnoticed or unheard.
Surely there are examples of Black women whose voices have a strong impact on our society. Michelle Obama serves as a role model for many people in this country, and whether she is promoting gardening or a new cardigan from J. Crew, people listen to her. Oprah is another example of a Black woman who holds enormous sway over our thoughts and actions (and the books we read). A recommendation from Oprah can launch a product (e.g., Airborne) or a career (e.g., Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz) and some argue it can also mar an entire industry (e.g., beef). But do these influential women represent the exception to the rule?
In a 2010 article published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Amanda Sesko and Monica Biernat examined the intriguing idea that Black women are socially invisible. In their first study, these researchers wanted to test if Black women were more likely to go unnoticed in a crowd, so they conducted a study to see how well people remembered Black women's faces. They showed White participants a series of photos depicting men and women who were White or Black. Later, participants were shown a new series of photos-some of the photos were new and some were the same photos they had seen before.
Participants simply had to indicate if they had seen the face before. What they found is that participants' memory was worst at remembering whether they had seen a Black female face before or whether it was new. The same did not occur for Black male faces, suggesting it was something more than just the fact that the target was of another race than the participant. As the researchers pointed out, these results suggest that Black women are more likely than Black men or White men and women to go unnoticed by others in a group or social situation.
Read the Full Essay @ Psychology Today
by Melissa Burkley, Ph.D.
Fifty-five years ago, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a White man, and in doing so, provided the spark that set off the Civil Rights movement. Her actions that day were undeniably brave, but are even more impressive in the wake of recent research suggesting Black women are invisible. No, I don't mean invisible in the superhero kind of way; I mean invisible in a sociocultural way. That is, Black women are more likely than other racial/gender groups to go unnoticed or unheard.
Surely there are examples of Black women whose voices have a strong impact on our society. Michelle Obama serves as a role model for many people in this country, and whether she is promoting gardening or a new cardigan from J. Crew, people listen to her. Oprah is another example of a Black woman who holds enormous sway over our thoughts and actions (and the books we read). A recommendation from Oprah can launch a product (e.g., Airborne) or a career (e.g., Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz) and some argue it can also mar an entire industry (e.g., beef). But do these influential women represent the exception to the rule?
In a 2010 article published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Amanda Sesko and Monica Biernat examined the intriguing idea that Black women are socially invisible. In their first study, these researchers wanted to test if Black women were more likely to go unnoticed in a crowd, so they conducted a study to see how well people remembered Black women's faces. They showed White participants a series of photos depicting men and women who were White or Black. Later, participants were shown a new series of photos-some of the photos were new and some were the same photos they had seen before.
Participants simply had to indicate if they had seen the face before. What they found is that participants' memory was worst at remembering whether they had seen a Black female face before or whether it was new. The same did not occur for Black male faces, suggesting it was something more than just the fact that the target was of another race than the participant. As the researchers pointed out, these results suggest that Black women are more likely than Black men or White men and women to go unnoticed by others in a group or social situation.
Read the Full Essay @ Psychology Today
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