This thesis works towards deconstructing stereotypical images of Indigenous women that frequent the pages of popular literature. It calls attention to the ideological foundation of Euro-Canadian literature, which is informed by a White-christian-patriarchy. That literature, as an institution of the Euro-Canadian nation, propagates images of Indigenous women as Indian princesses, squaw drudges, suffering helpless victims, tawny temptresses, and loose squaws. Consequently, Euro-Canadian literature imprisons us in images that foster both racist and sexist stereotypes and that encourage violence against us. Margaret Laurence's short story "The Loons" and William Patrick Kinsella's "Linda Star" provide illuminating examples of some of those images. While these writers do not represent all non-Indigenous people who write about Indigenous women, both of these writers are extremely popular Canadian writers whose stories are often read in elementary schools, high schools, and universities. At the centre of this thesis is Maria Campbell's semi-autobiographical <u>Halfbreed</u>. Campbell's Halfbreed significantly challenges Euro-Canadian literature's White-christian-patriarchal ideology by contextualizing the narrative in an Indigenous-gynocratic ideology. Her book destabilized White-Euro-Canadian liberals' complacency when, as an indigenous woman, Campbell named Euro-Canadians oppressors and identified Euro-Canadian power structures that illegally, unjustly, and intolerably imposed on her people's way of life. This thesis concludes that Campbell's <u>Halfbreed</u> encouraged many Indigenous people to appropriate the White-Euro-Canadian colonizer's English language to write ourselves out of oppression by re-claiming our self--which is ideologically rooted in autochthonous and gynocratic cultures.

Det finns stereotyper om kvinnor med olika hårfärg och stereotyper påverkar människors empati och bedömning. Därför gjordes ett kvasiexperiment där det undersöktes om en kvinnlig brottsling väcker olika mycket empati beroende på (a) vilken hårfärg hon har och (b) empatisörens kön. I studien deltog 132 personer, varav 61 kvinnor och designen var en enkät där experimentgruppen fick läsa om en gärningskvinna som antingen var blond, brunhårig, svarthårig eller rödhårig och därefter skatta empati utifrån Batsons empatiskala. Resultaten visade att (a) blondiner väcker minst empati medan rödhåriga väcker mest (b) kvinnor  känner högre empati än män och (c) empati stiger med åldern. Dessa resultat förklarades bland annat med att blondiner mer än rödhåriga ses som objekt i samhället och är därför mindre empativäckande, att kvinnor i högre grad än män förväntas vara empatiska då det är detta beteende som förväntas av kvinnorollen samt att empati är något som utvecklas med tiden.

The present research examined how interactions with sexist men can trigger stereotype threat among women, undermining their engineering and mathematical performance. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the literatures on sexism and on stereotype threat. Chapter 2 validates a subtle sentence completion measure of sexism. In Chapter 3, male engineering students who scored highly on this sexism measure behaved in a dominant and sexually interested way towards an ostensible female classmate. In Chapter 4, female engineering students who interacted with such sexist men, or with confederates trained to behave in the same way, performed worse on an engineering test than women who interacted with nonsexist men. Chapter 5 conceptually replicated this finding and showed that women’s underperformance did not extend to an English test, an area in which women are not negatively stereotyped. Furthermore, interacting with sexist men lead women to suppress concerns about gender stereotypes, an established mechanism of stereotype threat. Chapter 6 discusses the implications for stereotype threat and for addressing barriers to women’s performance at school and in the workplace.

During times of economic and political uncertainty, people often feel a lack of control and security. Three studies demonstrate that the motive for a sense of control can increase the desire for a romantic partner who is likely to provide a sense of control. When the sociopolitical system is threatened, men are more interested in warm, caring, submissive women consistent with ‘benevolent’ sexist ideals of femininity (Study 1). Women, on the other hand, are less interested in men consistent with the masculine stereotype as assertive, independent, and achievement-oriented to the extent that a relationship with these men can diminish their sense of control (Study 2). Threatening beliefs in personal control produced the same effect on women’s romantic interest in stereotypically masculine men, which supports the observed effects of system threat as due to motive for a sense of control. But when women perceive these men as benevolent, external sources of control, they remain interested in these men when threatened (Study 3). Together, the studies suggest that romantic relationships can be a means of establishing a sense of control following economic and political uncertainty.

Public speaking anxiety is a common experience in both community and clinical populations and can have a negative impact on quality of life. Although contemporary treatments have been found to be effective, there is a lack of cultural relevance in existing theories and treatments. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of stereotypes, a culturally relevant variable, on public speaking performance and anxiety for African Americans and Asian Americans. Participants (N=97) were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions where they either received feedback that was stereotype confirming or non-stereotype confirming. Analyses of variance procedures were utilized to determine whether stereotype confirming feedback would have a negative impact on public speaking performance and anxiety during a speech performance task. Overall, stereotype confirming feedback was not found to have a negative impact on the participants’ public speaking performance or anxiety as measured by self-report and observer ratings. In particular, participants who received stereotype confirming feedback reported less prediction of poor performance in public speaking situations compared to those who received non-stereotype confirming feedback. However, there was a significant positive relation between the participants’ concerns for confirming negative stereotypes and self-report measures of public speaking anxiety. African American participants also reported fewer negative self-statements associated with public speaking compared to Asian American participants. These results encourage future studies to further examine the relation between stereotypes and public speaking anxiety.

This thesis focuses on perceptions of butch privilege in the undergraduate student body at Georgia State University. Butch privilege is similar to traditional definitions of privilege, whether male, white or heterosexual. I define it as the unearned and unacknowledged privilege experienced by a butch lesbian (perceived or self-identified) due to her occupation of masculinity. In order to investigate this topic, an exploratory quantitative analysis of how perceptions of masculinity and status are associated with butch privilege was conducted. A survey consisting of questions regarding participants’ perceptions of how differential privileges are extended to masculine and feminine looking women were presented to undergraduate students during introductory sociology classes. I found that the privileges traditionally reserved for white males in society are perceived to be extended to white butch lesbians due to their occupation of masculinity.

Grupptillhörighetens påverkan på uppfattningen av politiska uttalanden är något som inte tidigare studerats inom svensk forskning. I denna experimentella studie deltog 96 studenter, varav 25 män. Genom en enkätundersökning testades avsändarens betydelse på hur politiska uttalanden värderas. Syftet var att se om ett politiskt uttalande uppfattades olika beroende på avsändare och huruvida deltagarens grupptillhörighet påverkade uppfattningen om uttalandet. Fyra olika enkäter delades ut, innehållandes samma uttalande men olika påstådda avsändare. Det antogs att deltagaren skulle uppfatta uttalandet mer positivt när det kom från det parti deltagaren sympatiserade med. Det antogs även att uttalandet från Sverigedemokraterna skulle uppfattas mer negativt än de andra uttalandena bland de deltagare som inte röstade på Sverigedemokraterna. Deltagarna skattade uttalandet med hjälp av tio värdeladdade ord. Resultatet visade att individer såg mer negativt på ett uttalande som påstås komma från Sverigedemokraterna än när uttalandet sades komma från övriga påstådda avsändarna. Resultaten diskuterades utifrån förutsättningarna vid materialinsamlingen.

Forskning har visat att människor i allmänhet har positiva attityder till polisen. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka ungdomars attityder till den svenska polisen. Det undersöktes om polisens olika grad av våldsamt agerande påverkade deltagarnas uppfattningar och om attityderna skilde sig gentemot kvinnliga respektive manliga ordningspoliser. En egenkonstruerad enkät innehållande fyra olika berättelser delades ut i tre gymnasieskolor. Deltagarna var 88 unga kvinnor och 42 unga män som studerade på föreläsningsbaserade program. Resultatet visade att de flesta deltagare hade en positiv attityd. Resultatet visade även att ju mer våldsamt agerande desto mindre professionell, hänsynstagande och mer känslostyrd uppfattades polisen som. Det fanns inte någon skillnad mellan attityderna till kvinnliga respektive manliga poliser. För hänsynstagande och affekt visade dock resultatet en tendens till en interaktionseffekt mellan polisens kön och våldsamhet. Detta kan bero på att det fortfarande kan finnas stereotypa könsuppfattningar hos deltagarna för vissa attribut hos polisen.

The present research examined how interactions with sexist men can trigger stereotype threat among women, undermining their engineering and mathematical performance. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the literatures on sexism and on stereotype threat. Chapter 2 validates a subtle sentence completion measure of sexism. In Chapter 3, male engineering students who scored highly on this sexism measure behaved in a dominant and sexually interested way towards an ostensible female classmate. In Chapter 4, female engineering students who interacted with such sexist men, or with confederates trained to behave in the same way, performed worse on an engineering test than women who interacted with nonsexist men. Chapter 5 conceptually replicated this finding and showed that women’s underperformance did not extend to an English test, an area in which women are not negatively stereotyped. Furthermore, interacting with sexist men lead women to suppress concerns about gender stereotypes, an established mechanism of stereotype threat. Chapter 6 discusses the implications for stereotype threat and for addressing barriers to women’s performance at school and in the workplace.

During times of economic and political uncertainty, people often feel a lack of control and security. Three studies demonstrate that the motive for a sense of control can increase the desire for a romantic partner who is likely to provide a sense of control. When the sociopolitical system is threatened, men are more interested in warm, caring, submissive women consistent with ‘benevolent’ sexist ideals of femininity (Study 1). Women, on the other hand, are less interested in men consistent with the masculine stereotype as assertive, independent, and achievement-oriented to the extent that a relationship with these men can diminish their sense of control (Study 2). Threatening beliefs in personal control produced the same effect on women’s romantic interest in stereotypically masculine men, which supports the observed effects of system threat as due to motive for a sense of control. But when women perceive these men as benevolent, external sources of control, they remain interested in these men when threatened (Study 3). Together, the studies suggest that romantic relationships can be a means of establishing a sense of control following economic and political uncertainty.