Deviations from the prototype: Associations between women’s subjective weight and perceived sexual orientation

Western norms of femininity prescribe that women should be thin; however, lesbian women are stereotyped as distinct from feminine norms and more aligned with norms of masculinity. Shared stereotypes may cause women who are fat to be perceived as more likely to be lesbians. In three studies, I found support for this hypothesized relationship. In Study 1, 199 undergraduates demonstrated an implicit association between images of larger/smaller women and words associated with stereotypes of lesbian/straight women. In Study 2, I analyzed Chicago Face Database (CFD) data (N = 20-131 raters per stimulus) using previously identified correlations to find support for a correlation between subjective weight and perceived gender roles for both female and male stimuli. In Study 3, 111 undergraduates rated 90 female and male CFD faces. Female faces of higher subjective weight were rated as more likely to be lesbian or bisexual than female faces of lower subjective weight. Overall, these findings suggest that white US perceivers judge higher-weight female targets to be more masculine and therefore more likely to be lesbian or bisexual relative to lower-weight female targets. Future research should consider expanding this methodology to studies of men or studies using diverse populations.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Silvia, Jr., William

Contributors dc:contributor

• Rios, Kimberly M

• Stereotypes
• Fat Studies
• Sexual Orientation
• Femininity
• Masculinity

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 William Silvia, Jr.

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125519

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F125519