You can still make a joke, right? Yes, but... misogynistic jokes about women can have negative consequences. What can such humor do to women and men?

Disparaging jokes devalue members of certain groups and reinforce status differences between groups. Thus, when a man in the workplace says with a wink "I'm not a sexist. Sexism is wrong - and only women are wrong", this is more than just a funny remark. Humor can make sexist remarks about women seem more appropriate; it provides a socially acceptable outlet for expressing and reinforcing prejudiced attitudes, while also allowing individuals to

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The newest installment of the Star Wars saga, The Last Jedi, was released last month. Despite critical success, the film has been met with a polarized audience reaction online. Although likely not the primary reason for polarization, some of the negative reaction can be attributed to the perceived progressive, feminist political message of the main characters[1]: The primary protagonist, Rey, is a woman; the two most prominent White men, Kylo Ren and General Hux, are villains. Behind the scenes, women have powerful roles in the franchise, as president of Lucasfilm (Kathleen Kennedy) and as the

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In this blog post I will discuss how Target’s recent decision to do away with gender specific toy aisles could actually help children develop new cognitive skills, and as well as increase their willingness to play with different types of toys. ...more

Is it time to throw out our gender-equity-in-STEM training materials? Williams and Ceci (2015) reported that STEM faculty members have a preference for hiring women (not men), reigniting debates over equity in academic hiring. In our blog post, we add to a growing conversation among the scientific community that questions Williams & Ceci’s grand claim of a post-sexist era in academic hiring. ...more

The word bossy has been heavily discussed recently, thanks, at least in part, to the Ban Bossy campaign. To date, this debate has centered on why women get called bossy. But what about men? In this blog post, I will share some new research on the word bossy, and what happens when both men and women act bossy, specifically within a workplace context. ...more

In this blog post, I review a number of studies that suggest that telling women to focus on their MRS degree (aka getting married) while in college can make women less interested in earning a STEM degree (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math). Why does this matter? Because the STEM fields are in desperate need of women. Luckily, research also suggests that women in STEM are more desirable than women may realize. ...more