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A Changing View

Representation and Effects of the Portrayal of Women of Color in Mainstream Women's Magazines

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Travis L. Dixon

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

This research involved a content analysis of mainstream women's magazines in 1999 and 2004 and an experiment designed to examine the effect of counterstereotypical portrayals on readers. White women were overrepresented while Latina and Black women were underrepresented in mainstream women's magazine articles in 2004 compared to U.S. Census data, although not as much as in 1999. Representation of women of color as professionals also increased. The experiment found that exposure to articles featuring counterstereotypical depictions of women of color tended to elevate the occupational expectations of women of color among White readers but not people of color. The theoretical implications are discussed in light of subgrouping and exemplification.

Key Words: Blacks • Latinas • stereotypes • counterstereotypes • subtyping theory • subgrouping theory • magazines

Communication Research, Vol. 35, No. 2, 232-256 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0093650207313166


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