On Double Jeopardy: Race and Gender Explain Intersectional Subjective Stigmatization Likely Additively, and Possibly Projectively, but Unlikely Multiplicatively

Abstract

Though racism and sexism are the two most common discrimination studied by researchers, it remains unclear how one’s race and gender jointly contribute to their experience of stigmatization. Five studies (total N=13,274) test and compare three approaches to this question: the additive approach (race ⇒ racial stigmatization; gender ⇒ gender stigmatization), the projective approach (race ⇒ gender stigmatization; gender ⇒ racial stigmatization), and the multiplicative approach (race×gender ⇒ gender/race/overall stigmatization). Overall, our findings consistently find evidence that supports the additive approach and disconfirms the multiplicative approach. For the projective approach, we found some support for it and discover an asymmetry (race ⇒ gender stigmatization; gender ⇏ racial stigmatization) that we consistently confirmed across the studies. Together, these studies clarify the theories of double jeopardy and contribute to our understanding of stigmatization experiences as a function of race and gender.