Masculinity and Femininity by Racial Identification: Racialized Differences in Responses to Self-Rated Gender Scales for Cisgender Men and Women

Abstract

Gradational gender scales, which ask respondents to rate their masculinity and femininity, have become increasingly popular on social surveys. Nonetheless, there is little descriptive work to show differences in response to gradational gender scales by other socially relevant identities, such as race and ethnicity. This data visualization uses original survey data (N = 2,483) to display the means and 95 percent confidence intervals of responses to self-rated masculinity and femininity for cisgender men and women. Across all racial groups, there are high levels of masculinity and femininity for the “sex-typical” scales (e.g., femininity for women) and lower levels for the “sex-atypical” scales (e.g., masculinity for women). Nonetheless, there are significant differences between racial groups that align with intersectional theories of gendered racialization (e.g., higher self-rated masculinity for Black women and higher self-rated femininity for Asian men than their White counterparts). The findings encourage further subgroup analysis with gradational gender scales in the future.