Kamala Harris and the ‘Double Bind’ of Racism and Sexism

“She’ll bulldoze her aged, sentimental boss,” Mr. Carlson, the Fox Information host, stated Wednesday. “So tonight we’ll be airing the vice-presidential debate, however what we’ll truly be taking a look at is Kamala Harris’s audition for the presidency. That’s the workplace she’s working for, it doesn’t matter what they let you know.”

The assaults on Ms. Harris as “unlikable,” which Mr. Trump pushed on Thursday, additionally play right into a double commonplace. Voters usually tend to see likability as necessary for girls than for males, analysis exhibits, and consultants say Black girls are sometimes judged much more harshly.

It’s one thing of a tightrope: Stereotypically female habits can lead voters to see girls working for workplace as extra likable however much less of a frontrunner, whereas stereotypically masculine habits could make voters see them as extra of a frontrunner however much less likable.

That is “the traditional double bind,” stated Amanda Clayton, a political scientist at Vanderbilt College. “Girls can both be seen as leaders or they are often seen as female, and the 2 don’t go collectively.”

These caricatures and double requirements have been accompanied by sexualization, frequent in opposition to girls of all races however particularly those that are Black. That is one other racist trope, the promiscuous, hypersexual “Jezebel.”

After Mr. Biden selected Ms. Harris, the right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh prompt falsely, quoting from a conservative web site, that she had “slept her means up.” T-shirts with the slogan “Joe and the Hoe” have been briefly accessible on Amazon. The mayor of Luray, Va., known as her “Aunt Jemima,” a nod to one more stereotype, the “Mammy.”

“These are distinctly misogynoir techniques,” Dr. Brown stated, referring to the mix of racism and sexism that Black girls face. “We’d not see these stereotypes or these sort of threats used in opposition to her if she weren’t a Black girl.”