Date of Award

5-2026

Degree Type

Report

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

Committee Chair(s)

Adena Rivera-Dundas (Committee Chair)

Committee

Adena Rivera-Dundas

Committee

Rebecca Walton

Committee

Keri Holt

Abstract

Ambivalent sexism theory, proposed by Glick and Fiske in 1996, argues that sexism is comprised of both negative and “positive” images of women. The theory has become a staple in research on sexism as it theorizes the Madonna/whore dichotomy as sexist on both sides of the binary, and how attitudes switch from “positive” to negative. But, so far, literature scholars have not used the theory to read literature. As the theory is based in ideals of white womanhood, how do we do so in an intersectional way?

In order to work through this question, I bring in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and The Help by Katheryn Stockett and read them using ambivalent sexism through an intersectional lens. Specifically, I examine the ways in which the ambivalent sexism the Black women in both novels experience is mediated by controlling images of US Black womanhood, such as the Mammy, the Angry Black Woman, and the Jezebel. In so doing I argue that ambivalent sexism theory is both a useful theory and underutilized in literary studies. However, in order to ethically use the theory, an intersectional lens must be used in order to examine the ways in which gender-based oppression is always already racialized, classed, and heteronormative.

In addition, in order to critically examine ambivalent racialized sexism literature scholars should pay close attention to the ways in which authors critique and subvert these structures. Critiques and subversions reveal the harm of the system(s) and allows us to imagine, and hopefully begin to enact, alternatives which unseat oppressive structures.

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