High white racial identity predicts low allyship with a black female sexual harassment complainant : the critical role of the benevolence of a white alleged perpetrator
- Author
- James Johnson, Cornelius J. Koenig, John F. Dovidio and Kim Dierckx (UGent)
- Organization
- Abstract
- Black women in the United States experience sexual harassment and violence at rates much higher than do White women, suffering greater psychological and physical harm. We examined how White Racial Identity, race of the female victim, and characteristics of the perpetrator combine to influence White Americans' willingness to respond in a supportive way toward the sexual harassment complainant (i.e., allyship). White US participants (N = 419) completed a racial identity measure and read about a White male supervisor's alleged workplace sexual harassment (with violence) of a Black or White female subordinate. The supervisor was portrayed with characteristics to elicit perceptions of high or low supervisor benevolence. As hypothesized and consistent with the aversive racism framework, for the Black complainant only, in the high (but not low) supervisor benevolence condition, stronger White racial identity predicted markedly lower intervention intentions and less supervisor-directed punishment. The effects were mediated by lower perceived complainant suffering. These findings offer insights into the complex dynamics influencing allyship, making White Americans more aware of the factors that may subtly shape their willingness to intervene and offer support for Black women who are victims of interracial sexual harassment, as well informing the development of interventions to produce more equitable treatment of Black women in the workplace.
- Keywords
- Allyship, Aversive racism, Black women, Discrimination, Interracial, harassment, Sexual harassment, Social identification, INTERGROUP CONTACT, PREJUDICE, WOMEN, ATTITUDES, EMPATHY, SCALE, POWER, SELF
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01JP84B0Y5SZGWPP5BFEX4PMQK
- MLA
- Johnson, James, et al. “High White Racial Identity Predicts Low Allyship with a Black Female Sexual Harassment Complainant : The Critical Role of the Benevolence of a White Alleged Perpetrator.” SEX ROLES, vol. 91, no. 1, 2025, doi:10.1007/s11199-024-01548-0.
- APA
- Johnson, J., Koenig, C. J., Dovidio, J. F., & Dierckx, K. (2025). High white racial identity predicts low allyship with a black female sexual harassment complainant : the critical role of the benevolence of a white alleged perpetrator. SEX ROLES, 91(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-024-01548-0
- Chicago author-date
- Johnson, James, Cornelius J. Koenig, John F. Dovidio, and Kim Dierckx. 2025. “High White Racial Identity Predicts Low Allyship with a Black Female Sexual Harassment Complainant : The Critical Role of the Benevolence of a White Alleged Perpetrator.” SEX ROLES 91 (1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-024-01548-0.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Johnson, James, Cornelius J. Koenig, John F. Dovidio, and Kim Dierckx. 2025. “High White Racial Identity Predicts Low Allyship with a Black Female Sexual Harassment Complainant : The Critical Role of the Benevolence of a White Alleged Perpetrator.” SEX ROLES 91 (1). doi:10.1007/s11199-024-01548-0.
- Vancouver
- 1.Johnson J, Koenig CJ, Dovidio JF, Dierckx K. High white racial identity predicts low allyship with a black female sexual harassment complainant : the critical role of the benevolence of a white alleged perpetrator. SEX ROLES. 2025;91(1).
- IEEE
- [1]J. Johnson, C. J. Koenig, J. F. Dovidio, and K. Dierckx, “High white racial identity predicts low allyship with a black female sexual harassment complainant : the critical role of the benevolence of a white alleged perpetrator,” SEX ROLES, vol. 91, no. 1, 2025.
@article{01JP84B0Y5SZGWPP5BFEX4PMQK,
abstract = {{Black women in the United States experience sexual harassment and violence at rates much higher than do White women, suffering greater psychological and physical harm. We examined how White Racial Identity, race of the female victim, and characteristics of the perpetrator combine to influence White Americans' willingness to respond in a supportive way toward the sexual harassment complainant (i.e., allyship). White US participants (N = 419) completed a racial identity measure and read about a White male supervisor's alleged workplace sexual harassment (with violence) of a Black or White female subordinate. The supervisor was portrayed with characteristics to elicit perceptions of high or low supervisor benevolence. As hypothesized and consistent with the aversive racism framework, for the Black complainant only, in the high (but not low) supervisor benevolence condition, stronger White racial identity predicted markedly lower intervention intentions and less supervisor-directed punishment. The effects were mediated by lower perceived complainant suffering. These findings offer insights into the complex dynamics influencing allyship, making White Americans more aware of the factors that may subtly shape their willingness to intervene and offer support for Black women who are victims of interracial sexual harassment, as well informing the development of interventions to produce more equitable treatment of Black women in the workplace.}},
articleno = {{9}},
author = {{Johnson, James and Koenig, Cornelius J. and Dovidio, John F. and Dierckx, Kim}},
issn = {{0360-0025}},
journal = {{SEX ROLES}},
keywords = {{Allyship,Aversive racism,Black women,Discrimination,Interracial,harassment,Sexual harassment,Social identification,INTERGROUP CONTACT,PREJUDICE,WOMEN,ATTITUDES,EMPATHY,SCALE,POWER,SELF}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{19}},
title = {{High white racial identity predicts low allyship with a black female sexual harassment complainant : the critical role of the benevolence of a white alleged perpetrator}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-024-01548-0}},
volume = {{91}},
year = {{2025}},
}
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