Sex stereotypes prescribe as well as describe behavior

Evidence

From this perspective, to undermine gender hegemony, women need only present themselves as independent, competitive, and forceful creatures (i.e., “act like men”). Although this solution sounds simple, it has turned out to be untenable for women because agency is not only more expected of men, it is more accepted in men. … These findings have led gender researchers to posit that sex stereotypes are not only descriptive (delineating what men and women are), but also prescriptive (delineating how men and women should be; Eagly, 1987). Thus, gendered beliefs overlap with attitudes, resulting in more prejudice directed toward women in masculine than feminine roles (Eagly & Diekman, ch. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 756

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the descriptive versus prescriptive distinction in stereotype theory, a core concept for any treatment of prejudice.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 756
• XREF: connects to: Nationality and ethnicity stereotypes combine to shape sexual harassment abroad — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1186