Simply academic or damaging. What are the implications of academic stereotypes for women?

Abstract

Since the public intellectuals of the 1960s, there has been a shift towards the celebrity academic, as subjects such as history and science have transferred into popular television entertainment, often with female academics as the presenters. Using a case study of the British media, a post-feminist lens has been applied to examine how 17 celebrity academics have been represented. The use of gendered academic stereotypes such as the blue stocking, the school ma’am, the eccentric academic and the thinking man's crumpet were in evidence, alongside the male academic stereotypes of the hegemonic academic male, the nerd and the complicit male. With increasing numbers of women participating in the education workforce, one might expect gendered stereotypes to have become more positive. This research indicates that academic stereotypes should be added to the list of gendered stereotypes that need to be addressed as part of the work towards gender equality.