Through Banaji and Greenwald’s writing, I was most surprised by the heavily researched correlation between our held implicit biases and our predispositions to certain behaviors. Banaji and Greenwald discussed the implications of women associating romantic partners with the fantasy of Prince Charming. Research done by Laurie Rudman showed that “‘associating romantic partners with chivalry and heroism may curtail women’s direct pursuit of power’” (Banaji and Greenwald, 116). That is crazy to think about. Growing up as a white, straight girl in the United States, the fantasy of Prince Charming was ingrained into me since I could watch Disney films or little kids shows. I am sure I hold that implicit bias (I wouldn’t argue against it), but the fact that that could subconsciously mean I have less drive to pursue power is hard to wrap my brain around. I think something could be said about balancing the exposure young girls, or boys, have to the Prince Charming stereotype as a romantic partner with exposure to material that shows self-efficacy and independence to help counteract the effects of this implicit bias. Showing girls and boys fighting for themselves and thriving on their own skills and talents could help prevent the fact that the Prince Charming stereotype could very well lead to “‘nonconsciously [inhibiting] women from competing with men for status and prestige’” (116). 

The discussion of the “romantic partner = fantasy hero” stereotype reminds me as well of the discussion in the podcast regarding white culture being the default culture in the US. Although the storyline of the damsel in distress being saved by the hero exists across almost all cultures, the United States for a very long time white washed this stereotype until it only represented white people. “Snow White”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Rapunzel”, “Cinderella”, all hold a message that could be understood across cultures, but the people remain to represent only one: white American culture. It’s scary to know that people who are looking to elevate one culture over another can do so even through unassuming children’s movies. The active decision to white-wash entire casts and scripts contributes to the lack of representation in the media for a very long time. As Bezio discussed, it’s exciting to see that it’s finally changing– but only a little bit in the grand scheme of things. We have a long way to go, but the heroes in movies are changing and the damsels in distress are beginning to fight their own battles and that is a really cool thing for future generations.