Many (Contradicting) Glasses Stereotypes

"The fantasy of the hot librarian who prances around in her tight pencil skirt, unpins her bun and throws her glasses off to reveal a goddess in waiting annoys me too." 
Sarah Jayne



Stereotypes do not have to make sense and are accepted even when they are contradicting. We have heard of most of the glasses stereotypes such as children bullying other children, calling them "nerd", "blind" or "four eyes", women to be found less attractive when wearing glasses (Borgen, 2015), men losing out on the impression of strength and leadership (via), people to be considered as more intelligent (perhaps even too intelligent and an intellectual threat like in the case of the Khmer Rouge who killed people who wore glasses, via), industrious, reliable (Dean, 2014), honest, sophisticated, and dependable (via), glasses making you "look truly brainy", "attractive" and "giving you an aire of secret" while making you appear certain, neighbourly (via) and elegant (Okamura, 2018) but also less outgoing, athletic (Dean, 2014) and nerdy (via)

These three methods of identifying sex differences in stereotypes of eyeglasses produced somewhat conflicting results. Photographs with glasses were judged as less attractive and sexy, but males considered the typical woman with glasses as sexier and more attractive than the typical woman without glasses. Generally, people with glasses were considered to be more intelligent and intense, and the stereotypes of the typical woman and man with glasses were highly positive. Women with glasses were viewed as more feminine and men with glasses as more masculine. Although wearing glasses affected the self‐concept of females more than males, there was little evidence that they experienced a more negative “spectacle image” than males. Harris, 1991

Black defendants wearing glasses were perceived as friendlier and more attractive, and even more than whites, less threatening. Thus, although blacks and whites received approximately equal guilty and innocent verdicts, and eyeglass wearers were more likely to be seen as innocent, it was African-Americans wearing glasses who benefited the most based on their appearance alone. (via)

Judgements vary, times change (stereotypes often reflect a certain time period), gender needs to be considered, age, ethnicity, the type of eyeglasses (full-rim glasses versus rimless ones), the research methods, and individual characteristics. In general, there is a trend in more positive opinions of glasses. Research conducted in the 1990s, for instance, found that children had a rather negative attitude to other children wearing glasses rating them more negatively in terms of attractiveness, sociability, school performance, and whether they wanted to be friends with them. More recent studies seem to come to different conclusions. In addition, nonprescription eyeglasses have even become "an increasingly popular trend" (Borgen, 2015).

"Years ago, I noticed an old friend wearing glasses for the first time. When I asked her if she’d just decided to forgo her contacts, she replied that she had, in fact, not. She didn’t own contacts, you see, and the frames she wore held nothing but non-prescriptively bent glass. They were on her face for fashion, nothing but." Rick Paulas

- - - - - - - - -
- Borgen, A. (2015). The Effect of Eyeglasses on Intelligence Perceptions. The Red River Psychology Journal, 1, via
- Dean, D. H. (2014). A 'Halo' Effect for Inference of Managerial Ability from Physical Appearance, American International Journal of Contemporary Research, 4(10), 15-23.
- Harris, M. B. (1991). Sex Differences in Stereotypes of Spectacles, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, via
- Leder, H., Forster, M. & Gerger, G. (2011). The Glasses Stereotype Revisited. Effects of Eyeglasses on Perception, Recognition, and Impression of Faces. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 70(4), 211-222.
- Okamura, Y. (2018). Judgments of women wearing eyeglasses. a focus on specific dimensions of physical attractiveness. Romanian Journal of Applied Psychology, 20(1), 7-10.
- photograph of Claudia Cardinale via