In light of cultural stereotypes in which Black women function as strong heads of households while Hispanic women serve as obedient wives, a study examined whether Black and Hispanic subjects evaluated assertive speech differently when attributed to a male or female speaker. Subjects, 75 Blacks and 100 Hispanics, all undergraduate students enrolled in speech courses at a public urban college, received one of two versions of a script in which a group of students is meeting to elect a spokesperson in response to a proposed tuition increase. In one half of the scripts a female first name was assigned to the assertive candidate and a male name to the nonassertive candidate, while in the remaining scripts these identifications were reversed. Subjects rated the speakers on 28 word pairs. Ratings of 7 were given to terms such as "courteous" and "strong," while ratings of 1 were given to terms such as "passive" and "nonassertive." Results showed that cultural sexual stereotypes appear to affect rater judgments. Black subjects evaluated the female characters, regardless of linguistic style, in more "positive" terms, while Hispanic subjects tended to perceive the male characters as more "positive." (Twelve references are attached and two tables are appended.) (ARH)