Sex Roles最新文献

The current study tests the implications of men’s and women’s gender-related attitudes for relationship quality and wellbeing. We apply ambivalent sexism theory to differentiate between attitudes that should have detrimental versus beneficial effects for relationships by promoting antagonism (hostile sexism) versus complimentary relational roles (benevolent sexism) between men and women. Actor-partner interdependence analyses of heterosexual couples participating in a nationally representative panel study (N = 755) revealed that men’s hostile sexism predicted greater relationship conflict and lower relationship satisfaction, which in turn were associated with greater psychological distress and lower wellbeing for both men and their women partners. In contrast, men’s benevolent sexism predicted lower relationship conflict and greater satisfaction, which in turn was associated with lower distress and greater wellbeing for men but not women partners. Women’s sexist attitudes had differential effects. Women’s hostile sexism predicted lower relationship conflict and greater satisfaction, which was associated with higher wellbeing for men partners. In contrast, women’s benevolent sexism predicted greater relationship conflict, which related to greater distress and lower wellbeing for women and men partners. These results highlight the importance of gender-related attitudes on relationship quality, which has important implications for wellbeing.

Male victimhood ideology, the belief that men are the primary targets of gender discrimination, has gained traction among young men in recent years, but the underlying sources of these sentiments remain understudied. Utilizing four different datasets, collected in 2015, 2018, 2020, and 2023 from representative samples of Korean men, this study investigates whether identification with male victimhood ideology is explained by objective economic hardships faced by men or by their perceptions of a status loss. The economic hardship perspective finds little support, as men who were less educated, had lower incomes, were unemployed, or had non-regular employment were no more likely to identify with male victimhood than their more economically stable counterparts. Instead, a perceived decline in socioeconomic status relative to one’s parents emerged as a significant predictor of male victimhood ideology, particularly among men from middle to upper class backgrounds. Additional analyses show that this pattern is not observed among Korean women of the same age group. Overall, the analysis of the four datasets consistently shows that male victimhood discourse is embraced most by those who perceive a loss of privilege, rather than by those who are marginalized.

Use of highly visual social media has been shown to be detrimental to body image when containing idealized and unrealistic images, such as “fitspiration” content portraying thin and toned bodies. More recently, social media content that is labelled “body positive” portrays more diverse body shapes and preaches body acceptance and has been shown to improve women’s body image. To date, little is known about the comparative effects of this content on body image when delivered in written versus image form, or how body positive content may influence body image in men. The present study examined the relative effects of body positive and fitspiration quotes and images on body image among women and men, with images selected to target the respective beauty ideals ascribed to women (e.g., thin, toned, small bodies) and men (e.g., hypermuscular bodies). A total of 509 women and 489 men, aged 18–25, were recruited for an online study where they viewed one of five sets of images that targeted the respective beauty ideals for their gender: (1) fitspiration images, (2) fitspiration quotes, (3) body positive images, (4) body positive quotes, or (5) travel images; and completed pre- and post-exposure measures of state appearance satisfaction, body appreciation, appearance comparison, and appearance aspirations. Findings revealed more negative effects of fitspiration images on appearance satisfaction and body appreciation compared to all other conditions, which was true for both women and men. Further, appearance comparison did not emerge as a mediator of these effects, but partial support emerged for the role of appearance aspirations. Discussion centers on the potentially stronger effects of body positive images compared to written content and potential reasons why this was the case for both women and men. The need for more research on the promotion of positive body image in men is considered.

Black women in the United States experience sexual harassment and violence at rates much higher than do White women, suffering greater psychological and physical harm. We examined how White Racial Identity, race of the female victim, and characteristics of the perpetrator combine to influence White Americans’ willingness to respond in a supportive way toward the sexual harassment complainant (i.e., allyship). White US participants (N = 419) completed a racial identity measure and read about a White male supervisor’s alleged workplace sexual harassment (with violence) of a Black or White female subordinate. The supervisor was portrayed with characteristics to elicit perceptions of high or low supervisor benevolence. As hypothesized and consistent with the aversive racism framework, for the Black complainant only, in the high (but not low) supervisor benevolence condition, stronger White racial identity predicted markedly lower intervention intentions and less supervisor-directed punishment. The effects were mediated by lower perceived complainant suffering. These findings offer insights into the complex dynamics influencing allyship, making White Americans more aware of the factors that may subtly shape their willingness to intervene and offer support for Black women who are victims of interracial sexual harassment, as well informing the development of interventions to produce more equitable treatment of Black women in the workplace.

Ambivalent homoprejudice theory posits that homoprejudice manifests as hostile and benevolent beliefs that negatively impact LGBTQIA + -identifying individuals. Extensive research has been conducted on the adverse impact of homoprejudice on gay men, both in general and in workplace contexts. However, there has been minimal research on how ambivalent homoprejudice affects lesbian women in the workplace. A significant challenge in this line of research is the absence of a validated scale to measure ambivalent homoprejudice attitudes towards lesbian women. Therefore, in this series of two studies, we developed and provided psychometric support for the Ambivalent Homoprejudice Toward Lesbian Women at Work Scale (AHW-L). Study 1 (N = 266) established the dimensionality of the scale and provided initial evidence of both reliability and validity. Study 2 was conducted to confirm the structure found in Study 1 in a new sample (N = 204) and provided further evidence of reliability and validity. The final validated scale can be used by organizations to identify prejudice in their organization and support the development of targeted interventions. The aim of this scale is to promote and facilitate rigorous research on the workplace experiences of lesbian women.

Sexual consent communication can be ambiguous when people rely on nonverbal, implicit cues. This ambiguity can lead to the reliance of contextual information to assess whether a sexual encounter was consensual, both in the moment and retrospectively. The current study examined how level of alcohol consumption, relationship type, and evaluator gender influenced the extent to which various sexual encounters were seen as consensual. Participants read a series of vignettes in which sexual consent was verbally granted, verbally rejected, or inferred using nonverbal cues. The vignettes also manipulated the amount of alcohol consumed by the target of the sexual advances (i.e., sober, tipsy, or intoxicated) as well as the relationship between the dyads (i.e., dating or strangers). Generally, male participants were more likely to interpret all encounters as more consensual. Encounters in which the target was intoxicated were more likely to be interpreted as nonconsensual, but instances when targets were described as tipsy (i.e., she consumed two or less alcoholic beverages) were seen as more consensual than sober encounters. The relationship between the dyads also influenced these perceptions. This work can inform educational efforts geared toward alcohol and sexual consent.

Research on men and masculinities is increasingly concerned with contemporary transformations in the way men understand and “do” gender. In particular, burgeoning paradigms like the hybrid masculinities framework have called attention to diverse patterns of practice among men that are seemingly at odds with traditional iterations of hegemonic masculinity. We conceptualize one component of this practice as a concerted process of “strategic masculine disinvestment.” Using new, nationally representative survey data pertaining to men living in the United States, we ask two novel questions about this phenomenon that have not been addressed at the population level. First, who disinvests from traditional masculinity? While masculine distancing tends to be observed among privileged men in qualitative studies, a comprehensive view of which men engage in this practice within the general population is absent from the literature. Secondly, how are contemporary transformations of gender like strategic masculine disinvestment associated with psychosocial functioning? Findings suggest that strategic masculine disinvestment is more common among young and college educated men, but is not necessarily unique to unilaterally privileged men. In fact, men experiencing financial strain are especially likely to disinvest from masculinity. We also observe that strategic masculine disinvestment is consistently associated with poorer psychosocial functioning, including lower levels of mastery and higher levels of anger, anxiety, depression, and non-specific psychological distress. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for studies of men and masculinities and of contemporary transformations of gender more generally.

Based on the assumption that language influences thinking, the present study investigated the effect of gender-fair language in German, a grammatically gendered language among primary school children. Specifically, in a single-study experiment, we compared 218 German third and fourth graders on the effects of the generic masculine (e.g., der Polizist; English: the policeman) and gender-fair language in terms of the feminine and masculine form (e.g., die Polizistin/der Polizist; English: the policewoman/the policeman) on the cognitive representation of women in stereotypically masculine occupations and occupational self-efficacy. General self-efficacy was examined as a moderator variable, assumed to influence the effect of gender-fair language on occupational self-efficacy. The results indicate that the gender-fair form led to a higher cognitive representation of women in stereotypically masculine occupations for girls and increased girls’ occupational self-efficacy for stereotypically masculine occupations. In contrast, the use of gender-fair language did not significantly influence boys’ cognitive representation of women and their occupational self-efficacy. General self-efficacy did not affect the effect of gender-fair language on occupational self-efficacy. Thus, even as early as in primary school, gender-fair language could help attracting girls to stereotypically masculine occupations.

This qualitative study examines the experiences and functions of gender among people who do not identify their genders as exclusively either man or woman (e.g., genderfluid, nonconforming, agender, genderqueer, multigender, nonbinary people). In this paper, we use the term “not-binary” as an inclusive term that refers to these gender identities categorically. Semi-structured interviews with 17 participants living in the U.S. focused on meanings and functions of gender; processes of navigating intrapersonal, interpersonal, and sociopolitical experiences; and intersectional identities. Responses were analyzed using critical-constructivist grounded theory method (Levitt in Essentials of critical-constructivist grounded theory research, American Psychological Association, 2021). Findings revealed that participants intentionally engaged in processes of gender exploration, contestation, and transformation to deliberately challenge and reshape their own conceptualization of gender and that of others. Participants shared the meanings of their identities and pronouns for expressing their sense of self, and how they wished others to interact with them, as well as the complications of language for expressing genders that can be fluid and changing. In addition, participants conveyed the experience of having their gender identities politicized and their rights contested on the national stage. Expanding the transnormative narrative that focuses on gender dysphoria, participants highlighted affirming community and positive and euphoric gender experiences that supported them to engage in resistance to oppressive forces. These findings underscore the importance of education on not-binary experiences, the provision of gender affirming care, and the correction of public misinformation for the well-being of non-binary individuals.

Every person should feel accepted at work. Organizations can signal that all identities are welcomed and protected through affirming factors in their environment, known as identity-safety cues. However, there are also things organizations can do to signal that certain identities are not welcome. Thus, the current study aims to identify the factors that can impact identity safety perceptions among transgender and gender expansive employees of color, as the past literature on transgender and gender expansive identity-safety cues predominately includes White-majority samples. This study analyzes the intersection of marginalized racial/ethnic and gender identities, and how these combined identities impact the perceptions of identity safety. Researchers conducted 21 semi-structured interviews through Zoom, which were analyzed by hand and through Dedoose software using reflexive thematic analysis. Results found that minimal, partial, or incomplete identity support may signal some identity safety, but the ideal inclusion is support for all identities, and the intersection of those identities. Indeed, limited identity support, insufficient organizational systems, performativity, and discrimination can restrict perceptions of identity safety, while interpersonal support, intersectional representation, and inclusive organizational policies can signal identity safety. Overall, results indicated that it is not sufficient for organizations to signal identity safety for one identity, or for each identity separately; but rather, intersectional support is needed to allow transgender and gender expansive employees of color to feel safe at work.