Sex Roles最新文献

The #MeToo movement and social media have increased public awareness of sexual violence, particularly when committed by high-profile celebrities. Presently, we are within a unique sociocultural space, often referred to as “cancel culture,” in which perpetrators of sexual violence may face increased accountability. However, “cancelation” is not equally applied to all perpetrators. The purpose of this study was to explore the roles of perpetrator likeability and tactic (i.e., force and coercion) on the degree to which perpetrators are “canceled” (i.e., held accountable through personal, professional, and legal repercussions) for sexual assault. Among a sample of 238 participants, results of this experimental vignette study revealed that perpetrators viewed as unlikeable received more blame than those who were likeable or described in a neutral manner, with the survivors in the likeable perpetrator and neutral scenarios receiving greater blame. Moreover, perpetrators who used coercion were less likely to be blamed and be held accountable than those who used force, with the survivors in the coercive scenarios receiving greater blame. No interaction effects emerged between likeability and tactic, suggesting that the main effects operate independently of one another. Though the #MeToo movement and cancel culture have created cultural change in the United States, the findings from this study suggest that perpetrators continue to be held less accountable, so long as they are not unlikeable and do not use force.

The current study examines whether a pivotal event central to gender relations—marriage—is associated with changes in sexism. Drawing upon a nationally representative study assessing sexist attitudes across 14 years, event-aligned piecewise latent growth models examined change in hostile and benevolent sexism (1) across the years prior to marriage, (2) within the year immediately post marriage, and (3) across the years following marriage (N = 1,615). Matching average trajectories established in prior research, hostile sexism and women’s benevolent sexism showed small declines across the years prior to marriage. Immediately post marriage, however, men’s hostile sexism and women’s hostile and benevolent sexism significantly increased from pre-marriage levels, before returning to declining trajectories across the following years. By contrast, men’s benevolent sexism was stable prior to marriage, did not change within the year immediately post marriage, but then significantly departed from the pre-marriage trajectory by declining across the years following marriage. These novel findings reveal that investigating meaningful life events provides new insight into the factors that may be associated with changes in sexism. The results also open new avenues to advance understanding of the relationship experiences and motivations that may reinforce and reduce sexist attitudes.

The present study examined changes in the rates of vegetarianism among a sample of young American adults. Over 15 years, students at an American university (N = 12,704) described their dietary habits. Multilevel modeling analyses (participants nested within semesters) found that overall, the percentage of vegetarians increased over time, whereas the percentage of omnivores decreased over time; however, these changes occurred only for women. The dietary habits of men did not change over time. In a second study, in a sample of 363 adult vegetarians from the US, we found that women were more likely than men to become vegetarians due to concerns about the ethics of raising animals for food and eating them, suggesting that increased societal concern about animal rights may be responsible in part for the gender differences over time in vegetarianism. These results extend existing research on gender differences and suggest that if current trends continue, gender differences in vegetarianism may be more pronounced in the future.

In three studies we examined whether four social identity characteristics (gender, race, age, and socioeconomic status) affect perceived risk of disorder development for eating and mood relevant behaviors. Women and girls are at greater risk of developing an eating disorder than men and boys. However, because the race of Black women and girls does not fit the prototypical image of a person with an eating disorder (ED), we hypothesized ED-related behaviors would be perceived as less concerning for them. Study 1 demonstrated robust stereotypes along all four identity dimensions (gender, race, age, and socioeconomic status) for perceived ED prevalence, and weaker stereotypes for depressive and anxiety disorders. In Study 2, identical ED-related behaviors were interpreted as riskier and less healthy when performed by a female or White target, relative to a male or Black target. Identity dimensions did not affect risk judgments for mood disorder behaviors. Study 3 replicated and extended these results. These findings suggest Black women and girls are at a disadvantage in the early identification of risk factors associated with ED development. This work responds to the call for culturally sensitive research on the effects of diverse identities on detecting and addressing body image problems and eating disorders.

Identifying as a feminist and endorsing liberal feminist values are associated with positive attitudes toward trans* people and their rights. However, since the late 1970s, one branch of radical feminism has argued for a biological essentialist definition of binary gender categories. More recently gender-critical feminism has appealed to radical feminism when describing trans* rights as a threat to biologically-defined women’s politics and safety. To understand debates around the evolution of trans* rights, three studies (N = 502), examined the associations between diverse feminist perspectives and identifications, gender binary beliefs, and attitudes toward trans* people and their rights. Study 1 updated an existing measure of different feminist perspectives. Study 2 showed that endorsements of intersectional, and radical feminist perspectives were associated with positive attitudes toward trans* people and their rights. Study 3 revealed that both intersectional and radical feminist identifications were also associated with positive attitudes, whilst endorsing gender binary beliefs was associated with negative attitudes. These results challenge the assumption that support for trans* rights is inconsistent with either general feminist or specifically radical feminist positions and inform both debates around the evolution of trans* rights and existing tensions within feminist movements.

Although women drivers engage in fewer risky behaviors and have a lower involvement in traffic accidents than men, there is a commonly held stereotype that they are bad drivers. To understand this perception, various psychosocial factors related to sexism have been studied. However, very little is known about sexist attitudes towards women drivers, especially when studied through implicit attitude models. The aim of this study was to understand implicit and explicit sexist attitudes towards women drivers. A sample of N = 104 participants from Mar del Plata, Argentina, completed a stimulus classification task using response times to measure implicit attitudes, and three self-reporting measures of explicit attitudes, ambivalent sexism, and control of prejudices. The results indicated more positive implicit attitudes and low explicit antipathy towards women drivers. No age differences were found, but gender differences were observed (i.e., women showed more positive implicit and explicit attitudes towards their own group). Implicit and explicit attitudes showed a moderate correlation with each other and were not associated with a concern with acting prejudiced scale. Hostile sexism was a predictor of sexist driving attitudes. The results are discussed in the context of previous evidence on sexism in driving and implicit attitude models.

Sexual assault is a highly consequential public health issue associated with multiple mental health sequelae. Given the mental health impact of sexual assault, understanding the recovery strategies survivors utilize is critical. A growing body of work suggests that physical activity may represent a powerful recovery tool post-trauma. However, existing work has primarily focused on the benefits of yoga or cardio exercise. Martial arts may provide unique benefits to sexual assault survivors including increased self-defense self-efficacy, empowerment, and corrective experiences with trauma reminders. However, no extant research has examined the perceived benefits of recreational martial arts practice for sexual assault survivors. The current study utilized content analysis of responses to items assessing the perceived recovery benefits of martial arts among a sample of primarily cisgender women martial arts practitioners (n = 50) with sexual assault histories. Survivors described multiple recovery benefits to their practice. Some benefits described were similar to those associated with other forms of physical activity, such as access to social support, improved physical health, and improved well-being. Other benefits identified were martial arts-specific including survivors viewing martial arts practice as a tool to reclaim bodily autonomy, decrease perceived vulnerability to future sexual assault, and manage PTSD symptoms and triggers. Findings support the potential of martial arts as a powerful recovery tool for survivors. Future research should evaluate how martial arts practice can be structured to ensure that it is healing and empowering.

Gender role attitudes have important implications at the individual, family, and societal levels, underscoring the importance of understanding their development. Although parents predominate in the socialization of gender role attitudes in childhood, the influence of friends increases during adolescence. In particular, cross-gender friends can provide unique insights and perspectives on another gender group, making them likely to shape gender role attitudes. However, empirical explorations of the link between gender role attitudes and cross-gender friendships have been rare. Furthermore, the few studies conducted have yielded ambiguous results and have struggled to separate the influence of cross-gender friends from a selection of such friendships based on gender role attitudes. This study addresses these limitations by using longitudinal social network models to assess the co-evolution of friendship networks and gender role attitudes among 3,194 youth (M_age = 15.2, SD = 0.67, 51% female) in German schools. The findings reveal that, after accounting for selection processes, boys with cross-gender friends develop more egalitarian gender role attitudes, while girls’ attitudes are unaffected by cross-gender friendships. These findings suggest that promoting cross-gender friendships among adolescent boys holds the potential to foster egalitarian gender role attitudes.

Black women embody self-determination and strength to overcome intersecting racism and sexism. This notion of strength has been operationalized as the Strong Black Woman (SBW) schema, and growing research on this schema has been mixed. Quantitative findings have largely connected this schema to negative health outcomes whereas qualitative work has revealed positive benefits of this schema. To further understand the complexity of this schema, we drew from a positive psychology framework to examine how this schema related to resilience, self-efficacy, and flourishing. Correlation and linear regression analyses were performed with data from 178 young adult Black women (M_age = 20.48, SD = 1.38) who were recruited from a Historically Black College in the Southeastern region of the United States. Regression findings revealed that some characteristics (e.g., obligation to manifest strength, intense motivation to succeed) were positively associated with resilience, self-efficacy, and flourishing whereas others (e.g., extraordinary caregiving, emotional suppression) were negatively associated with these outcomes. Our results further complicate the role of the SBW schema in the lives of Black women and support the need for continued research on this topic.

Video games remain a male-dominated environment where sexism persists. Although women make up almost half of the gamer community, they encounter gender discrimination, anti-feminist themes, and sexist attitudes within the community, especially when participating in online games. As a result, both sexism against women within online video games and how women’s participation is perceived by other gamers have become relevant for investigation. We conducted two experiments to examine how a woman gamer’s ostensible adherence to a feminist identity and the type of collective action for gender equality she participates in would influence perceptions of a sexist incident in an online video game. In Study 1 (145 women and 146 men), we randomly assigned participants to read a vignette about a woman gamer described as feminist or a regular gamer. In both vignettes the woman was subjected to sexist comments and we measured the extent to which participants blamed the woman for these comments. In Study 2 (168 women and 232 men), we manipulated the type of collective action for gender equality (normative vs. non normative vs. control) performed by a woman gamer who was described as a feminist and measured victim blame. In both studies we measured participants’ level of sexism toward women gamers. Results showed that participants who more strongly endorsed sexist attitudes against women gamers attributed more blame to the feminist woman gamer who was a victim of a sexist incident (vs. the regular woman gamer) and to a woman gamer who performed non–normative collective actions (vs. control). Both studies confirm the relevance of the interaction between sexist attitudes and gender-relevant characteristics of women gamers for victim blaming in sexist incidents. These findings are an important step towards understanding and addressing sexist experiences for women in online gaming.