Sex Roles最新文献

This study examines how men and women in heterosexual partnerships influence each other’s parental leave decisions through their gender role attitudes. We differentiate between attitudes toward women’s parental role, women’s worker role, men’s parental role, and men’s worker role, and consider the role of traditional gender ideology denoting an attitude of negatively evaluating mothers’ employment when children are young. We investigated communal traits as a potential moderator to better understand partner effects, i.e., one partner’s role attitudes affecting the other partner’s leave decision. We analyzed longitudinal data from N = 365 heterosexual, mainly German dual-earner couples, collected between pregnancy and about 18 months after the birth of their first child, using the actor-partner interdependence model. We examined mothers’ and fathers’ attitudes toward all five types of gender roles and found that both mothers and fathers were influenced in their leave decisions by their partners’ attitudes toward early maternal employment. Mothers whose partners were more traditional in this regard took longer leaves; fathers whose partners were more traditional took shorter leaves. Fathers’ leave length was also influenced by their partners’ attitudes toward men’s worker role, with more traditional attitudes resulting in shorter leaves. The latter relationship was moderated by fathers’ communal traits, such that more communal fathers were more strongly influenced by their female partners’ attitudes. Overall, this research extends the understanding of mutual influences and decision-making dynamics in dual-earner couples in the early family phase.

Evidence suggests that online disinhibition enhances the likelihood of perpetrating cyberbullying by increasing moral disengagement; however, these psychological mechanisms have not been examined in the context of cyberdating abuse. In the current study (N = 362), we examined whether online disinhibition would predict more frequent direct cyberaggression toward a partner through greater moral disengagement, and explored the moderating role of gender, sexism, and past experiences of cyberdating abuse victimization. The results indicated that online disinhibition was positively correlated with moral disengagement, which in turn predicted more frequent direct cyberaggression toward partners. In addition, participants' gender and past experiences of cyberdating abuse victimization moderated this relationship: (a) more online disinhibition was associated with greater moral disengagement in men (vs. women), which in turn predicted more direct cyberaggression toward partners and (b) more online disinhibition was linked to greater moral disengagement, which in turn predicted more direct cyberaggression perpetration toward partners among individuals with frequent past victimization experiences (vs. low past victimization experiences). These findings highlight online disinhibition and moral disengagement as potential risk factors that may heighten direct cyberaggression against partners, as well as enhance our understanding of the circumstances determining its occurrence. Scholars and practitioners may use this work to develop and test psychoeducational programs to prevent cyberdating abuse through mitigating the occurrence of these disinhibiting factors in romantic.

Socialization experiences around having an intersex variation have lasting impacts on intersex individuals’ well-being. Understanding commonalities in socialization experiences of intersex children and adolescents can inform influential figures in the lives of intersex individuals on how to provide improved support and positive socialization. Guided by a critical intersex perspective, we interviewed 28 emerging adults (18–29 years old) who identified as intersex and/or had a variation in sex characteristics about their socialization experiences in childhood and adolescence. Consultants from interACT Advocates for Intersex Youth advised throughout all stages of this project. Using reflexive thematic analysis, the coding team identified six themes throughout the interviews of key socialization experiences that contributed to these intersex emerging adults’ meaning-making around having an intersex variation growing up: (a) We Don’t Talk About This, (b) We’re All In The Dark, (c) We Could Use Some Help, (d) I Should Be Less Me, (e) My Body Isn’t Mine, and (f) I Feel Supported and Empowered. These findings highlight commonalities and intersectionality across intersex experiences as well as the need for change at multiple levels to improve the socialization experiences of intersex young people and increase support.

The emergence of gender-typical appearance in childhood appears to have important implications not only for child and adolescent social-emotional functioning but also for later working life. In the current study, we examined how parents’ gender-typical appearance and children’s gender similarity (to same- and other-gender peers) were related to young children’s gender-typical appearance. We also explored differences in these associations between boys, girls, mothers, and fathers. Home visits were conducted with 74 Dutch two-parent (mother, father) families with both a son and daughter between the ages 3–6 years (96.6% White, 2.0% Asian, 1.4% other ethnicity). The gender-typical appearance of all four family members was assessed by trained and reliable coders in the videotaped observations from the home visits. As a measure of children’s gender similarity, both parents reported on the similarity of their son and daughter to same-gender and other-gender peers. Generalized estimating equations showed that more gender-typical appearance of parents was associated with more gender-typical appearance of girls, but not of boys. No differences were found between mothers and fathers for the association between parent and child appearance. Moreover, children’s gender similarity, evident in parents’ perceived similarity of their child to peers of the same gender and dissimilarity to peers of the other gender, was associated with more gender-typical appearance in children. To conclude, both children’s gender similarity and parents’ gender-typical appearance appear to play a role in the gender-typical appearance of young children.

With the increasing popularity and availability of virtual reality (VR) video games, the representation of women within these immersive environments becomes crucial to explore. Although the sexualization of female characters in traditional video games has been widely studied, the sensory-rich nature of VR may introduce changes in character representations and emergent adverse outcomes. In the present study we content analyzed female characters in popular VR video games to investigate the potential underrepresentation and misrepresentation of female characters. Results demonstrated that male characters were represented four times more frequently than female characters. The underrepresentation of female characters was more severe in competitive VR games than casual VR games, however there was no significant difference in the underrepresentation of women between game genres or ESRB ratings. In addition, female characters were presented in a sexualized manner in 30% of cases. The sexualization of female characters was associated with their portrayal as physically capable, violent, or a victim. We also found that sexualization of female characters did not differ based on the type of game (casual vs. competitive), game genres, or ESRB ratings. We discussed these findings in immersive VR video games in comparison with those in traditional 2-D screen media video games.

Music artists can be powerful sources of representation about what it means to have a high status. Previous literature has shown that artists display their high status by singing about economic factors, such as driving expensive cars. Yet, we do not know whether artists also showcase a high status in their lyrics by identifying with a particular social group and showing power via sexual objectification and subjectification. Considering the gender and ethnicity of the artists, this study analyzed 4117 popular lyrics on Spotify between 2016 and 2019 in six Western countries (US, UK, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Canada). A manual analysis of the lyrics showed that almost half (46%) of the songs depicted status in terms of economic capital (e.g., wearing jewels), 26% through social capital (e.g., knowing famous people), 16% through cultural capital (e.g., drinking champagne), and 6% through sexual objectification and subjectification (e.g., showing naked bodies on expensive cars). Most of these status representations were present in rap lyrics and among Black and Brown male artists. These findings offer new evidence and theoretical insights on the diffusion of neoliberal ideals of materialism, utilitarianism, hegemonic masculinity, and objectification in music lyrics and their potential reinforcement of racial-ethnic and gender hierarchies.

The term “Incel” refers to a group of boys and/or men who feel that they have been unjustly denied relationships and sex with women due to an unfair social system, and some Incels have committed violence based on these beliefs. More broadly, self-identified Incels face social and mental health issues and can hold negative beliefs about women and other marginalized genders, which may lead them to harm both themselves and others. In this research, we seek to understand the experiences that may lead men to become Incels. We interviewed 21 people who identified as former Incels about their experiences joining and leaving Incel groups, with the goal of understanding how men find their way into these groups, and how resources might be adapted to prevent young men from becoming Incels. A reflexive thematic analysis generated two major themes with subthemes. The first theme, Seeking help online for struggles meeting masculinity norms, had three subthemes that reflected the specific struggles being experienced: I’m a loser because I can’t get women, I’m all alone, and I have no value. The second theme, Down the rabbit hole: Finding help online from the Incel community, had three subthemes that reflected the several ways they were validated by the community: It’s not your fault, You belong here, and You are special. These findings highlight specific pathways that lead men to Incel communities and why they join them, and potential points for intervention that center pressures for boys and men to conform to masculine norms.

In the present study, we aimed to understand bisexual women’s lived experiences and meaning-making with regard to same-sex performativity (SSP)– that is, heterosexual women’s engagement in public same-sex behavior such as kissing. Cisgender bisexual women (N = 187) provided qualitative descriptions of their perceptions of SSP. Two research questions guided this feminist phenomenological study: (a) How do bisexual women perceive and make sense of SSP, including women who engage in SSP? and (b) What factors influence bisexual women’s perceptions and meaning making of SSP? We found that bisexual women made sense of SSP by situating their perceptions and experiences of SSP in a heteropatriarchal context. Bisexual women perceived the link between SSP and the male gaze as challenging bisexual legitimacy and reinforcing negative stereotypes about bisexuality; nevertheless, many bisexual women were resistant to decrying SSP. Our findings reveal bisexual women’s complex interpretive work and negotiation with tensions that underpin their sense of SSP— they perceive heterosexual women’s engagement in male-oriented SSP behavior as potentially harmful, yet are reluctant to condemn this behavior and limit women’s opportunities for sexual expression. These findings highlight the need to recognize the impact of heteronormativity and gendered power dynamics on bisexual and heterosexual women’s experiences, embodiment, and expressions of sexuality.

One way that benevolent sexism contributes to gender inequality is by offering wellbeing benefits to women and men who fulfil idealised gender roles, such as taking on differentiated parenting roles and priorities. Yet, how benevolent sexism relates to parenting outcomes has received little attention. Extending a pre-pandemic study of heterosexual couples with young children (N = 175 dyads), we provide initial tests of the associations between benevolent sexism, parenting strain, and psychological distress. We assess whether benevolent sexism predicted parenting strain and psychological distress during two lockdowns at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (Lockdown 2020) and 17 months later (Lockdown 2021). Accounting for pre-pandemic psychological distress, actors’ and partners’ higher pre-pandemic benevolent sexism was associated with lower psychological distress, and these associations were accounted for by lower parenting strain during lockdowns. However, the associations between mothers’ benevolent sexism and parenting outcomes dissipated at Lockdown 2021, suggesting that any protective benefits benevolent sexism offers to women are precarious. These results provide novel, preliminary evidence for the palliative function of benevolent sexism in the parenting domain, and advance understanding on why benevolent sexism is appealing and helps sustain gender inequalities.

This mixed-methods study explored the centrality and meanings of men’s and women’s parental and work-related identities by comparing semi-traditional, equal-sharing, and role-reversed couples. Quantitative analysis involved 2,813 British parents (1,380 men, 1,433 women) who were primary caregivers, primary breadwinners, or equal sharers with at least one child aged 11 or under. Qualitative analysis drew on 60 in-depth interviews with 10 couples from each of the three groups. Results indicated that the centrality of parental and work identities varied by role rather than gender, as both male and female caregivers reported less central work identities and more central parental identities compared to breadwinners and equal-sharers. Equal-sharers and role-reversers were characterized by women’s central work identity and men’s low centrality of work identity. In these couples, a `half and half` parenting ideology underlined the construction of mothering and fathering as equivalent interchangeable identities, each forming only one half of a child’s parenting. Intertwining their maternal identity with an equivalent construction of their partners’ identity allowed women to reconcile a good mother ideal with central work identities, by redefining mothering as a responsibility for only half of the caregiving.