Are Feminists man Haters? Feminists' and Nonfeminists' Attitudes Toward Men

Cosmopolitanism and social dominance orientation mediate relationship between political orientation and sexism

Over the past decade, 'anti-gender discourse' has been institutionalised by the governing right-wing party in Hungary to a wide effect, from the removal of accreditation from a gender studies MA program to the Parliament's refusal to ratify the Istanbul Convention. The anti-egalitarian backlash echoes those emergent in other countries where right-wing populism has gained ground - such as Poland, Turkey, India, the United States, and Brazil. The present study examined the role of two opposite orientations, cosmopolitanism as an egalitarian worldview and social dominance orientation as the preference for hierarchies and inequality among groups and people in general, in mediating the relationship between political orientation and sexism among a representative Hungarian sample (N = 1000). The path analysis revealed that left-wing political orientation was associated with higher levels of cosmopolitan orientation, while right-wing political orientation was associated with higher levels of SDO. Higher levels of cosmopolitan orientation were associated with a more positive attitude toward feminists and lower levels of modern sexism and gender-based zero-sum thinking, while higher levels of SDO were associated with the opposite. Furthermore, cosmopolitan orientation mediated the relationship between political orientation and modern sexism and attitudes toward feminists, while SDO mediated the relationship between political orientation and modern sexism and gender-based zero-sum thinking. Our study emphasizes the important role of cosmopolitan orientation in opposing SDO and promoting a more egalitarian worldview.

Comparing social representations of feminism among education and engineering majors: Insights for developing feminist pedagogies

The present study uses Social Representation Theory to explore students’ representations of feminism with a view to informing principles for developing feminist pedagogies that can help foster egalitarian values among college students. The aim is to identify how Spanish students (n = 366) represent feminism and how these representations are shaped by participants’ gender, identification with feminism, or by studying feminized or masculinized disciplines. Students from Education ( n = 192), a feminized qualification, and Engineering ( n = 174), a masculinized qualification, completed a free association task using the Grid Elaboration Method to collect representations of feminism. A lexical analysis was conducted using the Reinert method. The results showed that a positive representation of feminism was the broadest (75.8%), with feminist-identified students defining feminism as a struggle for freedom. Feminist women emphasized the importance of achieving equality, and education students emphasized the importance of education in the process of women's empowerment. In contrast, 24.2% represented feminism negatively, as an extreme movement, especially engineering, non-feminist, and male students. These findings suggest that efforts aimed at developing feminist principles among students consider not only gender and feminist identification but also the context of feminized or masculinized disciplines as key spaces of gendered socialization. The study was carried out in the Basque country, Spain.

The impact of feminist stereotypes and sexual identity on feminist self-identification and collective action

The present study sought to examine the role of sexual identity and exposure to stereotypes of feminism on women's self-identification as a feminist, endorsement of feminist attitudes, and intention to engage in collective action. Participants (N = 312; all women) disclosed their sexual identity as either heterosexual or non-heterosexual (sexual minority) and were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: exposure to positive stereotypes of feminists, to negative stereotypes of feminists, control condition (no exposure to stereotypes). Results showed stark differences between heterosexual and sexual minority women, with sexual minority women scoring significantly higher on self-identification as feminist, feminist attitudes, and collective action intentions. Exposure to positive stereotypes of feminists increased feminist self-identification regardless of sexual identity. Exposure to negative stereotypes reduced self-identification with feminism, and lower identification mediated the path between negative stereotyping and collective action. Implications of these findings for the advancement of women's rights movements are discussed.

Toward a Constructionist Perspective of Examining Femininity Experience

The social constructionist perspective has become a useful framework for understanding women’s psychological experiences. However, tools for examining how women construct meanings of their experiences as female in relevant social situations remain limited. Over two studies, our article describes the development and psychometric properties of the Subjective Femininity Stress Scale (SFSS), which assesses women’s stress associated with their subjective experiences of being female. Participants ( N = 468) described their personal experiences of what it means to be a woman by completing the sentence “As a woman…” 10 times; participants then rated how often each of the femininity experiences was stressful for them. Participants’ qualitative responses were coded based on 20 dimensions of femininity experiences, and their relationships with SFSS scores were examined. Study 1 provided evidence for test–retest reliability, convergent, and discriminant validity of the SFSS. Study 2 demonstrated concurrent and incremental validity of the SFSS. Several dimensions of femininity experiences were significantly correlated with women’s stress appraisal. The open-ended nature of the SFSS is easy to administer in clinical and organizational settings. The dual qualitative/quantitative aspects of the SFSS enable clients to create personally relevant meanings for their femininity experiences while also providing a stress index for exploring links with health outcomes.

She Loves Him, She Loves Him Not

In two studies, we examined how romantic attachment style relates to women’s sexism toward men. Specifically, we applied structural equation modeling and mediation analyses to the responses of over 500 self-reported heterosexual women. Study 1 included 229 women who answered questionnaires tapping attachment anxiety and avoidance, ambivalent sexism toward men, romanticism, and interpersonal trust. We conducted Study 2 as a replication, changing questionnaire order to gauge the robustness of results, using a new sample of 273 women. In general, women’s attachment anxiety predicted ambivalent sexism (both benevolence and hostility) toward men, whereas women’s attachment avoidance predicted univalent hostility (and lower benevolence) toward men. Romanticism mediated attachment style’s relationship to benevolence toward men, whereas lower interpersonal trust mediated attachment’s relationship to hostility toward men. The results suggest that, for women (as for men), sexist attitudes toward members of the other sex have roots in attachment style and associated worldviews. Better understanding of women’s ambivalence toward men in romantic relationships may help to inform marital therapy.

The Masculinity of Mr. Right: Feminist Identity and Heterosexual Women’s Ideal Romantic Partners

Our study explored the relationship between feminist identity and women’s report of an ideal male partner’s conformity to masculine gender role norms. Heterosexual, mostly White, college women ( N = 183) completed measures assessing feminist beliefs and the masculinity characteristics of an ideal male partner. Results indicated that feminist identity significantly predicted participants' preferences for an ideal male partner’s conformity to masculine norms. Specifically, women who were more accepting of patriarchal culture, endorsing traditional gender roles and denying sexism, reported wanting an ideal male partner to conform to traditional masculine norms of emotional control, risk-taking, power over women, dominance, self-reliance, and disdain for homosexuals. In contrast, feminist-identified women reported wanting an ideal partner who did not conform to the traditional masculine norms of violence, power over women, playboy, and self-reliance. We discuss implications of these findings for women’s heterosexual relationships, including the possibility that feminist identity may serve as a protective factor against involvement in unsatisfying, or even violent, romantic heterosexual relationships.