The Interplay of Strength and Content of Women's Gender Identity, Ambivalent Sexism Targeted at Men, and Attitudes Toward Gender Role Subtypes

In this on-line study of adult women (N = 145), we performed a series of moderation analyses, including women's self-reported gender in-group identification as moderator, their traditional/progressive identity contents as predictors, ambivalent sexism targeted at men and attitudes toward male and female conforming and non-conforming gender roles as outcome variables. We found that both traditional and progressive identity contents were significant predictors of benevolent sexism but did not predict hostile sexism toward men. Moreover, traditional identity contents predicted more negative evaluations of both male and female gender non-conforming roles, while progressive identity contents predicted more positive evaluations of both male and female gender non-conforming roles. The results have also indicated that the less a woman identifies with her gender in-group while having highly traditional identity contents, the lower she evaluates gender non-conforming roles of other women. The present study adds to the existing research on the links between women's gender identity and perceptions of the opposite sex, as well as their evaluations of various gender roles of men and women.

The influence of bystander presence on evaluations of public breastfeeding among adults in the United States

BACKGROUND

In general, people tend to support private breastfeeding more than public breastfeeding, and discomfort surrounding public breastfeeding may contribute to sub-optimal rates of breastfeeding in the United States. Few studies have systematically examined situational factors that contribute to (negative) reactions to public breastfeeding. It is unclear whether the physical location or the presence of others is more influential in shaping people's evaluations of public breastfeeding. This study aimed to experimentally investigate the influence of location, bystander presence, bystander gender, and the breastfeeding woman's use of a cover on people's evaluations of breastfeeding images.

METHOD

A sample of adults residing in the United States was randomly assigned to view an image of a breastfeeding woman in an experimental study that examined four independent variables: breastfeeding location (public vs. private), bystander presence (present vs. not present), gender of bystander (male vs. female), and use of a cover (cover vs. no cover). Participants then reported their emotional reactions to, perceptions of, and behavioral intentions toward the breastfeeding woman. In addition, participants completed measures of sexism, traditional gender role endorsement, sexual comfort, body gaze, and breastfeeding knowledge and experience.

RESULTS

Hierarchical regressions revealed no differences between private and public breastfeeding images. Perceptions of the breastfeeding woman were more favorable when she was alone than with others, and when she was covered than when she was not covered. Evaluations tended to be more favorable among participants who scored lower on hostile sexism, higher on benevolent sexism, higher on sexual comfort, and higher on breastfeeding knowledge.

CONCLUSION

The presence of bystanders may be more consequential than the physical location in shaping reactions to public breastfeeding. These findings can be applied to improve support for public breastfeeding, which may contribute to higher breastfeeding rates and the associated public health benefits.

The psychological causes and societal consequences of authoritarianism

Over the past two decades, citizens’ political rights and civil liberties have declined globally. Psychological science can play an instrumental role in both explaining and combating the authoritarian impulses that underlie these attacks on personal autonomy. In this Review, we describe the psychological processes and situational factors that foster authoritarianism, as well as the societal consequences of its apparent resurgence within the general population. First, we summarize the dual process motivational model of ideology and prejudice, which suggests that viewing the world as a dangerous, but not necessarily competitive, place plants the psychological seeds of authoritarianism. Next, we discuss the evolutionary, genetic, personality and developmental antecedents to authoritarianism and explain how contextual threats to safety and security activate authoritarian predispositions. After examining the harmful consequences of authoritarianism for intergroup relations and broader societal attitudes, we discuss the need to expand the ideological boundaries of authoritarianism and encourage future research to investigate both right-wing and left-wing variants of authoritarianism.

Authoritarianism weakens democratic institutions and fosters societal divisions. In this Review, Osborne et al. describe the psychological processes and situational factors that give rise to authoritarianism, as well as the societal consequences of its apparent resurgence within the general population.

Benevolent and hostile sexism in a shifting global context

The theory of and research on ambivalent sexism - which encompasses both attitudes that are overtly negative (hostile sexism) and those that seem subjectively positive but are actually harmful (benevolent sexism) - have made substantial contributions to understanding how sexism operates and the consequences it has for women. It is now clear that sexism takes different forms, some of which can be disguised as protection and flattery. However, all forms of sexism have negative effects on how women are perceived and treated by others as well as on women themselves. Some of these findings have implications for understanding other social inequalities, such as ableism, ageism, racism and classism. In this Review, we summarize what is known about the predictors of ambivalent sexism and its effects. Although we focus on women, we also consider some effects on men, in particular those that indirectly influence women. Throughout the Review we point to societal shifts that are likely to influence how sexism is manifested, experienced and understood. We conclude by discussing the broader implications of these changes and specifying areas of enquiry that need to be addressed to continue making progress in understanding the mechanisms that underlie social inequalities.

It's just a breast: an examination of the effects of sexualization, sexism, and breastfeeding familiarity on evaluations of public breastfeeding

BACKGROUND

Despite the legal right to breastfeed in public, women may be concerned about negative reactions from others, which may in turn impact their decision to breastfeed in public. The current study examined whether women breastfeeding in public (e.g., at a coffee shop) would be evaluated differently than women breastfeeding in private (e.g., at home) and explored several explanations for the possible differences: sexualization of the female breast (including the perceivers' gender and sexual comfort level, as well as the exposure of the breast while breastfeeding), sexist attitudes, and familiarity with breastfeeding.

METHODS

In August 2018, 506 adult participants, residing in the United States and recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk, were randomly assigned to view an image of a woman breastfeeding (or not) while wearing a cover (or not), in a private or public location. Participants then completed measures of their emotional responses, perceptions, and behavioral intentions toward the woman in the image as well as their sexual comfort level, hostile and benevolent sexism, and knowledge of and experience with breastfeeding.

RESULTS

People had more favorable evaluations of breastfeeding (vs. non-breastfeeding) women, especially when they had greater sexual comfort, were more knowledgeable about breastfeeding, and were parents with at least one child who was breastfed. The location (public vs. private) and the presence or absence of a cover did not differentially influence evaluations of breastfeeding and non-breastfeeding women, nor did participants' gender or level of sexist attitudes.

CONCLUSIONS

In general, people's evaluations of breastfeeding appear to be favorable to the degree that the location of the breastfeeding is not particularly relevant to those evaluations.

Are We Getting Less Sexist? A Ten-Year Gap Comparison Analysis of Sexism in a Portuguese Sample

Widely and slowly, discrimination against women based upon gender has become socially unacceptable. However, less is known about how sexist beliefs have progressed in the last years and if we are responding to this social antagonizing of a sexist discourse. Our goal was to verify the existence of differences in ambivalent sexism and neosexism over a ten-year gap in a Portuguese adult sample and to assess possible modifications in the relationship between the variables. A cross-sectional, correlational study was conducted using two independent groups, with measures taken in 2009 and then in 2019. Both groups were invariant in terms of average age and proportion of sexes. Our results show a decrease in hostile and benevolent forms of sexism, while neosexism remains constant. The relationships between variables suggest that sexist beliefs are changing to accommodate subtler and modernized forms of sexism, like neosexism, that deny the existence of discrimination against women, resent discrimination complaints, and maintain a paternalistic view of women. Neosexism also seems to have a stronger correlation with hostile sexism than with benevolent forms of sexism in the male subsample. This relationship is stronger for the 2019 sample. These relationships suggest that sexism is more deeply rooted than we would like to admit and adapts to social discourse. Despite our best efforts, it is yet to be overcome.

Pornography Consumption and Attitudes Towards Pornography Legality Predict Attitudes of Sexual Equality

Some scholars argue that the existence of pornography is an ongoing assault on women and that it should be banned. However, the existing evidence suggests the connection between pornography consumption and sexism is overstated and may actually run in the opposite direction. Using data from the General Social Survey (2010-2018), the current study investigated if "pornography consumption" and "pornography tolerance" predicted sexism and whether these associations varied by sex. Results indicated that pornography consumption predicted lower levels of sexism, although these effects were rendered nonsignificant with the inclusion of sociodemographic, religious, and sociocultural covariates. When comparing the results of the current study to findings based on data from the 1970s-1990s, it appears that pornography consumption is now irrelevant to sexism rather than promoting egalitarianism. Our analyses focusing on "pornography tolerance" revealed that people who supported regulated pornography were more egalitarian than people who supported a pornography ban. Generally, men were more likely to report sexist attitudes than women, but sex moderated the relationship that pornography variables had with sexism in several of the models. Overall, pornography consumption and pornography tolerance were either irrelevant in predicting sexism or were associated with greater egalitarianism.

A gender equality paradox in academic publishing: Countries with a higher proportion of female first-authored journal articles have larger first-author gender disparities between fields

Current attempts to address the shortfall of female researchers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have not yet succeeded, despite other academic subjects having female majorities. This article investigates the extent to which gender disparities are subject-wide or nation-specific by a first-author gender comparison of 30 million articles from all 27 Scopus broad fields within the 31 countries with the most Scopus-indexed articles 2014–2018. The results show overall and geocultural patterns as well as individual national differences. Almost half of the subjects were always more male (seven; e.g., Mathematics) or always more female (six; e.g., Immunology & Microbiology) than the national average. A strong overall trend (Spearman correlation 0.546) is for countries with a higher proportion of female first-authored research to also have larger differences in gender disparities between fields (correlation 0.314 for gender ratios). This confirms the international gender equality paradox previously found for degree subject choices: Increased gender equality overall associates with moderately greater gender differentiation between subjects. This is consistent with previous United States-based claims that gender differences in academic careers are partly due to (socially constrained) gender differences in personal preferences. Radical solutions may therefore be needed for some STEM subjects to overcome gender disparities.

Feminist or Paternalistic: Understanding Men's Motivations to Confront Sexism

The role of men in fighting gender inequality is a controversial issue. Literature has shown that advantaged group members can promote social change but also perpetuate status quo. We conducted three studies to examine two motivational processes that may lead men to confront sexism: an egalitarian path and a paternalistic one. Studies 1–3 revealed that men high in benevolent sexism were more willing to confront sexism for paternalistic reasons, whereas Studies 2–3 found that men high in feminist identification were more likely to confront sexism for egalitarian reasons. Pooled analyses (Studies 1–3) supported the egalitarian and paternalistic paths underlying sexism confrontation. Moreover, Studies 2 and 3 extended these findings to collective action and engagement in the men’s activist movement that aims to reflect on male privilege (i.e., the Men for Equity movement). These results highlight the existence of various underlying motivations to confront sexism by men, as well as the limits of paternalism and the potential of feminism to motivate men to take part in other kinds of actions beyond confrontation to foster social change.