Class 13 Flashcards
What makes Sexism Different from other forms of discrimination?
Men and women are generally differentiated in biology and strongly differentiated in social roles
- Relationships between men & women are complicated by sexual reproduction
- Creates dependency and intimacy between the sexes
Women are not a numerical minority, but are economically disadvantage
How do Straightforward accounts of ingroup favoritism + outgroup hatred don’t apply?
There is extensive contact (and they aren’t a numeric minority)
What is Hostile sexism (misogyny)?
Antagonistic negative attitudes toward women
Characterized by beliefs such as:
- Women are enemies
- Women seek to control men
- Women use sex to exploit men
- Women demand too much
How do people measure hostile sexism?
(Hostile Sexism Scale)
Agreement towards…
*Women seek to gain power by getting control over men.
*Once a woman gets a man to commit to her, she usually tries to put him on a tight leash.
*Many women are actually seeking special favors, such as hiring policies that favor them over men, under the guise of asking for “equality”.
*Most women fail to appreciate all that men do for them
What is Benevolent sexism?
Subjectively positive attitudes & beliefs about women that justify traditional gender roles
Characterized by beliefs such as:
*Women are pure & good
*Women ought to be protected
*Women ought to be cared for
*Women nurture children & men through adversity
How do people measure Benevolent Sexism?
(Benevolent Sexism Scale)
Agreement towards…
*Women should be cherished and protected by men
*Women should be placed on a pedestal
*Women, compared to men, tend to have superior moral sensibility
*Men should be willing to sacrifice their own well-being in order to provide financially for the women in their lives
What did they find when measuring ‘Implicit’ Benevolent Sexism?
Adult men and women completed a Male-Female / Good –Bad IAT.
Both women and men showed pro-female attitudes on the IAT.
Four-year old girls and boys completed a Boy-Girl / Good –Bad “IAT”
Girl participants showed a pro-girl IAT effect, boys showed no reliable preference
SO adults show this benevolent sexism, while kids do not
Why Benevolent Prejudices Matter?
- Benevolent sexism’s underpinnings lie in stereotyping women as inferior and men as superior
- Hostile and benevolent sexism are positively correlated (r= .52)
- Countries with higher levels of benevolent sexism among the population also have more gender inequality
Women with stronger benevolent sexist beliefs…
(a) are less resistant to discrimination
(b) have lower educational and career goals for themselves,
(c) take on more unpaid labor
How does benevolent sexism benefit men?
Benevolent sexism allows men to characterize their privileges as deserve
Ex. Mercedes helps Mila go to the bathroom while on a call for work. Her husband works from the office next door.
Why are benevolent prejudices so important to look at?
Benevolent prejudices are difficult to change
- They are superficially positive
- They are difficult to see
- Easy to be convinced that there is nothing to feel guilty about
How does benevolent sexism reinforce separate spheres?
Lets men see their privileges as deserved
(“only men should work stressful jobs” = justifies women not working)
What is Ambivalent sexism?
The combination of hostile & benevolent sexism
Both forms of sexism work together to provides incentives for people to remain in traditional gender roles
What does hostile sexism do?
Hostile sexism punishes women who challenge the status quo
What does benevolent sexism do?
Benevolent sexism rewards women who embrace traditional gender roles
What are Prescriptive norms?
How people should behave
- For women: Kindness, warmth, communality, selflessness
-For men: Leadership, competence, and agency (being proactive, autonomous, self-directed, “in charge”)
How does gender prescriptive norms impact our perception?
In a newspaper, a famous female artist was not described as a master painted
(she is not expected to be a master, but her less good husband was)
“Of course”, she explains, “he does pretty well for a little boy. But it is I who am the big artist.”
What is the “Value of the Masculine”?
*Stereotypes legitimize men’s greater status and power relative to women
*Masculine traits & pursuits are more highly value
- Ex. Value masc traits in jobs
What is perceived “innate brilliance”?
Some fields (STEM) have this association that to do them, you must be innately brilliant
“you either have it, or you don’t”
What was the found association between:
Masculinity and ‘Brilliance’?
Leslie, Cimpian, Meyer & Freeland (2015) studied the association between gender-disparities in PhD students and the degree to which success in that field was supposed to rely on innate “brilliance”
FOUND: Feminine fields do not have a brilliance relance
What is Backlash?
Social and economic penalties for acting counter-stereotypically
What is the lose lose with women facing backlash?
Women must disconfirm female stereotypes in order to be perceived as competent leaders
*BUT… people have negative reactions toward ambitious and capable women (backlash effects)
*Women who enact agentic behaviors are often seen as socially deficient *These deficiencies lead to punishment and discrimination
(Similar to ingroup scale, as ppl are competent = feel less warm about them)
What is an example of Double-Jeopardy in Female Perception?
(at work / double-bind)
A double-bind in hiring & promotion:
*Warm women are seen as less capable, competent, and committed
*Competent women are seen as less likeable, more hostile, and less of a team player
What is the “Trans Youth Project”
First lab that actively studies gender development in transgender children
- Tracking socially-transitioned children longitudinally starting from 3-12 years old
*Compared against siblings and unrelated children
What are the measures of the “Trans Youth Project”?
Gender-Attitude IAT
Gendered Object Prefs
Gendered Friendship Prefs
What is the hypothesis of the “Trans Youth Project”?
And what did they find?
Do 5-12 year-olds who identify with:
- a gender that is opposite of their birth sex
- express preferences consistent with their gender,
- their birth sex,
-something in the middle?
They found:
Transgender children express preferences consistent with their gender
What did a more recent trans youth study reveal?
There were no differences within transgender children based on how long they had been living as their current gender.
(ex. it doesn’t matter how far along they are in transition, they still align with current gender around the same amount)
“These findings illustrate that children develop a sense of identity at an early age, that this identity is not necessarily determined by sex assigned at birth, and that children may hold on to this identity even when it conflicts with others’ expectations”
What do they find with implicit trans attitudes and laws?
More welcoming trans laws = correlates with less implicit bias
Maybe ppl look to laws around them to form attitudes
- Implicit and explicit anti-transgender attitudes were higher in states with more discriminatory laws
Do our attitudes shape laws?
our attitudes shape laws
and
laws shape our attitudes
How might laws shape our attitudes?
June 2015 Supreme Court case on same-sex marriage
STUDY 1
Being told that a favorable ruling was likely
- Increased perception of norms supporting same-sex marriage
- Increased support for same-sex marriage
How might laws shape our attitudes?
June 2015 Supreme Court case on same-sex marriage
STUDY 2
Study 2: Longitudinal study Tracked perceptions of norms & attitudes over time
What happened when states passed same-sex marriage legislation?
- Much higher opinion after
How might laws shape our attitudes?
June 2015 Supreme Court case on same-sex marriage
STUDY 2
- What happened in states that legalized it earlier?
States that passed same-sex marriage legalization experienced greater decreases in bias following legalization
(more stable)
Implicit anti-gay attitudes are also decreasing, are other minority statuses decreasing?
Age / disability are stable
