Chapter 5: Sexism, Stereotypes, LGBTQ+

What are the three components of attitudes?

• Affect

• behavior

• cognition

What is affect?

emotional dislike or resentment; discomfort

Where does affect show up?

Sexism

What is sexism?

A prejudice attitude or negative feeling toward people based on their gender/sex alone.

What are examples of sexism?

• Women are inferior

• Disliking a doctor because she is a woman

• Disliking a nurse because he is a man

What does the beliefs about men and women contain?

An affect or emotional component to them

These beliefs reflect either a high or low regard for someone because of their gender/sex

What is behavior?

how we treat people; actions

Where does behavior show up?

gender/sex descrimination

What are examples of gender/sex descrimination

Paying women less

Backlash for negotiating a high salary for themselves rather than for someone else

What is cognition?

thoughts or beliefs that we have (can be positive or negative)

Where does cognition show up?

Stereotypes

What are examples of stereotypes?

• Women are naturally great caregivers (this sounds nice but is career-limiting)

• Women are not good at math like men

What are the four types of sexism?

• Traditional sexism

• modern sexism

• benevolent sexism

• hostile sexism

What is traditional sexism?

• Endorses traditional gender/sex roles for people

• Decreased over time

• Overt, explicit inequality

• Traditional roles for women

• Differential treatment for men and women

• Belief that women are less competent than men (cisgender men are more superior)

• Open disregard for women, trans, and gender expansive people

• Clear endorsement of gender roles

What is modern sexism?

• Denial that discrimination exists towards women

• An antagonism to women’s demands

• A resentment of any preferential treatment for women

• Smaller decreases over time

• Belief that policies are unnecessary/unfair

• Often appears in “we already have equality”

• Resistance to structural change

• Implies that one is not sympathetic to women’s issues and indirectly endorses the unequal treatment of men and women

What are traditional and modern sexism scales correlated as?

Positive which means that people who score high on one scale are likely to score high on the other scale

What is benevolent sexism?

• Appears positive but is rooted in the belief that women are less competent than men and need men’s help

• Can include prosocial orientation toward women (desire to help women)

• Patronizing

Why do women endorse benevolent sexism?

• it is difficult to reject because the behavior provides a direct benefit to the recipient (positive attributes)

• the help provider will be insulted

• social norms dictate that one should accept help graciously

• it is difficult to explain why help is being rejected

• Those who use benevolent sexism are more likely to be seen as warm and helpful and there are rewards associated with it (male protection)

• more likely to endorse when they have fewer economic resources

How did college students perceive men and women who endored benevolent sexism?

• They percieved them as warmer than those who rejected it

• However, the target was larger for male targets, as students percieved men who endorsed benevolent sexism to be warmest

What are examples of benevolent sexism?

• Enlarging parking spots specifically for women

• Making those parking spots pink

• Putting parking spots closer to the entry for women

What is hostile sexism?

• feeling of hostility towards women reflected by negative assumptions about women, especially to women who challenge the patriarchal gender/sex roles

• social dominance orientation

What exposure to hostile sexism lead women to do?

advocate for social change

What is an example of hostile sexism?

• In Turkiye, endorsing forced marriage of girls under the age of 18 is a kind of policy that maintains the status quo-it keeps women subordinate to men by depriving them of education, economic independence, and basic human rights

• Gender system justification (the need to perserve the status quo)

Where is hostile sexism higher in?

It is not only higher among men than women but higher among cisgender men than all other gender/sex groups

Key insight on benevolent and hostile sexism

• both maintain inequality

• Ambivalence Towards Men Inventory

• Benevolent and hostile sexism are positively correlated

• Men have higher benevolent sexism than women

• Higher scores on hostile sexism and benevolent sexism in countries with greater gender equality

Why is benevolent sexism harmful?

• it is not obvious and can be disconcerting

• the implicit message is that women need help and protection

• the behavior appears to be prosocial but it actually legitamizes women’s inferior position

• opposition to abortion because being a mother is part of a women’s role

What are gender ideologies?

attitudes toward the social roles that different gender/sex groups possess

What are the 3 gender ideologies?

• traditional

• egalitarian

• transitional

What is traditional gender ideology?

Maintains that the men’s s[here is work and the women’s sphere is home

• the implicit assumption that men have greater power than women

• Modern traditional

• Traditional attitudes

What is egalitarian ideology?

Maintains that power should be distributed equally across gender/sex groups

• Most gender/sex roles for people are between traditional and egalitarian

• Over time this has become more common. Blacks endorse the most egalitarian values, and whites endorse the least egalitarian values.

• Endorsement of joint earnings and joint family responsibilities

• Egalitarianism essentialism

What is transitional ideology?

Maintains that it is acceptable or women and men to identify with the same spheres, but women should devote proportionately more time to matters at home and men should devote proportionately more time to work

• Acceptable for women to devote both time and energy to both family and work domains, but women should hold proportionally more responsibility for the home, and men should focus proportionately more at work.

• intrusive parenting

What are gender/sex role stereotypes?

• features that individuals assign to different gender/sex groups based on their society.

What is descriptive gender/sex role stereotype?

What people are

• Identifies the features of the stereotype

• The descriptive aspects or stereotypes are limiting, as we judge feminine women as less competent for leadership positions and masculine men as less capable of child care.

What is prescriptive gender/sex role stereotype?

What people should be

• How we think people ought to behave due to their gender/sex role.

• Says men should not be feminine and women should not be masculine.

• Enforced by society - others have expectations and may penalize you. 

• The first thing you notice about someone when you see them is their gender/sex.

What is backlash effect?

The penalty that is imposed on people for counter-stereotypical behavior.

• In a study, college students were presented with a person who was promoted to professor. They had either agentic or communal traits.

  • The agentic woman was less likable and less likely to be hired than an agentic man. 

  • The effect on hiring was completely accounted for by liking, meaning that the reason agentic women are not hired was because she was not liked.

  • There were no effects of communal behavior on liking or hireability for the candidate.

What is stereotype threat?

Salience of stereotypes has an effect on performance

• Most likely to affect performance on challenging tasks where heightened anxiety and pressure hinder performance.

• Seen across a range of stereotypes based on gender/sex, race/ethnicity, etc.

How do we reduce stereotype threat?

• Reduce how threatening a task is (tell people about it)

• Disassociate identity with performance (performance is separated from identity.)

• Provide a counter-sterotype. (One that is positive)

• Create a self-affirmation. (meaningful or impactful to you.) 

What are the stereotypes of gays/lesbians?

• Lack gender/sex-role congruent characteristics

• Possess gender/sex-role incongruent characteristics.

What is the stereotypes of bisexuals?

• Fall between heterosexual and gay/lesbian

• Assumed to be temporary 

• Assumed to be promiscuous & hypersexual

What are the stereotypes of trans?

• Transgender women similar to feminine stereotype 

• Transgender men described in ambiguous terms - part of masculine and feminine stereotypes

• More negative for transwomen than transmen (masculinity higher status, moving towards 

• femininity lower status.

What is the gender/sex role strain?

The strain or stress one feels in response to gender/sex role stereotypes.

• Occurs when gender/sex (G/S) have negative consequences for the individual. (role conflict with personal identity)

• Most likely when G/S role expectations conflict with personal tendencies and desires.

What is precarious masculinity?

The idea that masculinity is difficult to earn and easy to lose

• Must constantly assert and prove manliness

  • Related to increased G/S role strain (constantly having to prove oneself) 

  • Related to increased homophobia, transphobia, and aggression.

• Transwomen are judged more harshly for giving up their power as a man

What are negotiations?

They present a number of challenges for women

• Negotiation requires assertiveness which is incongruent with feminine behavior.

• Women are penalized for advocating for themselves, but not penalized for advocating for others

• Men are penalized for advocating for someone else than for themselves.

What is social dominance orientation?

Desire to maintain a position of dominance and superiority over others. (associated with hostile sexism)

• HS is linked to greater acceptance of gender/sex inequality.

• Hostile sexism is linked to aggressive behavior, harassment, & violence toward women as well as overt discrimination toward women in the workplace.

• Because HS is linked to feeling threatened by women, men who score high on HS view women as challenging their superiority, which is why they endorse the Negative attitudes toward women.

What are traditonal gender beliefs?

There is a spectrum of stigma surrounding people who are not cisgender heterosexual. Whereas cisgender identity is legitimate, a transgender or queer identity is not.  Gender nonconformity is somewhere in the middle - tolerated but not accepted.

What is homophobia?

Negative attitude towards lesbians and gay men

What is biphobia?

Negative attitude towards bisexuals

• Attitudes are more negative towards bisexuals than attitudes toward gay men and lesbians.

• Many stright & queer people share the assumption of mononormality, which means that one can only be attracted to one gender/sex. 

What is transphobia?

Negative attitudes towards trans and gender-expansive people

• Generally less positive than attitudes towards LGB people. A revision and irrational fear.

• Attitudes are less positive than attitudes towards gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals.

• Can be internalized. Those who were able to have pride and discuss their gender/sexual orientation had better mental health.

  • Trans people who internalize the phobia have a lack of social support and resources so they perceive themselves negatively.  

  • Could be a greater consequence for showing their true selves.

  • Gender equality of country mattered as well, the more egalitarian the more accepted.

Queer phobias across cultures

• each of these -phobias are more common in cisgender, white men, w/ less education, & more political conservatism & religiosity.

• People who have traditional gender/sex role attitudes have more negative attitudes towards LGBTQ+ persons.

  • This makes sense because transgender people challenge the notion that gender/sex is binary, reflecting our nation's political divide.

What is the contact hypothesis?

Most people know someone who is gay or lesbian - often a close family member or friend, or someone they admire.

• One of the best predictors of having a positive attitude toward LGBTQ+ persons is having contact with or having a friend who belongs to that group.  

• People who have interacted w/ an LGBTQ+ person show less prejudice.

• However, not all contacts are equally beneficial.  Having a close friendship w/ a trans person was related to more positive attitudes, whereas having a trans neighbor was not helpful. 

What is egalitarianism essentialism?

Promises joint earning and joint employment-as long as women have primary responsibility at home.

What is moderate traditional?

Had no position on women working outside the home but believed men should not have domestic or childcare responsibilities

What is traditional attitudes?

Women and men served in different spheres

What is intensive parenting (Italy)?

Focused on disapproving of mothers working outside the home but endorsed men contributing to housework and caring for children and women contributing to household income. 

What is an example of transitional ideology?

LGBTQ+ people should be allowed to marry the person of their choice, but they should not be protected from discrimination

What is category-based expectancies?

Occur when you do not know much about a person except the category to which the person belongs-in this case, gender/sex.

• in the absence of any other information aside from gender/sex, you might assume gender/sex-related traits and gender/sex related preferences.

What is target-based expectancies?

the perceptions you have about a person based on individuating information

• once you acquire more info about a specific person, besides the person’s gender/sex, you will use that information to make judgements

What does the prescriptive binary gender/sex stereotypes focus on?

• Agency, competence (typically masculine)

• Communalism, warmth (feminine typically)

What is self-fulfilling prophecy?

Most likely to affect performance on challenging tasks where heightened anxiety and pressure hinder performance.

• Seen across a range of stereotypes based on gender/sex, race/ethnicity, etc.

What is an example of stereotype threat?

When you use sexist comments before an exam.  Women will perform worse than men in math when sexist comments are made as compared to when they are not. 

What are the reasons for backlash?

• gender/sex system justification (preserve the patriarchy and status quo)

• Threat (motivated to defend world views)

• Violation of status 

• Violation of social role.

What is an example of gender/sex role strain?

An uncoordinated man or a muscular woman may experience strain in physical exercise classes.

What is self-role discrepancy?

Suggest strain arises when you fail to live up to the gender/sex-role that society has constructed.

What is an example of self-role discrepancy?

Non-athletic or unemployed man. Not an attractive woman or a woman without children. The gender-expansive person that does not fall into one category. 

Where is homophobia higher in?

• Men - especially teenagers

• People who endorse extreme forms of masculinity

• People who are high on social dominance orientation (desire for in-group to be more dominant than out-group)

• People who participate in sports (core sports) BUT only for men.

• Can be internalized as well.  Trying to conceal their identity orientation.