“It’s Getting Difficult to Be a Straight White Man”: Bundled Masculinity Grievances on Reddit
This article examines a case of internet posts discussing social issues affecting men and masculinity. Analysis of 500 posts containing masculine coded language on the subreddit r/unpopularopinion suggests that masculinity, especially when intersected with straightness and whiteness, is discursively constructed in an imagined social hierarchy where the plight of straight white men is invisible. By framing opinions as “unpopular,” these posts suggest that while the poster’s view may be objectively true, it is disvalued in mainstream discourses. Three key findings emerged from this analysis: First, regardless of the pa...
Source: Sex Roles - December 29, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Protecting a Positive View of the Self: Female Gamers ’ Strategic Self-Attribution of Stereotypes
AbstractIn two survey studies, one with a college student sample (n = 249) and one with an adult sample (n = 319), we tested self-stereotyping strategies among women video game players to protect their self-image from prevalent negative stereotypes of women gamers. Our results revealed that one strategy is to weaken their commitment to the women gamer identity, and another is to strategically reject some aspects of the identity while continuing to endorse others. Specifically, we found that strongly committed women gamers believed that the stereotypes are as descriptive of the typical women players as of themselves...
Source: Sex Roles - December 28, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Penalized for Challenging Traditional Gender Roles: Why Heterosexual Relationships in Which Women Wear the Pants May Be More Precarious
AbstractThere is growing evidence that heterosexual relationships in which traditional gender roles are reversed because women have attained higher societal status than their male partner are more precarious. We argue that this is the case because both partners in role-reversed relationships are evaluated more negatively than partners in more egalitarian or traditional gender role relationships. In two experimental studies conducted in the United States (N = 223) and the Netherlands (N = 269), we found that when encountering role-reversed relationships, participants perceive the woman as the more dominant and agent...
Source: Sex Roles - December 28, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Gay and Straight Men Prefer Masculine-Presenting Gay Men for a High-Status Role: Evidence From an Ecologically Valid Experiment
AbstractThere is increased acceptance of gay men in most Western societies. Nevertheless, evidence suggests that feminine-presenting gay men are still disadvantaged compared to gay men who present in a more traditionally masculine way. Though gay men themselves may be complicit in perpetuating this bias, studies that demonstrate this possibility are scant. Whereas most studies on perceptions of feminine-presenting gay men have manipulated gender nonconformity via written descriptions, research suggests that behavioural cues such as voice and body-language can mitigate or exacerbate prejudice toward a stereotyped individual...
Source: Sex Roles - December 27, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Mothering Ideology: A Qualitative Exploration of Mothers ’ Perceptions of Navigating Motherhood Pressures and Partner Relationships
This study contributes to the larger body of literature highlighting the complexity of dominant mothering ideology and its entanglement with and impact on partner relationships. Further, this study includes mothers’ perceptions of how they navigate these pressures within the relationship with their partner and the family unit. These findings have implications for programs to support mothers and other caregivers, a s well as challenge unrealistic standards for motherhood. (Source: Sex Roles)
Source: Sex Roles - December 20, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
A Moderated Mediation Model of Masculinity Contest Culture and Psychological Well-Being: The Role of Sexual Harassment, Bullying, Organizational Tolerance and Position in Organization
AbstractMasculinity contest culture (MCC), which refers to a dysfunctional organizational culture, is correlated with more frequent interpersonal mistreatment (e.g., sexual harassment and bullying) and lower levels of occupational and psychological well-being. The present cross-sectional study using a convenience sample of Chinese working women (N = 694) investigated the mediating role of interpersonal mistreatment in the association between MCC and psychological well-being, as well as potential individual and organizational moderators. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that organizational tolerance for sexual hara...
Source: Sex Roles - December 13, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
“There’s No Sewing Classes, There’s No Bedazzling Seminars”: The Impact of Masculinity on Social Connectedness and Mental Health for Men Living in Inner-Regional Australia
AbstractRegional Australian masculinities are typified by ‘traditional’ values (e.g., stoicism, self-reliance) known to restrict social connectedness. Thus, these masculinities have been implicated in worsening men’s mental health. What remains unclear, however, is how men living ininner-regional communities (i.e., townships on the fringes of major cities) might uniquely experience masculinity, social connectedness, and mental health. We interviewed 29 boys/men and one non-binary participant (Mage = 43.77 years) living in the Macedon Ranges (an inner-regional Australian community). Using reflexive thematic analysis, ...
Source: Sex Roles - December 7, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Accounting for First-Time Motherhood at Advanced Maternal Age: Risk, Temporality, and the Preservation of Stratified Reproduction
AbstractEven though the birth rate among women, aged 35 and older, in the United States continues to rise, negative connotations about “advanced maternal age” persist. In this article, we draw on symbolic interactionist theories of identity work and feminist scholarship on reproduction and motherhood to analyze qualitative interviews with 55 women who had a first birth at age 35 or older for how they interpret and negotiate dis courses of reproductive risk and the timing of their transition to motherhood. We find that participants constructed accounts that allowed them to challenge the assumption that their reproductiv...
Source: Sex Roles - December 7, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Fiber Arts Require Spatial Skills: How a Stereotypically Feminine Practice Can Help Us Understand Spatial Skills and Improve Spatial Learning
AbstractIn this review, we propose that fiber arts – a wide array of practices that use string, yarn, and fabric to create functional and fine art textiles – present a novel avenue to both explore basic science questions about spatial skills and to design interventions that help children learn spatial skills. First, we outline how fiber arts are applicable to existing theoretical frameworks that aim to organize our understanding of spatial skills and highlight how fiber arts may be particularly relevant for understanding critically understudied non-rigid spatial skills. Next, we review the environmental factors that in...
Source: Sex Roles - November 29, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Maternal Employment Shapes Daughters ’ Employment Stability in Egypt: Evidence for the Intergenerational Transmission of Labor Force Attachment
AbstractResearch has documented how maternal employment influences daughters ’ participation in paid employment. However, we know far less about how maternal employment during daughters’ adolescence relates to the daughters’ subsequent employment stability. Analyzing data from three waves (2006, 2012, and 2018) of the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (N = 3,345) using structural equation models, this study compares the employment stability of women with and without working mothers during adolescence and examines how the influence of maternal employment on daughters’ employment stability varies with employment se...
Source: Sex Roles - November 29, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Parents ’ Math Gender Stereotypes and Their Correlates: An Examination of the Similarities and Differences Over the Past 25 Years
AbstractThough one might imagine that traditional gender stereotypes about math have lessened over the years, this assumption remains to be tested. We know little about the extent to which parents ’ gender stereotypes about math abilities and their correlates have changed over time or the extent to which they replicate across research methods and racial/ethnic groups. To address these issues, we used four longitudinal U.S. datasets collected from 1984 to 2009 (n ’s = 537–14,470, 49–53% girls, 32–95% White, 1–59% Black, 0–22% Latinx) that included similar survey items. Across the datasets, parents believed...
Source: Sex Roles - November 29, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Predictors of Transgender Prejudice: A Meta-Analysis
AbstractTransgender people often experience discrimination and prejudice; therefore, it is important to explore the underlying factors that contribute to prejudice. Past research has found that individual difference variables (e.g., gender, political conservatism) predict transgender prejudice. In the current research, we aimed to better understand the association between transgender prejudice and 15 individual difference predictors (i.e., gender, sexual orientation, single-item political orientation, social dominance orientation, right wing authoritarianism, religiosity, religious fundamentalism, gender essentialism, gend...
Source: Sex Roles - November 28, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Picturing Sexual Agency: A Visual Content Analysis of Adults ’ Sexual Stereotypes of Young Women
AbstractIn 2015, Bay-Cheng proposed that sexual stereotypes of young women had evolved into four types: sexually abstinent and in-controlVirgins; sexually experienced and in-controlAgents; sexually experienced and out-of-controlS.s; and sexually abstinent and out-of-controlLosers. Bay-Cheng also speculated that perceptions of the four types would align with the Stereotype Content Model ’s (Fiske et al., 2002) dimensions of competence-incompetence and warmth-coolness. We tested this through a fine-grained visual content analysis of 833 images selected by 175 participants (aged 19 –64) to represent the four sexual types...
Source: Sex Roles - November 19, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Comparison, Competition, and Consumption: The 3Cs of Contemporary Motherhood in the Context of Children ’s Education
AbstractIntensive mothering ideology, which requires mothers ’ full dedication to their children, is the dominant mothering culture worldwide. Under this ideology, mothers are responsible for children’s education, and seek educational information for the betterment of their children’s future. Previous studies found that exposure to this educational info rmation is associated with mothers’ socialcomparison, competition, andconsumption. This paper thus consideredcomparison, competition, andconsumption asthe 3Cs of contemporary motherhood, and explored these factors in a neoliberal educational context. Specifically, t...
Source: Sex Roles - November 19, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Educating Teenage Boys About Consent: The Law and Affirmative Consent in Boys ’ Socio-Sexual Cultures and Subjectivities
AbstractEducating boys about consent in schools in England is required as part of the now-statutory Relationships, Sex, and Health Education curriculum and, moreover, is considered important for addressing sexual violence, abuse, and harassment among young people. The present paper draws on qualitative data collected in three schools in southeast England to explore how boys are being taught about consent and how they relate to and interpret educational messages about consent in terms of their sociosexual subjectivities and peer sexual cultures. Data was collected during May –June 2022 through classroom observations, focu...
Source: Sex Roles - November 16, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
