Looking Tough
Michelle Ryan et al.
Journal of Applied Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The "think manager-think male" (TMTM) association underlies many gender inequalities in the workplace. However, research into the "glass cliff" has demonstrated that the suitability of male and female managers varies as a function of company performance such that in times of poor performance people may "think female" (Ryan & Haslam, 2005, 2007). Three studies examined gender and managerial stereotypes in the context of companies that are doing well or doing badly. Study 1 reproduced TMTM associations for descriptions of managers of successful companies but demonstrated a reversal for managers of unsuccessful companies. Study 2 examined the prescriptive nature of these stereotypes. No TMTM relationship was found for ideal managers of successful companies, but ideal managers of unsuccessful companies were associated with the female stereotype. Study 3 suggested that women may be favored in times of poor performance, not because they are expected to improve the situation, but because they are seen to be good people managers and can take the blame for organizational failure. Together, the studies illustrate the importance of context as a moderator of the TMTM association. Practical and theoretical implications for gender discrimination in the workplace are discussed.
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The influence of gender, social roles, and facial appearance on perceived emotionality
Ursula Hess, Pascal Thibault, Reginal Adams & Robert Kleck
European Journal of Social Psychology, December 2010, Pages 1310-1317
Abstract:
One of the most pervasive gender stereotypes in Western culture concerns expectations regarding men's and women's emotionality. Whereas men are expected to be anger prone, women are expected to smile more. At the same time, men are generally perceived as more facially dominant and facially dominant individuals are expected to show more anger. That is, both facial appearance and social role expectations would lead observers to expect men to show more anger. The present research had the goal to disentangle the unique contribution of these two factors. As it is impossible in our society to fully untangle the influence of these factors since they are highly confounded, we created an alien society where these factors could be unconfounded. In this alien world, Deluvia, child rearing is exclusively assumed by a third gender, the caregiver, whereas men and women share the same social roles. The facial appearance of the Deluvians was varied along the dominance continuum. The results showed that facially dominant Deluvians, regardless of gender, were expected to show more anger, disgust, and contempt and less happiness, fear, sadness, and surprise. Also, the nurturing caregivers were expected to show less anger, contempt, and disgust as well as more fear, sadness, and surprise, regardless of facial appearance. No effect of gender per se on perceived emotionality was found.
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Prepared for Anything? An Investigation of Female Genital Arousal in Response to Rape Cues
Kelly Suschinsky & Martin Lalumière
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Men's genital arousal occurs in response to a limited number of sexual stimuli, whereas women's genital arousal occurs in response to a wide range of sexual stimuli, including those depicting nonpreferred cues. Researchers have hypothesized that women's nonspecific pattern of genital arousal prepares the body for sexual activity, thus functioning to protect the genital organs against injury. If this hypothesis is correct, women should show genital responses to any cues suggesting sexual activity, even unappealing cues that involve nonconsensual sex and extreme violence. Fifteen men and 15 women listened to fourteen 2-min audiotaped narratives that depicted an interaction between a man and a woman and that varied factorially according to the presence of consent, violence, and sexual activity. The results support the preparation hypothesis: Men showed the greatest genital arousal in response to narratives depicting consensual, nonviolent sex, whereas women showed similar responses to all the narratives involving sexual activities, including those describing a sexual assault.
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Human Tears Contain a Chemosignal
Shani Gelstein et al.
Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Emotional tearing is a poorly understood behavior that is considered uniquely human. In mice, tears serve as a chemosignal. We therefore hypothesized that human tears may similarly serve a chemosignaling function. We found that merely sniffing negative-emotion-related odorless tears obtained from women donors, induced reductions in sexual appeal attributed by men to pictures of women's faces. Moreover, after sniffing such tears, men experienced reduced self-rated sexual arousal, reduced physiological measures of arousal, and reduced levels of testosterone. Finally, functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that sniffing women's tears selectively reduced activity in brain-substrates of sexual arousal in men.
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Effects of legitimizing discrimination against homosexuals on gay bashing
Angela Bahns & Nyla Branscombe
European Journal of Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
We used a computer harassment paradigm to test the hypothesis that affirming the legitimacy of discrimination against homosexuals increases the likelihood that heterosexual men will engage in verbal gay bashing. Legitimacy of discrimination was varied among heterosexual males (N = 167) by suggesting that denying homosexuals rights and benefits is either illegitimate or legitimate, and participants interacted online with either a gay or straight bogus discussion partner. Results show that (a) participants sent more offensive comments when the legitimacy of discrimination against homosexuals was affirmed, and (b) legitimacy affected gay bashing through its effect on collective guilt. These findings suggest that challenging the legitimacy of discrimination can be an effective strategy for reducing outgroup derogation.
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Coal, Identity, and the Gendering of Environmental Justice Activism in Central Appalachia
Shannon Elizabeth Bell & Yvonne Braun
Gender & Society, December 2010, Pages 794-813
Abstract:
Women generally initiate, lead, and constitute the rank and file of environmental justice activism. However, there is little research on why there are comparatively so few men involved in these movements. Using the environmental justice movement in the Central Appalachian coalfields as a case study, we examine the ways that environmental justice activism is gendered, with a focus on how women's and men's identities both shape and constrain their involvement in gendered ways. The analysis relies on 20 interviews with women and men grassroots activists working for environmental justice in the coalfields of Appalachia. We find that women draw on their identities as "mothers" and "Appalachians" to justify their activism, while the hegemonic masculinity of the region, which is tied to the coal industry, has the opposite effect on men, deterring their movement involvement. We explore the implications of these findings for understanding the relationship of gender to environmental justice activism.
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A cross-national analysis of physical intimate partner violence against women
Yunus Kaya & Kimberly Cook
International Journal of Comparative Sociology, December 2010, Pages 423-444
Abstract:
This study investigates the cross-national correlates of intimate partner violence against women with a sample of 40 developed and less developed countries. Specifically, we analyze physical intimate partner violence against women during the 12 months prior to data collection, using data from nationally representative surveys. In the process, we examine the evidence for three explanations we discern from the literature: empowerment of women, cultural context (i.e. religion, institutions), and globalization. The results of our analyses provide strong support for the empowerment of women explanation, which draws from feminist concerns regarding socio-economic status of women, and reveal some effect of cultural context and globalization. Female labor force participation in non-agricultural sectors and women's secondary school enrollment decrease the likelihood of intimate partner violence while increasing total fertility rate signals more partner violence. Religious fractionalization and dependence on high-income countries as export partners also increase the likelihood of intimate partner violence against women.
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John Zipp
Sex Roles, Janaury 2011, Pages 19-31
Abstract:
There are contradictory expectations regarding the relationship between sport and sexuality, one suggesting less sports participation for sexual minority males and more for sexual minority females, with the other hypothesizes no participation differences by sexuality for either males or females. I used the nationally representative Add Health Survey of middle and high school students in the U.S. to assess the degree to which sexual minority and sexual majority boys and girls play sports and the differences in the types of sports that they play. Findings from logistic regression analyses indicated there were very few differences in the degree and type of sports participation by sexuality, but somewhat larger differences as the adolescents move from middle to high school.
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Diana Leonard, Wesley Moons, Diane Mackie & Eliot Smith
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, January 2011, Pages 99-111
Abstract:
What can motivate members of disadvantaged groups to take action on behalf of their group? This research assessed a model in which measured perceptions of (study 1) and manipulated information about (study 2) other women's anger influenced female participants' group-based anger, their subsequent appraisals of instances of possible discrimination, and finally their collective action tendencies. Consistent with Intergroup Emotions Theory, the results suggested that emotional self-stereotyping is one mechanism by which group members can become motivated to respond to possible discrimination, a process supported by group-based anger-driven appraisals about specific discrimination events.
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Neighborhood Context and the Gender Gap in Adolescent Violent Crime
Gregory Zimmerman & Steven Messner
American Sociological Review, December 2010, Pages 958-980
Abstract:
Research consistently demonstrates that females engage in less criminal behavior than males across the life course, but research on the variability of the gender gap across contexts is sparse. To address this issue, we examine the gender gap in self-reported violent crime among adolescents across neighborhoods. Multilevel models using data from the Project of Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) indicate that the gender gap in violent crime decreases as levels of neighborhood disadvantage increase. Furthermore, the narrowing of the gender gap is explained by gender differences in peer influence on violent offending. Neighborhood disadvantage increases exposure to peer violence for both sexes, but peer violence has a stronger impact on violent offending for females than for males; this produces the reduction in the gender gap at higher levels of disadvantage. We also find that the gender difference in the relationship between peer violence and offending is explained, in part, by (1) the tendency for females to have more intimate friendships than do males and (2) the moderating effect of peer intimacy on the relationship between peer violence and self-reported violent behavior.
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Child Sexual Abuse History and Feminine Gender-Role Identity
Elizabeth Krause & Susan Roth
Sex Roles, January 2011, Pages 32-42
Abstract:
The association between child sexual abuse (CSA) and feminine gender-role identity was examined among 75 women with and 107 without a history of CSA. Undergraduates and hospital employees from a university in the Southern United States completed questionnaires on the internet. Three aspects of feminine identity were assessed, including how much participants identified with feminine versus masculine traits, endorsed stereotypes about women, and viewed themselves as meeting feminine self-standards. Participants with a history of CSA reported greater feminine self-discrepancy and endorsed more derogatory stereotypes about women than the comparison group. CSA was also linked to identifying with more feminine than masculine traits, but only among hospital employees. Results suggest that feminine identity is a meaningful construct to consider in the adjustment of CSA survivors.
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Lindsay St. Claire, Robert Hayward & Peter Rogers
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, December 2010, Pages 3106-3129
Abstract:
We tested whether increased caffeine consumption exacerbates stress and disrupts team performance, and we explored whether "tend and befriend" characterizes women's coping. We gave decaffeinated coffees, half of which contained added caffeine, to coffee drinkers in same-sex, same-aged dyads. We measured individual cognitive appraisals, emotional feelings, bodily symptoms, coping, and performance evaluations, together with dyad memory, psychomotor performance, and negotiation skills under higher or lower stressful conditions. Evidence consistent with the first hypothesis was weak, but we found that women performed better than did men on collaborative tasks under stress, provided caffeine had been consumed. The usefulness of multi component, cognitive-relational approaches to studying the effects of caffeine on stress is discussed, together with special implications of the effects for men.
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Inas Nasr, Vaseekaran Sivarajasingam, Sarah Jones & Jonathan Shepherd
Emergency Medicine Journal, November 2010, Pages 811-814
Objective: To investigate the association between material deprivation and injury sustained in violence by adolescents aged 11-17 years.
Methods: Computerised data relating to gender, attendance date and resident postcode of all patients aged 11-17 years who received treatment for violence-related injuries at seven emergency departments (ED) in South Wales over 12 months, 1 October 2005 to 30 September 2006, were studied. The resident populations, by electoral division of three unitary authorities in Wales, Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, were obtained from the NHS administrative register. The relationships between demographic variables and material deprivation as measured by the Townsend deprivation index were analysed.
Results: Altogether 699 (475 boys; 224 girls) adolescents aged 11-17 years resident in Cardiff, Swansea and Newport attended ED in South Wales following violence. Boys and girls living in the most deprived areas had higher assault injury rates compared with those living in the most affluent areas. In the context of sustaining violence-related injury, material deprivation affected girls aged 11-17 years to a much greater extent (Cardiff most deprived vs most affluent rate ratio 6.31, Swansea 10.11, Newport 2.90) than boys of the same age group (Cardiff most deprived vs most affluent rate ratio 2.02, Swansea 7.74, Newport 1.74).
Conclusions: Material deprivation was associated with a higher risk of violence-related injury for adolescent girls compared with adolescent boys. Risk-taking behaviour for adolescent boys and girls may be different under different socioeconomic conditions. Violence prevention efforts should focus more on tackling neighbourhood inequalities, particularly those related to material deprivation in adolescent girls.
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Andrea Roberts et al.
American Journal of Public Health, December 2010, Pages 2433-2441
Objectives: We assessed sexual orientation disparities in exposure to violence and other potentially traumatic events and onset of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a representative US sample.
Methods: We used data from 34 653 noninstitutionalized adult US residents from the 2004 to 2005 wave of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions.
Results: Lesbians and gay men, bisexuals, and heterosexuals who reported any same-sex sexual partners over their lifetime had greater risk of childhood maltreatment, interpersonal violence, trauma to a close friend or relative, and unexpected death of someone close than did heterosexuals with no same-sex attractions or partners. Risk of onset of PTSD was higher among lesbians and gays (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 2.03; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.34, 3.06), bisexuals (AOR = 2.13; 95% CI = 1.38, 3.29), and heterosexuals with any same-sex partners (AOR = 2.06; 95% CI = 1.54, 2.74) than it was among the heterosexual reference group. This higher risk was largely accounted for by sexual orientation minorities' greater exposure to violence, exposure to more potentially traumatic events, and earlier age of trauma exposure.
Conclusions: Profound sexual orientation disparities exist in risk of PTSD and in violence exposure, beginning in childhood. Our findings suggest there is an urgent need for public health interventions aimed at preventing violence against individuals with minority sexual orientations and providing follow-up care to cope with the sequelae of violent victimization.
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Gendered Violence: An Analysis of the Maquiladora Murders
Katherine Pantaleo
International Criminal Justice Review, December 2010, Pages 349-365
Abstract:
This study analyzes the social construction of a wave of female homicides surrounding the maquiladora plants in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Specifically, it explores the social construction of the murders by three different groups, the news media, human rights organizations, and academic researchers. The research begins with a content analysis of 35 narratives from newspapers, human rights reports, and academic journals. Sixteen of these narratives discuss North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in relation with the violence in Juarez. Analysis indicates that gender issues are intertwined with the trade agreement and concludes that the policy has aided in the disruption of the social fabric of Mexican society.