Young Women's Sexist Beliefs and Internalized Misogyny: Links with Psychosocial and Relational Functioning and Political Behavior Adrian J
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https://doi.org/10.24839/2325-7342.JN24.4.255 Young Women's Sexist Beliefs and Internalized Misogyny: Links With Psychosocial and Relational Functioning and Political Behavior Adrian J. Dehlin and Renee V. Galliher* Utah State University ABSTRACT. The current study examined links among sexism, psychosocial functioning, and political behavior in 210 young women from the United States. Participants completed a survey including the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, Revised Religious Fundamentalism Scale, Attitudes Toward Women Scale, Internalized Misogyny Scale, and Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Higher religious fundamentalism was associated with lower relationship quality, mediated by internalized misogyny, traditional gender roles, and hostile sexism. Although mental health outcomes were also collected, associations with sexist attitudes were nonsignificant. The intersection of sexist attitudes and internalized misogyny with political affiliation and voting behavior was also explored. Participants who voted for Clinton/Kane reported lower levels of internalized misogyny when compared to those who voted for Trump/Pence. In addition, Democrat and Independent individuals reported significantly lower levels of internalized misogyny and hostile sexism when compared to Republican and Not Affiliated individuals. Keywords: sexism, relationship quality, religious fundamentalism, Trump, internalized misogyny exism is defined as a belief, practice, or to 13 days (Swim et al., 2001). Participant records system that supports the notion that men are indicated that incidents of sexism occurred at least S intrinsically superior to women (Anderson, once per week, with some participants reporting 2010; Borrell et al., 2011). Past studies have found sexist experiences daily. Thus, sexism is common, sexism to be a prevalent form of prejudice that most and often a daily occurrence for many women. women experience on a weekly and sometimes daily Perhaps the most well-known conceptualiza- basis (Berg, 2006; Swim, Hyers, Coher, & Ferguson, tion of modern sexism is the ambivalent sexism 2001). In this study, we explored young women’s framework proposed by Glick and Fiske (1996). endorsement of sexist ideology, as it relates to a Ambivalent sexism refers to sexist beliefs that fit number of important socialization experiences and in to two major categories, hostile and benevo- psychosocial outcomes. lent (Anderson, 2010; Huang, Davies, Sibley, & Sexism is a ubiquitous experience in the lives Osborne, 2016). Hostile sexism aims to validate of young women in the United States. For example, “…male power, traditional gender roles, and men’s Berg (2006) reported that all 382 women in her exploitation of women as sexual objects through sample reported experiencing sexism, and 25% said derogatory characterizations of women” (Anderson, WINTER 2019 they felt it happened “a lot” (p. 975). In another 2010, p. 151). Although hostile sexism can be easily study, participants were asked to record the number identified, benevolent sexism has a tendency to PSI CHI of sexist incidents they observed over a span of 7 go unnoticed (Huang et al., 2016). Benevolent JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH *Faculty mentor COPYRIGHT 2019 BY PSI CHI, THE INTERNATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY IN PSYCHOLOGY (VOL. 24, NO. 4/ISSN 2325-7342) 255 Sexist Beliefs and Internalized Misogyny | Dehlin and Galliher sexism “relies on kinder and gentler justifications component of benevolent sexism and Christian of male dominance and prescribed gender roles; it Orthodoxy in a sample of evangelical Christian col- recognizes men’s dependence on women and takes lege students, although only for men. Finally, Glick, a romanticized view of heterosexual relationships” Sakalh-Uğurlu, Akbaş, Orta, and Ceylan (2016) (Anderson, 2010, p. 151). Because it is subtler examined the association between honor beliefs—a by nature, people are much less likely to be held strict set of rules for women that typically include accountable when conveying benevolent sexism in compliance to men, sexual purity, and religious comparison to hostile sexism (Barreto & Ellemers, adherence—and two correlates, religiosity and sex- 2005). ism. In their large Turkish sample, men were more In addition to the sexist attitudes individuals apt to report endorsing honor beliefs than women. confront externally on a day-to-day basis, these Hostile and benevolent sexism were positively cor- beliefs can be internalized. According to Spengler related with religiosity. Furthermore, hostile sexism, (2014), internalized misogyny is made up of two benevolent sexism, and religiosity were positively main elements: self-objectification and passive correlated with honor belief acceptance. acceptance of gender roles. These components are The body of research related to religiosity and linked to a plethora of negative outcomes includ- sexism has operationalized religiosity using a wide ing psychological distress, disordered eating, and variety of definitions and measures. In this study, we mental illness. Given the omnipresent nature of introduced the concept of religious fundamentalism as misogynistic and sexist messages received by women a potentially relevant aspect of religious belief sys- in patriarchal societies, the internalization of sexist tems (Alderdice, 2010). Defined as the belief in the ideology is often automatic and unnoticed. One absolute authority and unquestionable superiority study found that women conveyed dialogic practices of a particular sacred text or set of religious teach- of internalized sexism (i.e., invalidating, derogat- ings, religious fundamentalism can be endorsed ing, or objectifying women in everyday language) to varying degrees within any faith community. In on average 11 times per 10-minute increment of general, more conservative faith traditions—those conversation (Bearman, Korobov, & Thorne, 2009). which espouse literal interpretations of their sacred This rate of frequency illustrated how extensive texts or more rigid expectations for maintaining internalized sexism truly is within society. spiritual morality—are more closely associated with religious fundamentalism. However, across Religious and Political Context of Sexism faith contexts, we hypothesized that the more dog- Religious and political contexts are powerful and matic, morally rigid or narrow religious beliefs and overlapping socialization forces related to attitudes attitudes associated with religious fundamentalism about gender. We hypothesized that conservative would be associated with sexist attitudes (i.e., more religious and political affiliations support adher- rigid, morally driven attitudes about gender), and ence to traditional, rigid gender attitudes. In would link to psychosocial outcomes through their the following section, we outline the relevance relationship with sexist beliefs (i.e., mediation). of religious and political contexts for embracing U.S. political climate. Following the presiden- sexist ideology. tial election of 2016, discussion of internalized Religion. A number of authors have identified sexism, or women holding beliefs that support their conservative and traditional religious belief systems own oppression, was in the mainstream conscious- as an important socializing context for attitudes ness (Bialik, 2017; Fenton & Lopez, 2016; Moore, about women and gender role expectations. For 2016). Conversations surrounding gender equality example, Mikolajczak and Pietrzak (2014) found were a central component of ongoing divisive that higher levels of religiosity in a sample of dialogue. Bock, Byrd-Craven, and Burkley (2017), Catholic Polish women were related to higher in a sample of college students from a southwestern endorsement of benevolent sexism, mediated by university in the United States, observed that those their adherence to values for conservatism. Burn who affiliated with the Republican political party and Busso (2005) found that benevolent sexism and voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. was linked positively to internal and external reli- presidential election reported higher levels of WINTER 2019 giosity and scriptural literalism in a sample of U.S. benevolent and hostile sexism and greater adher- Christian college students. Maltby, Hall, Anderson, ence to traditional gender roles, compared to PSI CHI JOURNAL OF and Edwards (2010) observed a significant relation- Democrats and those who voted for Hilary Clinton. PSYCHOLOGICAL ship between the “protective paternalism” (p. 619) Similarly, Blair (2017) capitalized on the timing of RESEARCH 256 COPYRIGHT 2019 BY PSI CHI, THE INTERNATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY IN PSYCHOLOGY (VOL. 24, NO. 4/ISSN 2325-7342) Dehlin and Galliher | Sexist Beliefs and Internalized Misogyny her study of general attitudes regarding a number As research on sexism continues to expand, its of social issues (e.g., LGBTQ rights, racism and role in romantic relationships has also emerged as a Islamophobia, sexism). As a follow-up to original significant area of study. Lee, Fiske, Glick, and Chen data collection, she assessed voting intentions just (2010) examined endorsement of benevolent and prior to the 2016 presidential election and found hostile sexism and the traits American men and ambivalent sexism to be a strong predictor of inten- women preferred/selected in romantic relation- tion to vote for Donald Trump or a third party/ ships. Women and men who endorsed benevolent undecided relative to Hilary Clinton. However, sexism ideals were more likely to select for a “tra- because of the inclusion criteria for