Gender Role and Feminism Revisited: A Follow-Up Study

Abstract

In this follow-up to our earlier study (Toller, Suter, & Trautman, Gender role identity and attitudes towards feminism, Sex Roles, 51, 85-90, 2004) we examine the interrelationships among gender role, support for feminism, and willingness to self-label as feminist. Ten percent of college students previously surveyed participated in qualitative interviews, which elicited characterizations of feminists, whether students self-identified as feminist, suggestions for garnering support for feminism, and for interpretation of the initial study's findings. Students were asked to speculate why we found that highly masculine men and highly feminine women were neither likely to selfidentify as feminist nor to support the feminist movement and why more feminine men and more masculine women were found to be more willing to self-label as feminist and more likely to support the feminist movement.

What's in a Label? Judgments of Feminist Men and Feminist Women

“…Although "feminist woman" was rated lower in potency than "man," higher potency levels for "feminist woman" were associated with more negative evaluative and attractiveness ratings. This supports the finding that more stereotypically masculine characteristics in a feminist woman may result in more negative ratings on other dimensions (Bullock & Fernald, 2003;Suter & Toller, 2006). In contrast, potency levels did not significantly predict evaluative or attractiveness ratings for "feminist man."…”

“…More stereotypically masculine (or less stereotypically feminine) characteristics are sometimes associated with feminist women (DeWall et al, 2005; Fiske et al, 2002; Goldberg et al, 1975; Pierce et al, 2003; Rubin, 1994; Suter & Toller, 2006). A parallel phenomenon may occur with the term “feminist man.” Because the term “feminist” is more likely to elicit images of women (Berryman‐Fink & Verderber, 1985; Williams & Wittig, 1997), when people see the term “feminist man” they may think of a feminized man or a man who has eschewed his masculinity.…”

“…Based on research by Breen and Karpinski (2008) and Twenge and Zucker (1999), I also predicted that the term "feminist man" would be evaluated more negatively and rated as less attractive than the term "feminist woman." More stereotypically masculine (or less stereotypically feminine) characteristics are sometimes associated with feminist women (DeWall et al, 2005;Fiske et al, 2002;Goldberg et al, 1975;Pierce et al, 2003;Rubin, 1994;Suter & Toller, 2006). A parallel phenomenon may occur with the term "feminist man."…”

Hegemonic Heteronormativity: Toward a New Era of Queer Family Theory

“…Most of these scholarly works (78%) cited Oswald et al (2005) only to define key constructs (e.g., heteronormativity, queering; Dietert & Dentice, 2013;Goldberg & Scheib, 2015;Kuvalanka, Weiner, & Russell, 2013;Lynch & Maree, 2013;Richardson & Goldberg, 2010;Suter & Daas, 2007) or to describe characteristics of the environment in which the study was conducted (e.g., heteronormativity in U.S. society ;Cao, Mills-Koonce, Wood, & Fine, 2016;Sharp & Ganong, 2011;Suter & Toller, 2006;Toomey, Card, & Casper, 2014) or the field of family science more broadly (Allen, 2016;Few-Demo, 2014;Sharp, Zvonkovic, Humble, & Radina, 2014). Importantly, many of these pieces provide empirical evidence supporting the queering processes proposed by Oswald and colleagues (e.g., Berkowitz, 2013;Cohen & Kuvalanka, 2011;Goldberg, 2007b;Goldberg & Allen, 2007;Goldberg, Downing, & Sauck, 2008;Goldberg & Smith, 2015;Hickey & Grafsky, 2016;Oswald & Masciadrelli, 2008;Toomey, McGuire, & Russell, 2012).…”

Feminist Agency, Sexual Scripts, and Sexual Violence: Developing a Model for Postgendered Family Communication

“…Mothers' gender-flexible socialization, which presents both feminine and masculine domains as valuable, seems to have the strongest positive influence on daughters' ideas about feminism and aspirations (Colaner & Rittenour, 2015). College students have noted that feminism would gain more support if there were more feminist role models (Suter & Toller, 2006). This may especially be the case for masculine men and feminine women who perceive that feminism threatens their gender orientation (Toller, Suter, & Trautman, 2004).…”