Bridging the divide: Understanding the psychological factors influencing feminist women's support to transgender related policies

Abstract

The demand for trans people's institutional rights and the approval of the Trans Law (Law 04/3023) has polarized the feminist movement in Spain. In this contentious context, our studies examined the relationship between feminist identity and support for, or opposition to, trans rights among the University community. Two correlational studies (Study 1a = 317; Study 1b = 323) conducted before the law's passage provided opposing results regarding the association between feminist identity and support for trans rights. Building upon these findings, two experimental studies (Study 2 N = 415; Study 3 N = 405) exposed ciswomen to cooperation or conflict narratives and examined their impact on reactive threat, zero-sum beliefs, and support for pro-trans or anti-trans collective actions. Conflict narratives increased reactive threat and zero-sum beliefs, leading to more anti-trans and fewer pro-trans actions. Additionally, a direct positive link was observed between feminist identification and support for pro-trans actions, while a negative association was found with reactionary actions (opposite for ideological threat). Based on these findings, we propose a series of win-win strategies to support trans rights and promote peacebuilding and inclusivity in Spanish universities without triggering threat or zero-sum beliefs in ciswomen.