Feminist or Paternalistic: Understanding Men’s Motivations to Confront Sexism
Metadatos
Mostrar el registro completo del ítemEditorial
Frontiers Media
Materia
Feminist identification Benevolent sexism Egalitarian motivation Paternalistic motivation Sexism confrontation Collective actions Social change
Fecha
2020-01-17Referencia bibliográfica
Estevan-Reina L, de Lemus S and Megías JL (2020) Feminist or Paternalistic: Understanding Men’s Motivations to Confront Sexism. Front. Psychol. 10:2988.
Patrocinador
This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the predoctoral contract granted to LE-R (FPU14/0511) and through the excellence project granted to SL (PSI2016-79971-P).Resumen
The role of men in fighting gender inequality is a controversial issue. Literature has shown
that advantaged group members can promote social change but also perpetuate status
quo. We conducted three studies to examine two motivational processes that may
lead men to confront sexism: an egalitarian path and a paternalistic one. Studies 1–
3 revealed that men high in benevolent sexism were more willing to confront sexism for
paternalistic reasons, whereas Studies 2–3 found that men high in feminist identification
were more likely to confront sexism for egalitarian reasons. Pooled analyses (Studies
1–3) supported the egalitarian and paternalistic paths underlying sexism confrontation.
Moreover, Studies 2 and 3 extended these findings to collective action and engagement
in the men’s activist movement that aims to reflect on male privilege (i.e., the Men
for Equity movement). These results highlight the existence of various underlying
motivations to confront sexism by men, as well as the limits of paternalism and the
potential of feminism to motivate men to take part in other kinds of actions beyond
confrontation to foster social change.