Masculinity Ideology and Forgiveness of Racial Discrimination among African American Men: Direct and Interactive Relationships

Forgiveness research has focused almost exclusively on interpersonal transgressions committed in close relationships. Consequently, less is known about factors informing forgiveness of non-intimate actors. The current study addresses these gaps by investigating correlates of forgiveness over racial discrimination among African American men (N?=?171). Specifically, we explore relationships between the endorsement of traditional masculine ideology (e.g., restrictive emotionality), overall forgiveness, forgiveness with positive affect, and forgiveness with the absence of negative affect. Links between personality, religiosity, social support, discrimination experiences, and these forms of forgiveness also are examined. Restrictive emotionality emerged as a barrier to forgiveness of discrimination. However, the relationship between restrictive emotionality and forgiveness was moderated by age, socioeconomic status, personality, and religious coping disposition.     

The Relationships Between Codependency and Femininity and Masculinity

Feminist writers critical of the codependency model have argued that codependency refers to an overly strong conformity to the traditional feminine role. Canonical correlation analysis using data from 192 first-year university students found a moderate association between codependency and gender-role identification. The specific nature of this association varied with different aspects of codependency. External focus (approval seeking) was associated with high scores on the negative aspects of femininity and low scores on positive aspects of masculinity. Self-sacrificing was associated with high positive femininity and low negative masculinity. Women scored higher than men on one aspect of codependency: external focus. Although the data are broadly consistent with a feminist critique of codependency, the relationship between codependency and gender-role identification appears to be more complex than previously suggested.     

The Structure of Sexual Orientation and its Relation to Masculinity,Femininity, and Gender Diagnosticity: Different for Men and Women

Three hundred ninety-four college students (148 men and 246 women; 42% White, 25% Hispanic, and 23% Asian) were assessed on masculine instrumentality (M), feminine expressiveness (F), gender diagnosticity (GD), and the Big Five personality traits (Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness). Participants completed a 16-item sexual behavior and attitude questionnaire that asked about their attraction to men, their attraction to women, their degree of emotional commitment in sexual relationships, their level of sex drive, and their interest in visual sexual stimuli and fantasy. Factor analysis of sexual behavior and attitude items for men showed four factors: Bipolar Sexual Orientation, Emotional Commitment, Sex Drive, and Sexual Fantasy. Factor analysis of items for women showed four somewhat different factors: Homosexuality, Heterosexuality, Emotional Commitment, and Sex Drive. Thus, sexual orientation proved to be bipolar for men, but two-dimensional for women. For men, Sexual Orientation correlated most strongly with GD, less with M, and not at all with F. Among women, there were few significant correlations between personality measures and Homosexuality or Heterosexuality.     

Cognitive and Personality Characteristics of Masculinity and Femininity Predict Wayfinding Competence and Strategies of Men and Women

Bem (1974) reconceptualized masculinity and femininity as independent and orthogonal constructs that both men and women possess to varying degrees. This perspective was used as a starting point to investigate whether the contributions of gender-typed characteristics can help to account for commonly observed gender differences in wayfinding (the ability to identify one’s current location and successfully navigate to an unseen location in the environment) favoring men. We further divided gender-typed characteristics into cognitive and personality characteristics to assess their separate influence on wayfinding and explored whether gender-typed characteristics predicted self-reported use of masculine wayfinding strategies (i.e., orientation strategies) and self-reported wayfinding competence. Participants were 452 college women and men in a southern U.S. public university. They completed the Gender-Stereotypic Characteristics questionnaire (Diekman and Eagly 2000), a social comparison questionnaire (created by the authors), a wayfinding strategy questionnaire (Lawton 1994), and a wayfinding competence questionnaire (Hegarty et al. 2002). For both men and women, higher masculine cognitive characteristics significantly correlated with greater use of orientation wayfinding strategies typical of men. For men, both higher masculine and feminine cognitive characteristics predicted better overall wayfinding competence whereas for women, only higher masculine cognitive characteristics predicted better overall wayfinding competence. For both men and women, higher feminine personality characteristics predicted poorer wayfinding competence. These results demonstrated the importance of considering cognitive and personality characteristics of masculinity and femininity in explaining individual differences in wayfinding.     

How Race Matters and Does Not Matter for White Women in Relationships with Black Men

SUMMARY

Drawing on a qualitative research study, this article provides a beginning exploration for how race both matters and does not matter in white women's relationships with black men. As a means of protecting themselves and their families from pathologizing stereotypes about interracial couples, women make claims that race does not matter. At the same time, they describe ways that stereotypes impact their self identities and their couple interactions. Different situations and relationships create shifts in racial interpretations, and contact with extended family members can change racial meanings. The article offers suggestions for how to create a therapeutic space for discussing race without over-determining its significance.     

Masculinity,Femininity, Sexual Dysfunctional Beliefs,and Rape Myth Acceptance Among Heterosexual College Men and Women

Previous research has found links between masculinity, femininity, cognition, and rape myth acceptance. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether sexual dysfunctional beliefs—beliefs about sexuality and gender roles that have been linked to sexual disorders—explain variance in rape myth acceptance beyond that explained by an individual’s masculinity or femininity. Heterosexual college men and women in the U.S. (N = 840) completed a survey online. We found that, among men, masculinity was not associated with rape myth acceptance but that male sexual dysfunctional beliefs were positively associated with rape myth acceptance. Among women, femininity was negatively associated with rape myth acceptance but female sexual dysfunctional beliefs were positively associated with rape myth acceptance. These results suggest that, among both men and women, sexual dysfunctional beliefs are better predictors of rape myth acceptance than masculinity and femininity.     

A Community Psychology of Men and Masculinity: Historical and Conceptual Review

This paper introduces the special section by presenting a historical and conceptual review of theory and research on the psychology of men and masculinity and then introducing the section’s papers. Men have power because of their gender, but differ in access to power based on other individual characteristics such as social class, income, education, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or physical strength. Men typically have been studied as generic rather than gendered beings in psychology. In contrast, a gendered analysis of men highlights the ways in which men’s experience, masculinity, and behavior contribute to health and social problems and to resources commonly addressed by community psychologists. Our gendered analysis suggests ways of working with men in group, organizational, and community settings to create positive individual and social change. Crucial to this analysis is the paradox that enacting masculinity both privileges and damages men. A second paradox stems from men having power as a group over women while individual men feel powerless or victimized by women as a group. The papers in this volume illustrate key themes of our historical and conceptual review through studies of adolescent and adult men as fathers, patients, partner abusers, support group participants and community members, and through examination of the impact of their gendered identities and behavior on health, well being, and justice.     

Patterns of Conflict Resolution Within Relationships and Coercive Sexual Behavior of Men and Women

Conflict tactics within relationships and coercive sexual behavior are separate phenomena that are empirically related. To answer why they should be related, we drew upon two theoretical frameworks: an individualized form of cultural spillover and feminist control theory. Using an ANOVA framework, we constructed hypotheses through which we could (1) test for relations among constructs and (2) discriminate between the predictions of cultural spillover and feminist theory. We hypothesized that the severity of individuals' coercive sexual behavior would be related to the violence level of conflict tactics in relationships and also to a pattern of generalized psychological abuse within relationships. We also hypothesized that men, compared to women, would engage in more physically coercive sexual behavior and use more violence in conflict tactics. University students (50% women, 93% <23 years old, from a school with 73% White students) responded to the measures. With the exception of the last hypothesis, these predictions were supported by the overall data, although not universally within levels of gender. Based on the pattern of hypothesis confirmation and inconsistencies, we discuss the mix of support and potential moderators that would resolve inconsistencies for each theory.     

Objectification,Masculinity, and Muscularity: A Test of Objectification Theory with Heterosexual Men

Sex Roles - Objectification theory is increasingly used to explain the body image-related experiences of men because research indicates that men are at heightened risk for body image concerns...     

Adversarial Sexual Attitudes Toward Women: The Relationships with Gender and Traditionalism

This investigation examines gender differences in adversarial attitudes toward women and their relationships with traditionalism and age. The sample participated in an online survey, collected at a large university in the west. The sample consisted of 777 individuals, 342 men and 375 women, with a mean age 22.22. Findings indicate that men significantly endorse rape myth acceptance, adversarial sexual beliefs and acceptance of interpersonal violence more than women. In addition, men are significantly more traditional in their gender role beliefs than women and age is significantly related to rape myth acceptance and acceptance of interpersonal violence. Within gender, men’s acceptance of all criterion variables increased with age whereas women’s acceptance of interpersonal violence increased with age. Findings also indicate more disparate incomes between the genders in lower income brackets, but more alignment in higher brackets. Implications are discussed in the context of theoretical considerations.     

Masculinity and the Distortion of Self-Reported Height in Men

In this study, we examined whether aspects of the masculine gender role predict the distortion of self-reported height in men. The sample of men (N?=?220) were from a mid-sized university in Ontario, Canada and ranged in age from 17.92 through 29.25 years. The men reported their height and completed scales measuring masculine, gender-related characteristics (Agency, Unmitigated Agency, gender-typed Occupational Preferences and Conformity to Male Norms). An experimenter also measured the men??s height using a standardized scale. As expected, the men over-reported their height. Shorter men exaggerated their height more than taller men. Also, as expected, a linear regression analysis revealed that certain masculine, gender-related characteristics (Unmitigated Agency and Occupational Preferences) predicted an over-reporting of height. These results suggest that men higher in some stereotypically masculine gender role characteristics have an elevated need to achieve socially desirable masculine physical characteristics, and do so to such a degree that they are prone to distorting this important aspect of their body size. Implications of these results (e.g., the reliability of self-report height) are discussed.     

Sexual Intimacy-Towards Equal Relationships Between Men and Women (with Treatment Assistance of a Computer Program)

SUMMARY

By rethinking sexual basic concepts we liberate sexology from mere biological and technical models. The sexual focus combined with the Object Relation Theory creates a promising therapeutic perspective for couples. Special attention will be given to male processes. Some vignettes of the computer program Sexpertise illustrate this article.     

Beyond Christianity: The Status of Women and Rape Myths

The Edwards et al. (2011) paper is an important review of several rape myths that are prevalent in American culture. When discussing religion, Edwards et al. (2011) present a rather thorough review of the presence of such rape myths in Christianity but lack a discussion of rape myths in other religions. Given the profound influence of religion on culture, notably the treatment of women, it is important to go beyond Christianity in a discussion of rape myths. Although there is much attention given to the treatment of women in Islam, the current paper will address religions that often receive less attention as well. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to review the treatment of women and the use of rape myths in non-Western religions.     

Ego Development at the Crossroads: Identity and Intimacy Among Black Men and White Women in Cross-Racial Relationships

This study addressed the ego development of White women and Black men who were in cross-racial relationships. Twenty-one participants completed in-depth, individual interviews, focus group inquiries, and the Sentence Completion Test (SCT). The results indicate that a majority of the participants scored at the higher levels of ego development: 50% of the Black males and 67% of the White females were at the conscientious stage of ego development, 25% of the Black males and 22% of the White females were at the individuated stage. The results from the interviews and the focus groups substantiated the participants' scores on the SCT, exemplifying the complexity in which Black men and White women perceive themselves as individuals and others in relationships. Loevinger (1976, Ego development: Conceptions and theories. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.) contends that these higher stages represent a complex means of understanding oneself and of interacting in intimate relationships. The terms of African American heritage, African American, and Black are used synonymously and interchangeably, as are the terms of European American heritage, European American, and White.