Gender’s Role in Misperceptions of Peers’ Sexual Motives

The sexual double standard influences men’s and women’s sexual attitudes and behavior, leading men and women to consider distinct sexual motives, or reasons whether or not to engage in sexual intercourse. The goal of the present paper was to document how the sexual double standard shapes perceptions of peers’ sexual motives. We build on past research by using open-ended questions and measuring perceptions of both same-gender and other-gender peers. The sample included 154 heterosexual college students (50 % female, 49 % European American, 25 % Latino American, 26 % African American) recruited via probability sampling. When we compared perceptions of men’s and women’s sexual motives, we found that participants seemed to rely on the sexual double standard. Participants were more likely to attribute a female-stereotyped motive (e.g., romantic relationship characteristics, feeling “ready”, emotional investment) and less likely to attribute a male-stereotyped motive (“easy”, arousal, physical appearance) to female peers than to male peers. However, when we compared participants’ own motives to perceptions of their peers’ motives, participants overestimated male-stereotyped motives and underestimated female-stereotyped motives in peers, regardless of peer gender, possibly in congruence with stereotypes of hookup culture. These findings demonstrate that, although individuals sometimes rely on the sexual double standard to attribute sexual motives to others, misperceptions of peers’ sexual motives may also be influenced by stereotypes of hookup culture. These misperceptions contribute to pluralistic ignorance that may influence college students’ sexual behaviors.     

Whose Voices Are Heard? Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Newspaper Sources

A content analysis of 243 U.S. newspaper articles about same-sex marriage from the Boston Globe, the Plain Dealer, the Oklahoman, and the San Francisco Chronicle was conducted. Hypotheses predicted that male sources would outnumber female sources; that gay male sources would outnumber lesbian sources; and that male sources would express more negative views toward same-sex marriage than female sources. Results showed that male sources were over three times as common as female sources. Gay male and lesbian sources were found at near-equal rates in the Boston Globe and the San Francisco Chronicle, but were almost absent from the Plain Dealer and the Oklahoman. Male sources expressed negative views toward same-sex marriage more frequently than female sources.     

Who Says It's Sexual Harassment? The Effects of Gender and Likelihood to Sexually Harass on Legal Judgments of Sexual Harassment1

The effects of participants’ gender and propensity to sexually harass were examined in a sexual harassment case in which the gender of the harassers and victim were manipulated systematically. Male and female participants scoring either high or low on the Likelihood to Sexually Harass (LSH) scale (Pryor, 1987) reviewed an ostensibly real hostile work environment case and made judgments about the case. When participants were the same gender as the victim, individual differences in LSH failed to influence their judgments. When the participants’ gender was the opposite of the victim's, those low in LSH perceived the behaviors as more likely to be sexual harassment than those high in LSH. These results are discussed and their implications considered.     

Patient–Provider Communication About Sexual Health: The Relationship with Gender, Age, Gender-Stereotypical Beliefs, and Perceptions of Communication Inappropriateness

This investigation examined patient–provider communication about sexual health related to gender and age. Data were collected from 277 individuals, aged 18–60, via convenience and snowball sampling at a large university in southwestern United States. Results indicate women are more proactive about their sexual health than men and tested for STDs more frequently. Women, more than men, initiate discussions with their healthcare provider about sexual health matters and healthcare providers are more likely to initiate communication about such matters with women than men. Men hold stronger gender-stereotypical beliefs than women, are less likely to initiate conversations about sexual issues with their provider, and believe sexual discussions with their partner are inappropriate. Age relates to sexual activity initiation and perceived STD risk.     

Should We Take “Gender” Out of Gender Subtypes? The Effects of Gender,Evaluative Valence,and Context on the Organization of Person Subtypes

Previous research examining the organization of person subtypes has focused on gender and evaluation as organizing principles. Our research additionally examined subtype organization in terms of the classic “person categories” described in the self-concept and impression formation literature. Using both qualitative and quantitative measures, we examined the relative impact of these three mechanisms of subtype organization. We also investigated whether contextual cues impact subtype organization. We found that subtypes are more frequently organized in terms of person categories than by gender or evaluation. Also, as predicted, some subtype clusters' organization was relatively stable, whereas other subtype clusters were more sensitive to contextual influences. These results are discussed in terms of how characteristics that are salient in a situation may prime certain subtypes.     

Exploring Ethnic,Gender, and Sexual Orientation Variables in Supervision: Do They Really Matter?

This study explored discussions of cultural variables in supervision and their influence on supervisory satisfaction and working alliance. Results indicated limited discussions occurred, but when these discussions did occur, supervisees reported enhanced supervisory working alliance and increased satisfaction with supervision. These findings highlight the importance of supervisors initiating discussions of cultural variables. Este estudio exploró discusiones sobre variables culturales y su influencia en la satisfacción y alianza de supervisión. Los resultados indicaron discusiones limitadas, pero cuando estas ocurrieron, los supervisados reportaron un aumento en la alianza de trabajo y satisfacción con la supervisión. Estos resultados hacen notable la importancia de que los supervisores inicien discusiones sobre los variables culturales.     

Beliefs About the Outcomes of Extramarital Sexual Relationships as a Function of the Gender of the “Cheating Spouse”

A person perception experiment was conducted toexamine people's beliefs about the outcome of anextramarital sexual relationship involving ahypothetical single friend and a married person. Twohundred and eleven undergraduate students (80 males and129 females; most of whom were Caucasian) were theparticipants in the experiment. The married person inthe vignette was presented as either a man or a woman (and always the opposite gender of the singlefriend) and as having low or high investments in themarriage (as indicated by number of children and yearsmarried). Results indicated that the participants' perceptions of the outcome of this type ofextramarital relationship depended on the gender of themarried person/single friend. Participants were morelikely to believe that the married person loved the extramarital partner, was committed to theextramarital relationship, and would marry theextramarital partner, if the married person was a womanrather than a man. The investment manipulations had noeffect on participants' perceptions of therelationship. The results were discussed as they relateto other beliefs about male vs. femalesexuality.     

Does Gender Matter? Relationship of Gender,Spousal Support,Spirituality, and Dispositional Forgiveness to Pastoral Restoration

We examined the relationship of gender, forgiveness, and spirituality to restoration attitudes expressed toward pastors who committed a transgression. In Study 1, participants’ restoration responses favored the opposite gender. In Study 2, men and women responded differently depending on the offense. Dispositional forgiveness was significantly associated with pastoral restoration following offenses of infidelity, anger, child abuse, and substance abuse. Measures of spirituality were primarily associated with forgiveness but explained little of the variance in restoration attitudes.     

Tomboyism or Lesbianism? Beyond Sex/Gender/Sexual Conflation

To illuminate questions of sex/gender/sexual conflation the researcher focused on the relationship between reported tomboyism and lesbianism. Narratives of childhood and adolescence were collected from 32 women who were grouped into four gender/sexual status combinations: “lesbian/bisexual butch,” “straight butch,” “lesbian/bisexual femme,” and “straight femme.” The effects of participants’ sexual and gendered statuses on their retrospective accounts of two aspects of tomboyism—“choosing masculinity” and “rejecting femininity”—were examined. Chi square and qualitative analyses suggest that stage in the life cycle, gender, and sexual status influence distinct mergings and separations of sex, gender, and sexuality in women’s retrospective reports. The researcher concludes that attention to sex, gender, and sexuality as both distinct and connected clarifies the relationship between tomboyism and lesbianism.Part of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association in Atlanta, Georgia in 2003. Interview data for this study were originally collected for an unpublished dissertation (Carr, 2002).     

“Shake It Baby, Shake It”: Media Preferences, Sexual Attitudes and Gender Stereotypes Among Adolescents

In this study exposure to and preferences for three important youth media (TV, music styles/music TV, internet) were examined in relation to adolescents' permissive sexual attitudes and gender stereotypes (i.e., views of men as sex-driven and tough, and of women as sex objects). Multivariate structural analysis of data from a school-based sample of 480 13 to 16-year-old Dutch students revealed that preferences, rather than exposure were associated with attitudes and stereotypes. For both girls and boys, preferences for hip-hop and hard-house music were associated positively with gender stereotypes and preference for classical music was negatively associated with gender stereotypes. Particularly for boys, using internet to find explicit sexual content emerged as a powerful indicator of all attitudes and stereotypes.     

Network Knowledge Organization: Do Knowledge Structures for Sexual and Emotional Information Reflect Gender or Sexual Orientation?

Network theory conceptualizes the organizationof semantic information as nodes within a net-likestructure. Links within the network representassociations among knowledge structures or concepts andhave been viewed as forming the basis of humansemantic memory (Quillian, 1962). Network models haverecently been employed in emotion theory (Bower, 1981;Lang, 1984) and in research in human sexuality (Geer, 1996; Rabalais & Geer, 1996; Smith,Eggleston, Gerrard, & Gibbons, 1996). As a result ofthat research, stable gender differences in theorganization of knowledge for sexual and emotionalinformation have begun to be identified (see Geer &Manguno-Mire, 1996, for a review). These differences inknowledge organization have been shown to map well ontoexisting research demonstrating gender differences in sexual attitudes, fantasies, and behavior(Geer & Manguno-Mire). The present study employs thePathfinder computer algorithm (Schvaneveldt, 1990) tocompare the cognitive associative networks of heterosexual men and women and gay men andlesbians. Ninety homosexuals (49 gay men and 41lesbians) and 95 heterosexuals (48 men and 47women)rated all pair-wise combinations of 16 wordsrelevant to sexuality and emotion. The sample was predominantlyCaucasian (90%). Four percent of participants wereAfrican-American, 3% were Hispanic American, 1% wereAsian American. Analysis of our dependent variable(number of links on relevant concepts) revealed genderand sexual orientation differences in the total numberof links in associative networks, the number of linkswithin relevant sexual and emotional word clusters, between relevant word clusters, and onindividual words. Results are interpreted in light ofrelevant theories of gender and sexualorientation.     

Iranian Psychotherapists’ Behaviors and Beliefs Toward Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

The aim of this study is to investigate Iranian psychotherapists’ behaviors and beliefs toward sexual orientation and gender identity. The sample consisted of 358 Iranian psychotherapists, of whom 29.3% (n = 105) were male and 67% (n = 24) were female. Results from the chi-square analyses showed that more male participants reported accepting homosexual clients and treating them as having a pathological disorder than their female counterparts; and licensed respondents reported engaging more in accepting only male or female clients, accepting more homosexual and transgender clients for treatment, and treating them as having a pathological disorder when compared with their unlicensed counterparts. Furthermore supervised respondents reported accepting more homosexual clients than their unsupervised counterparts. However results from the multivariate analysis of variance has indicated that the female participants reported “accepting homosexuals or transgender clients for treatment” more often than the male participants; unsupervised participants reported “accepting homosexual or transgender clients for treatment” and “treating homosexuality per se as a pathological disorder” more often than their supervised counterparts.     

What Predicts Attitudes toward Transgender and Nonbinary People? An Exploration of Gender,Authoritarianism, Social Dominance,and Gender Ideology

Transgender and nonbinary (TGNB) people face discrimination based on negative societal attitudes toward TGNB identities. Our study explored factors contributing to negative TGNB attitudes, including participants’ gender, age, religion, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO), and adherence to traditional gender ideologies. Our sample of 808 U.S. Mechanical Turk participants completed measures of RWA, SDO, traditional masculinity and femininity, and transgender attitudes and beliefs. Because TGNB people have diverse identities, we modified the transgender attitudes and beliefs scale to measure attitudes toward trans man, trans woman, and nonbinary targets instead of the single “transgender” umbrella. Results of multiple regression analyses indicated that gender was a significant predictor of attitudes toward trans men and trans women. Higher levels of RWA, traditional masculinity, and anti-egalitarianism (a domain of SDO) predicted negative attitudes toward all TGNB identities, with RWA generally being the strongest predictor. Traditional femininity and the dominance domain of SDO did not significantly contribute to our predictive model for most groups, although we were surprised to find that for nonbinary people, higher levels of traditional femininity predicted positive attitudes. These results can inform targeted interventions aimed at reducing transprejudice.

     

Gender Differences in Perceptions of Women’s Sexual Interest during Cross-Sex Interactions: An Application and Extension of Cognitive Valence Theory

Researchers have consistently found that men report that women display more sexual interest than women report they actually do in cross-sex interactions (e.g., Abbey, 1982). Cognitive Valence Theory is employed to provide a theoretical framework to help understand these findings (Andersen, 1989). A series of perceptual and cognitive processes consistent with Cognitive Valence Theory were examined as possible explanations for the gender difference. Gender differences emerge for both perceptual and cognitive variables. In addition, perceptions of sexually motivated behaviors and variables associated with appropriateness judgments and personal receptivity were found to predict perceptions of women’s sexual interest.     

Effects of Parent’s Gender, Child’s Gender, and Parental Involvement on the Academic Achievement of Adolescents in Single Parent Families

We used a national database (Educational Longitudinal Study) to investigate the effects of parent’s gender, child’s gender, and parental involvement in school on the academic achievement of adolescents in single-parent families. A three way 2 × 2 × 2 (parent’s gender × child’s gender × parental involvement) MANCOVA was conducted with four student academic achievement indicators as dependent variables and SES as a covariate. The results indicated that parent gender and child gender interact with parent involvement to affect adolescents’ academic achievement differentially. Specifically, daughters who lived with highly involved single-fathers performed better academically than the other groups did. These findings suggest that researchers who study single-parents’ involvement in their adolescents’ academic achievement need to pay more attention to gender-specific effects.     

Time,Money, or Gender? Predictors of the Division of Household Labour Across Life Stages

Drawing on a life course perspective and data gathered during three developmental periods—the transition to adulthood (age 25; n = 168), young adulthood (age 32; n = 337), and midlife (age 43; n = 309), we explored patterns of division of household labour among Canadian men and women. We also investigated associations among housework responsibility and variables representing time availability (i.e., work hours), relative resource (i.e., earning a greater share of income in a relationship), and gender constructionist perspectives (i.e., marital status and raising children) at three life course stages. Results indicated women performed more housework than men at all ages. Regression analyses revealed housework responsibility was most reliably predicted by relative income and gender at age 25; work hours and raising children at age 32; and work hours, relative income, and gender at age 43. Gender moderated the influence of raising children at age 32. Overall, the relative resource perspective was supported during the transition to adulthood and in midlife, the time availability perspective was supported in young adulthood and in midlife, and certain elements of the gender constructionist perspective were supported at all life stages. The present study contributes to the division of household labour literature by disentangling the predictive power of time, resource, and gender perspectives on housework at distinct life stages.     

Feminist Active Commitment and Sexual Harassment Perception among Chinese Women: The Moderating Roles of Targets’ Gender Stereotypicality and Type of Harassment

In recent years, sexual harassment has become more acknowledged in many developed countries. However, in East Asian culture, it is a sensitive and controversial topic upon which few scholars have focused. The current research aimed to explore whether the relationship between feminist identity and perception of sexual harassment was affected by target’s traditional or nontraditional gender stereotypicality and types of sexual harassment (unwanted sexual attention or gender harassment) among Chinese working women. The participants were 424 heterosexual women, aged 18 to 71 years-old (mdn?=?31), who completed surveys that assessed their feminist Active Commitment and perception of sexual harassment after reading a randomly assigned sexual harassment scenario. Women with higher scores on Active Commitment were more aware of both types of sexual harassment, and participants’ perception of unwanted sexual attention was significantly stronger than their perception of gender harassment. In addition, the types of targets and types of sexual harassment moderated the relationship between Active Commitment and the perception of sexual harassment. Our findings highlight the importance of feminist identity for the perception of sexual harassment and suggest that improving gender equality and feminist education is very important for enhancing the perception of sexual harassment.