The social nature of benevolent sexism and the antisocial nature of hostile sexism: Is benevolent sexism more likely to manifest in public contexts and hostile sexism in private contexts?

Previous research converges on demonstrating that benevolent sexism (BS) is socially approved, whereas hostile sexism (HS) is socially disapproved. We postulated that a sample of married women would be likely to report that their husbands express hostile sexist attitudes and engage in related actions towards them more in private than public contexts, where they lie concealed from public censure. By contrast, the women would report that their husbands would be likely to express benevolent sexist attitudes and engage in related actions more in public than private contexts, where they are reinforced not only by their target (i.e. wife), but also by significant others and the society at large. We tested these hypotheses with a sample of Black, heterosexually married Zimbabwean women (n = 109, mean age = 31.83). Results supported our hypotheses: the women reported hostile sexist attitudes and actions to be more likely to occur in private than public contexts; on the other hand, they reported benevolent sexist attitudes and actions to be more likely in public than private contexts. We conclude that differences in social approval of BS and HS account for these results.     

Delegitimisation of Disliked Political Organisations Through Biased Language and Acronyming

The study investigated the use of biased language and acronyming in political organisations in South Africa and Zimbabwe. The study surveyed the discourses of political parties that were posted on the internet. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse the discourses of the political parties. The results indicated that political organisations used biased language to delegitimise the opposition. The ingroup and outgroup stereotypes were evident in the discourses. Acronyms of opposition political parties were used pejoratively. The findings of this study suggest that political parties in developing democracies have a tendency of using biased language and acronyming to disparage the opposition. Biased language and acronyming of the outgroup in African politics could result in hate speech directed at individuals and political violence.     

Are People Better at Recognizing Ambivalent Sexism on the Basis of the Non-standard Profiles than the Standard ASI Ones?

Kilianski and Rudman (1998) developed “standard” profiles of a benevolent and a hostile sexist man from the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI) and tested if a U.S. sample of female students would perceive them as referring to the same person (i.e. an ambivalent sexist). Results showed that although they appraised the benevolent sexist profile favourably, and the hostile sexist one unfavourably, they considered it unlikely that they could refer to the same man. We developed “non-standard” profiles similar to those used by Kilianski and Rudman, with the major difference that they were not made directly from the ASI, but on the basis of attitudes and actions of a realistic soap-opera character, and tested if they would be considered as referring to the same individual by a sample of 238 undergraduate students (81 males and 157 females) at the University of Zimbabwe. Our results showed that both male and female participants found it as difficult to detect ambivalent sexism on the basis of non-standard ASI profiles as on the basis of standard ASI profiles.     

An investigation of the sexist application of the morality concept of Tsika in the Shona culture of Zimbabwe

We investigated the sexist application of a morality concept of Tsika, characterized by communal traits, in the Shona culture of Zimbabwe. Tsika has been defined as “politeness, civility and circumlocution” (Samkange & Samkange, 1980, p. 74), thus generally falling under communal traits. Theoretical literature suggests that although Tsika is a cultural ideal for all Shona people, it is especially expected of women and children, and that women can be punished like children if they lack Tsika. This research tested whether Tsika would be expected more of women (and children) than men. In line with ambivalent sexism theory, it was predicted that, because Tsika is constituted of communal traits, a bias in its expectation of women over men would be predicted by benevolent sexism. Furthermore, the research tested whether women (and children) would be judged more negatively than men if they defaulted on Tsika. It was hypothesized that a more negative evaluation of women than men if they defaulted on Tsika would be predicted by hostile sexism. Results confirmed that Tsika is expected more of women than of men. Benevolent sexism and its interaction with hostile sexism predicted the bias in expectation of Tsika of women over men. Results also confirmed that women who default on Tsika are evaluated more negatively than men. Hostile sexism predicted the bias in negative evaluations of women over men who default on Tsika.