Sexist prejudice: explanatory theories

In 2005, in Spain the Organic Law of Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence to try to intervene in social problems such as gender violence, domestic violence or domestic terrorism.

Article 1.1 of the aforementioned Law indicates that the violence occurs as a manifestation of the discrimination, the situation of inequality and the power relations of men over women.

Despite the fact that many believe that such inequality or "marginalization" towards the female sex is being exaggerated or that, directly, it does not exist, shows that this problem is due to clearly psychosocial factors. It is for this reason that from the Social psychology studies have been carried out in this regard. To solve a problem you have to understand it, know how it operates and what factors reproduce it.

Background in the study of the status of women

Janet taylor spence she created in the 70s the Scale of Attitudes towards Women, which turned out to be very useful and continues to be so today. In it, beliefs about the rights and roles of men and women that a deal evaluates are measured different between both sexes, emphasizing that women do not perform certain tasks as well as women males.

Fortunately, the results of applying this scale have varied over the years and, although Today women continue to be more egalitarian than men, the latter's score has increased. In our country the Gender Identity Scale. The results conclude that older and less educated men score more prejudiced attitudes towards the female sex.

Ambivalent sexism theory

The ambivalence referred to in the name of this theory of sexism refers to the coexistence of two types of sexism that complement each other: hostile sexism and benevolent sexism.

Hostile sexism

For which women are considered as an inferior group that must be subordinate to the control of men. How can we justify its existence?

By the dominant paternalism, according to which underlies the belief that men should have more power that women, for which they are afraid that they may usurp this status of dominance. For example, in the private sphere within a heterosexual relationship, it is the man who must make the important decisions. For a hostile sexist, the prototypical characteristics of women (such as their greater sensitivity) make them less prone to higher status roles.

Within heterosexual relationships, hostility includes the belief that women are manipulative towards men and that, in addition, they exercise power over men through sexual satisfaction. With the paradox that despite being considered subordinate, they depend on them sexually.

Benevolent sexism

In this second, a “positive” connotation is adopted towards women but subject to certain functions.. This kind of sexism is explained by protective paternalism, according to which women depend on men and they must protect them. For example, attend to women before men in an emergency. The complementary sex differentiation for the benevolent sexist is that the characteristics Feminine women complement them, however, his roles will always be of less status than those he can or should exercise.

Finally, in this sexism heterosexual intimacy is also based on cooperation, however, physical and psychological aggression towards their partner has been a way of controlling them to maintain inequality.

How does a man react to ambivalent conflict?

To resolve the unpleasant psychological conflict that occurs before a man who is ambivalent towards the opposite sex, you can choose to react in two ways.

First, you can divide the woman into subparts evaluating each one differently. Thus they can, for example, love some women (for example, their daughters) and hate others (for example, those who defend gender equality). The problem with this way of resolving the conflict is that this subdivision of women can lead to not all women falling into one of these categories.

In second place, sexists may negatively evaluate powerful women but respect them for being competent in their professional life. Or the other way around, feeling affection for subordinate women but perceiving them as incompetent. What sexists should take into account is that, in real life, they do not interact with stereotypes but with real women who can be included in many categories (housewife, mother, worker with positions of responsibility, etc.) for whom they will have ambivalent feelings, especially if they maintain some type of social bond with her or affective.

Concluding

Theories that address the issue of sexist prejudices must understand the problem as part of a psychosocial dynamics. On the one hand, the styles of thought linked to sexism must be studied, and on the other, the way in which individuals interact with each other and with the environment must be studied. In this way, a phenomenon as complex as this can be understood.