[1] Hostile sexism reflects overtly negative evaluations and stereotypes about a gender (e.g., the ideas that women are incompetent and inferior to men).
Research has indicated that stereotypes about socially appropriate gender roles for women and men are a driving factor in the endorsement of sexism.
[3] Patriarchy, defined as men's power and "structural control over political, legal, economic, and religious institutions",[3] is a feature of sexism and is related to hostile attitudes toward women.
Anthropological research suggests that patriarchy is pervasive among the majority of human societies, such that women have been systematically discriminated against, oppressed, and marginalized by men throughout history.
[5] The word ambivalent is used to describe the construal of sexism because this type of bias includes both negative and positive evaluations of women.
The addition of a benevolent feature to definitions of gender-based prejudice was a major contribution to the study of sexism and field of psychology.
[5] They argue that previous scales assessing sexism do not adequately capture the ambivalent nature of gender-based prejudice toward women.
Glick and Fiske assert that hostile and benevolent sexism complement each other in reinforcing traditional gender roles and preserving patriarchal social structures of women as subordinate to men.
[8] Examples of hostile sexism include beliefs about women as incompetent, unintelligent, overly emotional, and sexually manipulative.
[11] It can be considered traditional and polite for a man to insist that he holds a door open or carries a heavy object for a woman.
Intimate heterosexuality (BS) romanticizes women as having sexual purity and views romantic intimacy as necessary to complete a man.
The ASI is a 22-item self-report measure of sexism on which respondents indicate their level of agreement with various statements, which are placed on a 6-point Likert scale.
The second sub-scale is the benevolent sexism scale, which is composed of 11 items that aim to assess an individual's position on the dimensions of protective paternalism, complementary gender differentiation, and heterosexual intimacy, as previously defined.
Over fifteen years of additional research and replications support that this inventory possesses psychometric characteristics indicating that the measure is both empirically reliable and valid.
[15] In addition, empirical evaluations of the ASI provide support for the validity of the scale, such that the inventory seems to effectively measure what it proposes to assess: a polarized attitude towards women, where both dimensions can be activated simultaneously.
For example, Dardenne, Dumont, and Bollier (2007) transformed some items from the ASI into scenarios, presenting them to participants to induce conditions of both hostile and benevolent sexism.
[13] Lastly, findings from the Conn, Hanges, Sipe, and Salvaggio (1999) study suggest that other sexism scales may measure ambivalent attitudes towards women.
[5] However, Conn and colleagues (1999), using confirmatory factor analysis, showed that the Modern Sexism Scale (Swim, Aikin, Hall, and Hunter, 1995) captures ambivalent sentiments toward women, such that it identifies individuals that appear nonsexist but actually endorse sexist attitudes.
The independence of these types of sexism in predicting human behavior indicates that the two are, in fact, discrete forms of bias on separate but related axes.
[27] Evidence suggests that women with higher levels of benevolent sexism have more stereotypical preferences in men as romantic partners, such as financial security and resources.
[18] Dardenne, et al.(2006) suggested that hostile sexism can elicit anger or frustration in the target, which may increase her motivation to succeed or perform.
[3][32] Using an experimental design, Masser and Abrams (2004) found that individuals with hostile sexist attitudes rated women lower when applying for a male-dominant position.
In a recent experimental study on the effects of benevolent sexism on help-seeking behaviors, researchers found that, when stereotypes of women as dependent were made salient, female college students were less willing to seek help.
[34] In a non-representative sample of US voters, predominantly male, ambivalent sexism was found to be the sole predictor of intending to vote for someone other than Hillary Clinton in the election.
That is to say in an election, for example, the outcome may be a relatively low count of female voters when women are unable to choose to be active political agents alongside other socio-cultural responsibilities.
[38] Both benevolent and hostile sexism are considered legitimizing ideologies, in that these attitudes provide the justification for social inequalities between men and women.
[40] Empirical research has consistently supported the validity of social dominance theory,[41][failed verification] and the SDO model of structural oppression may be particularly apt to describe how patriarchy is perpetuated.
If the man stated that his rejection of benevolent sexism was motivated by egalitarian values then the perception that he was a hostile sexist was somewhat mitigated, though not entirely.
It shows how Donald Trump's "woman card" comments against Hillary Clinton demonstrated that sexism shapes political views and actions.
This suggests that gender-focused criticisms in campaigns can trigger sexist attitudes, causing divided support among voters based on their views on sexism.