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Key points
- Two types of sexism are hostile sexism (antagonism toward women) and benevolent sexism (seeing women as fragile and in need of protection).
- Men who feel they do not make good romantic mates are less likely to offset their hostile sexism with benevolent sexism.
- Understanding subjective perceptions of mate value may help identify men who hold misogynistic views or may be prone to violence against women.
What is your opinion of women who prioritize their careers over being housewives or raising children? Or women who work as construction workers, firefighters, pilots, or business leaders—as opposed to secretaries, beauticians, or flight attendants? If you rate high for hostile sexism, you might think such women are trying to take men’s power away or to control men. You may experience hostility or even display aggression toward these women—rejecting, threatening, or punishing those who dare to defy traditional gender roles.
Of course, such blatant hostility is not the only form sexism takes. There is a related but less obvious type of sexism called benevolent sexism (described below). A paper recently published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin suggests the link between hostile sexism and benevolent sexism in men is moderated by mate value and relationship status. Before explaining what this means, let me describe benevolent sexism and what differentiates it from hostile sexism.
Benevolent sexism
We can define benevolent sexism as objectively sexist attitudes—like “viewing women stereotypically and in restricted roles”—combined with subjectively positive intentions and behaviors (e.g., helping women, seeking emotional intimacy).
So, whereas hostile sexism is insulting, dominating, and aggressive, benevolent sexism may be paternalistic, warm, and flattering. Because they endorse beliefs such as "men and women complete each other,” benevolent-sexist men may appear romantic. Nevertheless, they additionally believe men are powerful, courageous, assertive, and decisive, while women are incompetent, sensitive, fragile, and passive.
Still, many women are attracted to benevolently sexist men, perhaps because these men’s prosocial attitudes suggest a willingness and desire to invest in a romantic relationship.
An important question is whether benevolently sexist men are high on hostile sexism as well — and whether men high on hostile sexism are equally benevolently sexist. For an answer, let us now review the research by Bosson and colleagues.
Investigating the link between hostile and benevolent sexism
Study 1. Sample: 15,205 participants completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. The inventory assesses agreement with two sexist attitudes—hostile (e.g., “Women are too easily offended”) and benevolent (e.g., “Women should be cherished and protected by men”).
Study 2. Sample: 328 male MTurk workers completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory and the following measures:
- Status Ladder Scale: Assessed respect and social status (as related to money, education, and job prestige); a modified version of the scale asked participants to compare their social status to the status of “other men.”
- Perceived Mate Value scale: Assessed assumed attractiveness, network of friends, parenting ability, and relationship success.
The researchers also relied on objective data, like participants’ socioeconomic status (SES) and romantic relationship history.
Study 3. Sample: 471 heterosexual male MTurk workers. Measures included many of those above, plus the following:
- Protect-provide beliefs: The ability to “provide financially for a wife/girlfriend.”
- Likelihood of finding love: The chances of finding “mutual love and attraction with a desirable romantic partner.”
- Resentful views about women and dating: “It feels unfair when women refuse to date me.”
Sexism, mate value, and incels
The results showed the relationship between hostile sexism and benevolent sexism is sometimes linear (the gray dotted line in Figure 1) and sometimes curvilinear (an inverted U), as shown by the solid black line. As you can see, the two lines deviate from each other mainly at higher levels of hostile sexism. So, while individuals with low levels of hostile sexism often show similarly low levels of benevolent sexism, people high on hostile sexism show less and less benevolent sexism. But what causes this reversal?
This combination of high hostile sexism and low benevolent sexism, which Bosson et al. label misogyny, relates to men’s low status in romantic domains. Those with a low status in romantic domains view themselves as ugly and unappealing and believe they do not make attractive and valued romantic mates. Some of these men may include “incels” or “involuntary celibates,” who typically believe their “unattractiveness blocks their access to female romantic and sexual partners.”
A low mate value might discourage benevolent sexism. How? The authors note: “If low-mate value men doubt their protector and provider abilities [needed for benevolent sexism], they may find little motivation to embrace the chivalrous ideology of benevolent sexism that can offset high hostility and facilitate romantic interdependence.”
The present findings did not change after controlling for men’s social status and wealth. This indicates that even well-off men might doubt their ability to provide for romantic partners if they are not in a serious relationship and perceive themselves to be unattractive.
More research on the perception of value as a romantic mate is needed, particularly since it could help identify young men likely to develop a misogynistic mindset or commit violence against women.
Takeaway
The present study found the association between hostile and benevolent sexism is related to perceived mate value. Hostile sexist men balance their antagonism and hostility toward women with acts of chivalry (e.g., cherishing and protecting women) only if they perceive themselves to have high mate value.
Knowing the different faces of sexism is important, as research on sexism indicates patriarchal order is maintained through a mix of both hostile and benevolent sexism. Behaviors associated with benevolent sexism (i.e. cherishing and protecting women) counterbalance the costs of hostile sexism (i.e. hostility and aggression).
Yet, regardless of the positive intentions or behaviors of benevolently sexist men, benevolent sexism is a form of gender-based prejudice. It maintains male dominance and a patriarchal order that oppresses women, who are viewed as weak, incompetent, and dependent on men.
Facebook image: Iakov Filimonov/Shutterstock
