Significant differences exist between how genders react to masculinity and femininity threats. Masculinity threats have a serious implication on men because they elicit adverse reactions, but threats on femininity impose a different outcome. In the study, “The Affective Consequences of Threats to Masculinity,” published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Theresa Vescio and her colleagues measure the impacts of gender threats on emotions.
Distinctions in how males and females react to gender threats are based on masculinity and femininity constructs. Over time, many cultures have treated manhood as a status that a man must earn and maintain while society views womanhood as stable. For men, prescriptive gender behaviors focus on personal power, such as assertion or striving for achievement. On the contrary, gendered behaviors for women consist of sensitivity and service to others (Klampe, 2022). Therefore, the study sheds light on the effects of perceived gender threats, especially when traditional masculinity has become a topic of cultural and political debate.
The study hypothesizes that men have a higher likelihood of exhibiting strong negative emotions due to threats on gender. Men take masculinity seriously as a construct, and challenging masculinity has always been risky. Since masculinity is characterized by status, power, and dominance, any threats to it result in acts of subtle sexism, sexual aggression, economic or social punishment, or dominance ideology (Manis, 2022). Therefore, since studies and research on the effects of gender threats on men have extensive documentation, similar research is scarce for women, which served as a fair hypothesis for the study.
Vescio and her colleagues subjected participants to three experiments to test the hypothesis and yield reasonable conclusions. The researchers had a participant pool of 171 residents of the United States, and their recruitment was through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. The authors subjected the participants to a gender test on knowledge that yielded untrue feedback based on their assigned conditions. Afterward, the authors presented the scores for both genders to the participants where their faked scores reduced based on gender in-group or out-group. Vescio et al. prompted the participants to view their scores as public and rate their anticipated feeling and current feelings (Manis, 2022). For the study’s second experiment, the participants completed scales on pride’ guilt, and shame. Lastly, the researchers measured perspective taking and empathy in the participants. Therefore, all three experiments came together to show that men respond to gender threats with negative emotion compared to women.
The study had vital findings. The authors found that the group facing gender threats had higher public uneasiness levels higher than those of women. In addition, the impacts of interaction indicated that males in the threat scenario showed high levels of shame, guilt and public discomfort. At the same time, women’s emotions were invariable between both gender threat and gender assurance conditions. On the contrary, both genders’ emotions did not significantly differ regarding gender assurance conditions. Regarding perspective-taking and showing empathy, men in the threat scenario exhibited a feeling of less empathy, less perspective-taking, and anger (Manis, 2022). Women in the same threat condition lacked the same effects. However, both genders did not differ much in the constructs, especially in the gender assurance groups. Lastly, in addition to the existing generational threat or assurance, the study added another threat for gender. The findings indicated that a generational threat showed less anger, guilt, and minor public uneasiness than a gender threat (Vescio et al., 2021). Therefore, the results showed that masculinity threats yield negative responses from men, different from other threat types.
The research study had strengths and weaknesses in its methodology. The study helped prove that masculinity and femininity as constructs are essential to men and women, respectively, in a different light. The study showed that men have a higher likelihood of experiencing strong negative emotions due to gender threats (Vescio et al., 2021). However, the study had limitations in its methodology. Among the study’s limitations is exclusively accounting for a particular form of gender threat and failing to capture more nuanced threats in its scope of research (Manis, 2022). Secondly, the researchers only compared the gender threats to generational identity threats. Therefore, it would be necessary for researchers who wish to conduct further research on the topic to explore a different social identity and gender threat.
Masculinity threats have a serious implication on men because they elicit adverse reactions. Women lack the same reactions to gender threats. The study hypothesizes that males have a higher probability to have negative emotions due to their gender threat. The authors found that the group facing gender threats had higher public uneasiness levels and that men exhibited higher levels of the characteristics compared to women. Regarding perspectives and empathy, men in the threat condition exhibited a feeling of less empathy, less perspective-taking, and anger. Women in the same threat scenario lacked the same effects. The study only accounted for a specific form of gender threat, hence failing to capture additional complex threats in its scope of research. Future research should explore a different social identity and gender threat.
References
Klampe, M (2022). Research finds that men are more likely to respond negatively to gender threats in the workplace than women. Retrieved https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/men-are-more-likely-respond-negatively-gender-threats-workplace-women-research-finds
Manis, E (2022). PsyPost: Men are more likely than women to experience strong negative emotions due to gender threats. Retrieved https://www.psypost.org/2022/03/men-are-more-likely-than-women-to-experience-strong-negative-emotions-in-response-to-gender-threats-62740
Vescio, T. K., Schermerhorn, N. E., Gallegos, J. M., & Laubach, M. L. (2021). The affective consequences of threats to masculinity. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 97, 104195.
Paterson, M. (2017). Consumption and everyday life. Routledge.
write