from Section 3 - Cognitive and Social Factors
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 July 2020
Within and across cultures, sexism derives from cultural beliefs about the superiority of one sex and predicts gender inequity. Given the persistent and striking gender inequalities across nations, the goal of this chapter is to elaborate the relation among blatant and subtle sexism, ideology, sexual violence, men’s dominance over women, and patriarchal inequities. Toward that end, we review social psychological theory and research on gender and sexism; within this context, we discuss forms of sexism and gendered ideologies at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intergroup level. We also focus on the important aspects of construing gender as a social identity. We then compare and contrast psychological perspectives to feminist theories, which emphasize how the gender binary defines hegemonic masculinity in contrast to women; we focus particularly attention to how women negotiate gendered roles and relations given awareness of the frequency, prevalence, and possibility of gendered and/or sexual violence. After integrating social psychological and enduring principles of radical feminist perspectives, we conclude by discussing the implications of cross-cultural perspectives and potential interventions that may combat sexism that reinforces gender inequities.
Theresa K. Vescio is a Professor of Psychology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the Pennsylvania State University. Her research seeks to understand the factors that facilitate and temper the expression of sexism, racism, and heterosexism. Vescio is particularly interested in the interplay between the stereotypic behaviors of powerful people and the consequences that those behaviors have for the emotions, motivation, and performance of low-power women, gay men, and people of color. Vescio was born in Minneapolis, as the child of teenage parents. She spent her youth running around the neighborhood, caring for younger siblings, in lakes, and playing sports. She worked with her grandmother and cousins in a family owned restaurant to support her undergraduate studies at the University of Minnesota. She started graduate school at the University of Florida, where she got her master?s degree. She then moved with her advisor to the University of Kansas, where she got her PhD. She did her postdoctoral work at the University of Cardiff, in Wales, and at Berkeley, before accepting a job at Penn State. She is a lesbian feminist scholar, activist, and parent.
Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka works as an Associate Professor in the Division of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Psychology of Gender at the University of Gdańsk (Poland). Her main area of research is the cultural cues fostering gender equality within societies across the world. She also conducts research on the backlash against communal men and against the universality of precarious manhood. She is Principal Investigator within Towards Gender Harmony project (www.towardsgenderharmony.ug.edu.pl) where collaborators in over 50 countries are collecting data concerning the concepts of contemporary femininity and masculinity. She also applies her academic expertise to practitioners? work as she is a diversity and inclusion trainer ? she realized her applied projects in Norway or India. Kosakowska-Berezecka was born and raised in Gdynia, Poland, by the Baltic Sea. She lived for a long time in Norway. She is a feminist and a social activist.
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