How Do Women’s Attitudes Toward Heterosexual Men Differ By Their Sexual Orientation? A Test of Competing Hypotheses

Abstract

Though feminist theory asserts that women’s sexuality influences their general relationship with heterosexual men, the leading psychological measure of women’s attitudes toward heterosexual men, the Ambivalence toward Men Inventory (AMI), has not yet accounted for sexual orientation as a meaningful individual difference. In this current United States-based research (N = 318), we revisited the AMI to examine women’s attitudes toward heterosexual men as a function of women’s sexual orientation (i.e., lesbian, bisexual, or heterosexual). Drawing from feminist and psychological theories of attitudes toward men, we 1) tested competing hypotheses regarding whether lesbian and bisexual women or heterosexual women would be highest in hostility, and 2) hypothesized that heterosexual women would hold more benevolent attitudes than lesbian and bisexual women. When controlling for feminist identity, lesbian women held more hostile attitudes toward heterosexual men, specifically on subscales of Resentment of Paternalism and Heterosexual Hostility. However, there were no differences in benevolence toward heterosexual men between groups. We discuss hostility as a reaction to gendered oppression and the utility of benevolence in modern times. Testing the AMI with a sexually diverse sample reveals nuanced understandings of intergroup relations and demonstrates a need to establish more inclusive measures of gendered attitudes.