Abstract
In this paper, we analyzed college students’ perceptions of their experiences with sexism through the frameworks of the benevolent sexism theory and the theory of system justification. These theories describe the complexity of sexism and explain obstacles of dealing with it in the modern Western world. We qualitatively analyzed students’ responses to an open-ended question about sexism on their campuses. While many informants did describe sexism as a problem, others indicated that it is not important. Respondents displayed negative emotions that often took the form of blame directed both ways. There were almost no responses describing the complexity of the dynamics of the modern sexism, which the theories of system justification and ambivalent sexism highlight. We conclude that the subtle nature of the modern sexism combined with people’s reluctance to empathize with the other side (whether they are negatively affected by sexism or not) contribute to the persistence of sexism in the modern world.
Highlights
"No me importa" o "es su culpa": la justificación del sistema y la falta de empatía como obstáculos complementarios para lidiar con el sexismo moderno
Same as male students displayed little empathy about hurdles experienced by women, very few female students’ answers suggested that they have ever considered that the complexity of the modern sexism might prevent men from understanding how they might engage in sexist behaviors, or how social pressure to perform their masculinity contributes to sexism
It is undeniable that many men and some women benefit from the unequal social system
Summary
Analizamos las percepciones de estudiantes universitarios sobre sus experiencias con el sexismo a través de los marcos de la teoría del sexismo ambivalente y la teoría de la justificación del sistema. Casi no hubo respuestas que describieran la complejidad del sexismo moderno, que las teorías de la justificación del sistema y el sexismo ambivalente destacan. Many informants did describe sexism (especially overt) as a problem on the campuses where our research was conducted This finding is in line with the literature that describes hostile sexism as widespread on U.S. college campuses (Van Brunt et al, 2015). Many answers displayed informants’ negative emotions, such as anger and resentment (whether respondents believed that that sexism is a problem, or not). Fourth, expressions of these emotions were deployed for blame which was directed both ways (women blaming men and men blaming women), serving to essentialize gender differences and divide each other into battling groups along the gender line. There were almost no responses describing the complexity of the dynamics of the modern sexism, which the theories of system justification and ambivalent sexism point to
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