Abstract
Gendered political consciousness refers to having an awareness of gender inequality, viewing this inequality as illegitimate, and supporting collective efforts to bring about greater gender equality. The present study draws from social psychology, theories of masculinities, and intersectionality to assess the factors associated with men’s political consciousness of gender. Multivariate regression analyses of data from the U.S.-based 2012 Evaluations of Government and Society Study (N = 598) (American National Election American National Election Study 2012) highlights how social statuses of race/ethnicity and sexuality—along with beliefs about racial/ethnic and sexuality-based inequalities—correlate with men’s awareness of gender inequality and support for women fighting for greater gender equality. Results show that Non-Hispanic Black men and married men are significantly more likely than are non-Hispanic White men and unmarried men to see high levels of gender inequality. Men who see high levels of racial/ethnic and sexuality-based inequalities are also significantly more likely to perceive high levels of gender inequality. Bivariate analyses show that Non-Hispanic Black men, as well as men who see high levels of other inequalities, are also more likely than are other men to support women fighting for greater gender equality, but in multivariate regression models these effects are eclipsed by political ideology—the single best predictor of men’s support for women fighting for gender equality. Results underscore the need to differentiate awareness of gender inequality and support for efforts to challenge gender inequality, and they highlight the potential of intersectionality for conceptualizing men’s gendered political consciousness.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American National Election Study. (2012). Preliminary Release Documentation for ANES 2010-2012 Evaluations of Government and Society Study. Retrieved from http://www.electionstudies.org/studypages/2010_2012EGSS/ANES_EGSS4_Preliminary_Release_Documentation.pdf.
Baca Zinn, M., & Thornton Dill, B. (1996). Theorizing difference from multiracial feminism. Feminist Studies, 22, 321–331. doi:10.2307/3178416.
Banaszak, L., & Plutzer, E. (1993). The social bases of feminism in the European community. Public Opinion Quarterly, 57, 29–53. doi:10.1086/269353.
Becker, J. C., & Swim, J. K. (2011). Seeing the unseen attention to daily encounters with sexism as way to reduce sexist beliefs. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35, 227–242. doi:10.1177/0361684310397509.
Bennett, J. (2006). History matters. Patriarchy and the challenge of feminism. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania University Press.
Bettie, J. (2003). Women without class. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Blee, K. M., & Tickamyer, A. R. (1995). Racial differences in men's attitudes about women's gender roles. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 21–30. doi:10.2307/353813.
Bolzendahl, C., & Myers, D. (2004). Feminist attitudes and support for gender equality: Opinion change in women and men, 1974-1998. Social Forces, 83, 759–90. doi:10.1353/sof.2005.0005.
Bridges, T. S. (2010). Men just weren’t made to do this: Performances of drag at ‘Walk a Mile in Her Shoes’ marches. Gender & Society, 24, 5–30. doi:10.1177/0891243209356924.
Brooks, C., & Bolzendahl, C. (2003). The transformation of US gender role attitudes: Cohort replacement, social-structural change, and ideological learning. Social Science Research, 33, 106–133.
Burn, S. M., Aboud, R., & Moyles, C. (2000). The relationship between gender social identity and support for feminism. Sex Roles, 42, 1081–1089. doi:10.1023/A:1007044802798.
Ciabattari, T. (2001). Changes in men’s conservative gender ideologies: Cohort and period influences. Gender & Society, 15, 574–591. doi:10.1177/089124301015004005.
Clayton, S. D., & Crosby, F. J. (1992). Justice, gender, and affirmative action. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Cole, E. R. (2009). Intersectionality and research in psychology. American Psychologist, 64, 170–180. doi:10.1037/a0014564.
Collins, P. H. (2000). Black feminist thought. New York: Routledge.
Collins, P. H. (2004). Black sexual politics. New York: Routledge.
Collins, P. H. (2015). Intersectionality’s definitional dilemmas. Annual Review of Sociology, 41, 1–20. doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-073014-112142.
Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Connell, R. W. (2002). Gender. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Connell, R. W., & Messerschmidt, J. (2005). Hegemonic masculinity: Rethinking the concept. Gender & Society, 19, 829–859. doi:10.1177/0891243205278639.
Conover, P. J., & Sapiro, V. (1993). Gender, feminist consciousness, and war. American Journal of Political Science, 37, 1079–1099. doi:10.2307/2111544.
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43, 1241–99. doi:10.2307/1229039.
Curtin, N., Stewart, A. J., & Cole, E. R. (2015). Challenging the status quo: The role of intersectional awareness in activism for social change and pro-social intergroup attitudes. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 39, 512–529. doi:10.1177/0361684315580439.
Davis, S. N., & Greenstein, T. N. (2009). Gender ideology: Components, predictors, and consequences. Annual Review of Sociology, 35, 87–105. doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-070308-115920.
Davis, N. J., & Robinson, R. V. (1991). Men's and women's consciousness of gender inequality: Austria, West Germany, Great Britain, and the United States. American Sociological Review, 56, 72–84.
DeBell, M., Wilson, C., Segura, G., Jackman, S., & Hutchings, V. (2011). Methodology report and user’s guide for the ANES 2010-2012 Evaluations of Government and Society Study. Palo Alto, CA, and Ann Arbor, MI: Stanford University and the University of Michigan.
Drury, B. J., & Kaiser, C. R. (2014). Allies against sexism: The role of men in confronting sexism. Journal of Social Issues, 70, 637–652. doi:10.1111/josi.12083.
Feagin, J. R. (1991). The continuing significance of race: Antiblack discrimination in public places. American Sociological Review, 56, 101–116.
Ferree, M. M., & Hess, B. B. (2000). Controversy and coalition: The new feminist movement across four decades of change. New York: Taylor & Francis.
Gerson, K. (2010). The unfinished revolution: Coming of age in a new era of gender, work and family. New York: Oxford University Press.
Glick, P., & Fiske, S. T. (1996). The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory: Differentiating hostile and benevolent sexism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 491–512. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.70.3.491.
Gurin, P. (1985). Women’s gender consciousness. Public Opinion Quarterly, 49, 143–163. doi:10.1086/268911.
Gurin, P., & Townsend, A. (1986). Properties of gender identity and their implications for gender consciousness. British Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 139–148. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8309.1986.tb00712.x.
Gurin, P., Miller, A. H., & Gurin, G. (1980). Stratum identification and consciousness. Social Psychology Quarterly, 43, 30–47.
Hamilton, L., Geist, C., & Powell, B. (2011). Marital name change as a window into gender attitudes. Gender & Society, 25, 145–175. doi:10.1177/0891243211398653.
Harnois, C. E. (2010). Race, gender, and the Black women’s standpoint. Sociological Forum, 25, 68–85. doi:10.1111/j.1573-7861.2009.01157.x.
Harnois, C. E. (2013). Feminist measures in survey research. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Harnois, C. E. (2015). Race, ethnicity, sexuality, and women’s political consciousness of gender. Social Psychology Quarterly, 78, 365–386. doi:10.1177/0190272515607844.
Henderson-King, D. H., & Stewart, A. J. (1994). Women or feminists? Assessing women’s group consciousness. Sex Roles, 31, 505–516. doi:10.1007/BF01544276.
Hershey, M. R. (1978). Racial differences in sex-role identities and sex stereotyping: Evidence against a common assumption. Social Science Quarterly, 58, 583–596.
Holter, Ø. G. (2014). ‘What’s in it for men?’: Old question, new data. Men and Masculinities, 17, 515–548. doi:10.1177/1097184X14558237.
Huddy, L., Neely, F. K., & Lafay, M. R. (2000). Trends: Support for the women's movement. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 64, 309–350. doi:10.1086/317991.
Hunter, A. G., & Sellers, S. (1998). Feminist attitudes among African American women and men. Gender & Society, 12, 81–99. doi:10.1177/089124398012001005.
Iyer, A., & Ryan, M. K. (2009). Why do men and women challenge gender discrimination in the workplace? The role of group status and in-group identification in predicting pathways to collective action. Journal of Social Issues, 65, 791–814. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2009.01625.x.
Kane, E. W. (2000). Racial and ethnic variations in gender-related attitudes. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 419–439.
Kimmel, M. S. (2008). Guyland: The perilous world where boys become men. New York: HarperCollins.
King, D. K. (1988). Multiple jeopardy, multiple consciousness: The context of a Black feminist ideology. Signs, 14, 42–72.
Landrine, H., & Klonoff, E. A. (1997). Discrimination against women: Prevalence, consequences, remedies. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Mansbridge, J., & Morris, A. D. (2001). Oppositional consciousness. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Messner, M. A. (1997). Politics of masculinities: Men in movements. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
Messner, M. A., & Greenberg, M. A. (2015). Some men: Feminist allies and the movement to end violence against women. New York: Oxford University Press.
Miller, A. L., & Borgida, E. (2016). The separate spheres model of gendered inequality. PLoS One, 1, e0147315. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0147315.
Pampel, F. (2011). Cohort changes in the socio-demographic determinants of gender egalitarianism. Social Forces, 89, 961–982. doi:10.1353/sof.2011.0011.
Pascoe, C. J. (2007). Dude, you’re a fag: Masculinity and sexuality in high school. Berkley: University of California Press.
Plummer, K. (Ed.). (1981). The making of the modern homosexual. London: Macmillan.
Powell, B., Bolzendahl, C., Geist, C., & Steelman, L. C. (2010). Counted out: Same-sex relations and Americans’ definitions of family. New York: Russell Sage.
Ransford, H. E., & Miller, J. (1983). Race, sex and feminist outlooks. American Sociological Review, 48, 46–59.
Reingold, B., & Foust, H. (1998). Exploring the determinants of feminist consciousness in the United States. Women & Politics, 19, 19–48. doi:10.1300/J014v19n03_02.
Ricciardelli, R., Maier, K., & Hannah-Moffat, K. (2015). Strategic masculinities: Vulnerabilities, risk and the production of prison masculinities. Theoretical Criminology, 19, 491–513. doi:10.1177/1362480614565849.
Ridgeway, C. L., & Correll, S. J. (2004). Unpacking the gender system: A theoretical perspective on gender beliefs and social relations. Gender & Society, 18, 510–531. doi:10.1177/0891243204265269.
Roscigno, V. J. (2007). The face of discrimination. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
Schnittker, J., Freese, J., & Powell, B. (2003). Who are feminists and what do they believe?: The role of generations. American Sociological Review, 68, 607–22.
Shields, S. A. (2008). Gender: An intersectionality perspective. Sex Roles, 59, 301–311. doi:10.1007/s11199-008-9501-8.
Simien, E. (2006). Black feminist voices in politics. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Spence, J. T., Helmreich, R., & Stapp, J. (1973). A short version of the Attitudes toward Women Scale (AWS). Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 2, 219–220. doi:10.3758/BF03329252.
White, A. M., Potgieter, C. A., Stube, M. J., Fisher, S., & Umana, E. (1997). An African-centered, Black feminist approach to understanding attitudes that counter social dominance. Journal of Black Psychology, 23, 398–420. doi:10.1177/00957984970234007.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of Wake Forest University.
Conflict of Interest
The author has no potential conflicts of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Harnois, C.E. Intersectional Masculinities and Gendered Political Consciousness: How Do Race, Ethnicity and Sexuality Shape Men’s Awareness of Gender Inequality and Support for Gender Activism?. Sex Roles 77, 141–154 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-016-0702-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-016-0702-2