The cultural code of antifeminist communication: Voicing opposition to the ‘Feminist Zeitgeist’

Abstract

The paper investigates the mechanisms of antifeminist communication norms, both on a theoretical and empirical level. Applying the concept of ‘cultural codes’ to the study of antifeminism we argue that statements denouncing feminism are often used as a signal to communicate a more general authoritarian worldview and an opposition towards ‘political correctness’. In the empirical part we present a factorial survey design applied to a German sample. This design is used to experimentally vary four situational characteristics which hypothetically influence whether individuals comply with antifeminist communication norms: (a) the gender of the speaker, (b) the topic of the conversation, (c) the personal attributes of the mentioned ‘feminist’, and (d) the type of sexism (benevolent vs hostile) articulated. The study shows that compliance with antifeminist communication norms increases if respective statements are voiced by women instead of men, especially if respondents report higher social status. Antifeminist norm compliance is also higher if men instead of women mention sexual harassment accusations of feminists. For left respondents, compliance increases if benevolent instead of hostile sexism is articulated. Intersituational person-related factors of antifeminist communication which we observed are: authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and distrust in public and political institutions.

Examining discrimination in everyday life: a stated choice experiment on racism in the sharing economy

“…For example, Auspurg, Hinz and Sauer (2017) employ factorial survey experiments to investigate the criteria of justification concerning gender-related pay gaps. And Beyer, Schnabel, and Lach (2018) used factorial surveys to study antifeminist communication norms.…”

A systematic review of the ambivalent sexism literature: Hostile sexism protects men’s power; benevolent sexism guards traditional gender roles.

“…Further support for this evidence comes from the finding that BS heightened the activation of cognitive networks of misogynist concepts in ambivalent sexist men (high on HS or BS; Bosson et al, 2020). Further, agreement with antifeminist statements increased if BS (but not HS) was articulated (Beyer et al, 2020). Finally, the warm affective tone of BS, particularly when displayed by men, was shown to mask its diverse ideological functions (e.g., BS men are perceived as more supportive of gender equality, enjoy sexist humor less; Hopkins-Doyle et al, 2019).…”

No matter what the name, we’re all the same? Examining ethnic online discrimination in ridesharing marketplaces

“…factorial surveys), where participants have to put themselves in the scenario (a.k.a. situation or vignette) and reveal their judgments on the offered questions (Atzmüller & Steiner, 2010 ) were applied to study gender-related pay gaps (Auspurg et al, 2017 ) and antifeminist communication norms (Beyer et al, 2020 ). The complex description of the scenario makes sensitive attributes less obvious to a respondent.…”