The Danger in Sexism: The Links Among Fear of Crime, Benevolent Sexism, and Well-being

Phelan, Julie E.; Sanchez, Diana T.; Broccoli, Tara L.

doi:10.1007/s11199-009-9711-8

Cited by 34 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…It exhorts men to cherish and protect women, and implies therefore that women are vulnerable to harm. Indeed, benevolent sexism has been shown to relate to heightened appraisals of environmental danger, as in the fear of crime (Phelan, Sanchez, & Broccoli, 2010). This elevated perception of danger tends to result in heterosexual men taking on an "altruistic" fear of crime, in which their principal fear is for the safety of their romantic partner (Rader, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benevolent Sexism, Perceived Health Risks, and the Inclination to Restrict Pregnant Women’s Freedoms

2010

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The present study investigated the role of sexist ideology in perceptions of health risks during pregnancy and willingness to intervene on pregnant women's behavior. Initially, 160 female psychology undergraduates at a university in the South East of England completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (Glick & Fiske, 1996). Two months later, in an apparently unrelated study, they rated the safety of 45 behaviours during pregnancy (e.g., drinking alcohol, exercising, drinking tap water, and oral sex), and indicated their willingness to restrict pregnant women's choices (e.g., by refusing to serve soft cheese or alcohol). As predicted, benevolent (but not hostile) sexism was related to willingness to restrict pregnant women's choices. This effect was partially mediated by the perceived danger attributed to behaviours.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benevolent Sexism, Perceived Health Risks, and the Inclination to Restrict Pregnant Women’s Freedoms

2010

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“…The fact that dominance was largely disregarded in all non-violent environments strongly corroborates the proposal of Snyder et al [48] that, because interpersonal aggression towards same-sex and opposite-sex individuals are highly correlated [54] and the use of aggression for personal gain outside of the home predicts partner abuse [55], [56], dominant – and thus probably aggressive – mates are preferred only when they are really needed, that is under conditions in which it can be expected that the costs of partnering with aggressive individuals are outweighed by the benefits that such individuals provide. This interpretation might account not only for the positive correlation found by Snyder et al [48] between women’s fear of crime and their preferences for aggressive and formidable mates, but also for that found by Phelan, Sanchez and Broccoli [57] between fear of crime and the endorsement of benevolent sexism, which carries both costs and benefits for women because it perpetuates the status quo of male dominance by enhancing the belief that women need to rely on men for protection (e.g., [58], [59]). On the other hand, one could wonder why the preference for dominance observed in the violent scenario was not coupled with a parallel preference for height, because taller individuals are perceived to be more dominant [60] and possessing higher status [61], [62].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Environmental Influences on Mate Preferences as Assessed by a Scenario Manipulation Experiment

et al. 2013

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Many evolutionary psychology studies have addressed the topic of mate preferences, focusing particularly on gender and cultural differences. However, the extent to which situational and environmental variables might affect mate preferences has been comparatively neglected. We tested 288 participants in order to investigate the perceived relative importance of six traits of an ideal partner (wealth, dominance, intelligence, height, kindness, attractiveness) under four different hypothetical scenarios (status quo/nowadays, violence/post-nuclear, poverty/resource exhaustion, prosperity/global well-being). An equal number of participants (36 women, 36 men) was allotted to each scenario; each was asked to allocate 120 points across the six traits according to their perceived value. Overall, intelligence was the trait to which participants assigned most importance, followed by kindness and attractiveness, and then by wealth, dominance and height. Men appraised attractiveness as more valuable than women. Scenario strongly influenced the relative importance attributed to traits, the main finding being that wealth and dominance were more valued in the poverty and post-nuclear scenarios, respectively, compared to the other scenarios. Scenario manipulation generally had similar effects in both sexes, but women appeared particularly prone to trade off other traits for dominance in the violence scenario, and men particularly prone to trade off other traits for wealth in the poverty scenario. Our results are in line with other correlational studies of situational variables and mate preferences, and represent strong evidence of a causal relationship of environmental factors on specific mate preferences, corroborating the notion of an evolved plasticity to current ecological conditions. A control experiment seems to suggest that our scenarios can be considered as realistic descriptions of the intended ecological conditions.

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“…As long as women are seen as more vulnerable to the threat of crime, and in particular rape, men's dominance as protectors will be preserved, as will women's willingness to be protected (Phelan et al. ). It is most clear in the comments by Luke and Henry that women are still considered most at risk, with an inherent sense that women should not walk alone.…”

Section: Being In a Bubblementioning

confidence: 99%

Bursting the Bubble: Spatialising Safety for Privileged Migrant Women in Singapore

Cranston

Lloyd

2018

Antipode

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This paper develops geographical work that is attentive to, and critical of, how safety is lived and narrated. In contrast to previous work on safety that focuses on fear, the paper looks at safety as something more than aspiration for women. To do so, the paper utilises the metaphor of the "expatriate bubble" to explore how safety is constructed and experienced by privileged migrants in Singapore. Utilising research from two projects, we argue that we need to think about how gender and Othering intersect to construct safety. In doing so, we explore how we can use conceptualisations of privileged migrants to research how safety can be understood and therefore practised more widely.

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The Danger in Sexism: The Links Among Fear of Crime, Benevolent Sexism, and Well-being

Cited by 34 publications

References 75 publications

Benevolent Sexism, Perceived Health Risks, and the Inclination to Restrict Pregnant Women’s Freedoms

Benevolent Sexism, Perceived Health Risks, and the Inclination to Restrict Pregnant Women’s Freedoms

Environmental Influences on Mate Preferences as Assessed by a Scenario Manipulation Experiment

Bursting the Bubble: Spatialising Safety for Privileged Migrant Women in Singapore

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