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Sex Roles (2009) 60:1420DOI 10.1007/s11199-008-9514-3
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Implicit Attitudes Towards Feminism
Jessica Jenen & Jennifer Winquist & Daniel Arkkelin &
Kristopher Schuster
Published online: 27 July 2008# Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2008
Abstract This study employed the Implicit Association Test to assess implicit attitudes towards feminism among68 U.S. undergraduates. On some trials, participants matched either good or bad words with a feminist or a traditionalist target person. On other trials, they matched feminine or masculine traits with these targets. We predicted (1) faster reaction times to feministbad pairings than to feministgood pairings, (2) faster reactions to traditionalistgood pairings than to traditionalistbad pairings, (3) faster reactions to traditionalistfeminine pairings than to traditionalistmasculine pairings, and (4) faster reactions to feministmasculine pairings than to feministfeminine pairings. The results supported the first three predictions. These results suggest an implicit negativity bias and masculinity bias towards feminists and an implicit positivity bias and femininity bias towards traditionalists.
Keywords Feminism . Gender roles . Gender stereotypes . Gender attitudes
Introduction
The rise of Nancy Pelosi to the position of the first female Speaker of the House and the widespread support for Hillary Clinton in the 2008 presidential race might lead one to think that equality of the sexes has been achieved in the
U.S. However, the fact that many pundits have discussed the question of whether or not the U.S. is ready for a female president suggests that many Americans still have lingering doubts about the leadership capability of women. Indeed, despite the success of these women, high-profile women often have to perform a difficult balancing act of projecting stereotypically masculine leadership attributes without appearing to be subordinating their feminine qualities (Eagly and Wood 1999).
This suggests that even while some female leaders receive widespread public support at an explicit level, there may still be important underlying implicit attitudes in play that prevent some people from fully embracing a womans attempt to break through the ultimate glass ceiling: the U.S. presidency. That is, these leaders epitomize the goals of feminism, yet their ground-breaking efforts are sometimes met with subtle skepticism that may reflect underlying negative attitudes towards feminism.
Indeed, while the concept of feminism is positive and empowering to some, many hold negative and inaccurate images of feminists. These...