ARE FEMINISTS MAN HATERS? FEMINISTS' AND NONFEMINISTS' ATTITUDES TOWARD MEN
by Kristin J. Anderson, Melinda Kanner and Nisreen Elsayegh of the University of Houston
Published in the Psychology of Women Quarterly, Volume 33, Issue 2, Pages 216-224, June 2009
Abstract
Despite the popular belief that feminists dislike men, few studies have actually examined the empirical accuracy of this stereotype. The present study examined self-identified feminists' and nonfeminists' attitudes toward men. An ethnically diverse sample (N = 488) of college students responded to statements from the Ambivalence toward Men Inventory (AMI; Glick & Fiske, 1999). Contrary to popular beliefs, feminists reported lower levels of hostility toward men than did nonfeminists. The persistence of the myth of the man-hating feminist is explored.
One of the researchers reported, "Our work finds that, indeed, non-feminists believe in traditional gender roles such as men being breadwinners and women being caregivers. At the same time, these non-feminists actually appear to resent the confines of the traditional roles they advocate, which presents a paradox for women and men in traditional heterosexual relationships."
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Blogger Jess McCabe discusses these results in greater detail in her "f-word" blog, including an earlier 16-nation study which found that the greater the gender inequality in a country, the greater the hostility toward men.
