Masculinity and Men’s Choice of College Major

Abstract

We investigate whether adherence to dominant masculine norms and choice of college major are related among undergraduate men in the United States. Our results indicate that men’s level of conformity to certain masculine norms is associated with their postsecondary field of study. In particular, we find men’s adherence to the masculine norm of emotional control is associated negatively with selecting majors from such academic fields as clinical and health sciences or arts and humanities compared to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and doctoral-track medicine (e.g., pre-medicine and pre-dentistry). Conformity to the masculine norm to focus on work is related negatively to choosing a major in arts and humanities or communication and media fields compared to STEM and doctoral-track medicine fields. These results suggest ways that dominant social norms about masculinity may contribute to gender segregation of postsecondary fields of study.

Beyond Hidden Figures: Shining a Spotlight on Constructed Hierarchies of Gender, Age, and Elementary Mathematics

Abstract

This article focuses on conversations about gender and mathematics among other intersecting identities such as age, education level, and professional expertise. I used positioning theory to unpack a conversation at a science museum (between museum volunteer John, prospective teacher Ann, and myself) to share a story about gender and mathematics. I argue that the impact of this conversation from our perspectives as young women who do work in elementary mathematics education should be made visible to recognize and address inequities for women and girls within mathematics and mathematics education spaces. Implications for elementary teacher education include providing opportunities for prospective teachers to share their stories and gendered experiences with attention to intersections of age, gender, and connected disciplinary narratives (in this case, mathematics).

‘Others’ Within the ‘Others’: An Intersectional Analysis of Gender Violence in India

Abstract

In 2018, the rapes of two young girls shook India. The ruling government blatantly supported the perpetrators in both cases. It was also highlighted that if the victims were high class, high caste or belonged to the Hindu community, public and media outrage would have been different, possibly similar to what was witnessed after the December 16th 2012, Delhi Nirbhaya rape. Hence, it is valid for us to question what was different about the Nirbhaya case? Class and caste divisions form the foundation of the hierarchical nature of Indian society. Using an analysis of the Nirbhaya rape case through the lens of intersectionality, this paper explores how factors such as class, caste, religion and geography in India influence not only how a case of gender violence and the victims are perceived but is also reflected on the perception of the perpetrators and the resultant punishments meted out. Previous research establishes interesting intersections of gender and representation in the Nirbhya case (Dey and Orton, in: Gender and race matter: global perspectives on being a woman, 2016; Shandilya in Gend Hist 27(2):465–486, 2015). This paper further builds on that discourse to establish how the intersection of social segregations along with gender division and patriarchy, form a complex web of discrimination and violence in India.

“You Cannot Be Like That Here”: Discourses of Sexual Identities among Urban Ghanaian Families

Abstract

While social discourses on gender and sexuality have become controversial in the African context, there is a tendency to overlook how the domestic space contrives and participates in such productions. This paper examines the domestic space to reveal the ways that it reproduces, sanctions, challenges, and disrupts discursive productions on sexuality. Drawing on interviews with selected urban Ghanaian families, the paper contributes to scholarship by arguing that the processuality of sexual scripts linked to moral scripts and cultural taboos produces complex tensions and ambivalences, with implications for cultural authenticity, power relations, fear-mongering, and social persecution. The analysis shows that sexuality, much like gender, is deeply discursive, processual, fluid, and shaped by culture and history, requiring scholars to engage in deep reflections on how discourses of sexuality inscribe themselves into the social and moral fabric to shape individual actions and behaviors. Taking evidence from urban Ghana, we argue that an important question remains eminent against the background of transformation for harnessing the potentials of the domestic space, which prescribes gender-specific behaviors and expectations between men and women across families.

Attitudes Toward Married Persons’ Surnames in Twenty-First Century Japan

Abstract

Through Article 750 of the Japanese Civil Code, Japan is the only developed country to require that a married couple must choose either the husband’s or the wife’s surname upon marriage. We examine how traditional gender ideology and preference for the three-generation family household are associated with the level of support for conjugal surname sharing, from full support for the wife taking her husband’s surname to support for neither the wife or husband changing their name. We estimate generalized ordered logit models with data from the 2000–2003, 2006, and 2010 Japanese General Social Survey. Findings indicate that those who hold more traditional gender ideology are more likely to endorse surname sharing at all levels. Those who prefer the traditional extended family household are more likely to acknowledge at least some merit in a married couple sharing a surname, but they are less likely to say that the wife should take her husband’s surname without question. Attitudes toward conjugal surname sharing may have important symbolic implications for gender equality as well as potential impact on the surname law.

The Congruence Between Adolescents and Their Parents’ Gender-Role Attitudes in Urban Slums of Allahabad, India

Abstract

Gender role differentiation intensifies during adolescence. The current study explores gender-role attitudes among unmarried young men and women aged 15–21 residing in the slums of Allahabad, India. The survey asked a series of questions about gender role attitudes to young men and women and to their parents (relating to work and educational attainment for girls, marriage and husband–wife relations). Since either the father or mother responded to the parent questionnaire, data analyses are based on subsets of mother–daughter pairs (n = 2124), mother–son pairs (n = 2135), father–son pairs (n = 788), and father–daughter pairs (n = 452). No significant differences emerged in terms of adolescent background characteristics of the four groups and the adolescent population of the study. A fair amount of congruence in gender role attitudes was found in the mother–daughter and father–son pairs for most items. However, a similar pattern was not visible in the father–daughter or mother–son pairs. Multivariate regression analysis indicated strong influence of parental attitudes on the adolescent’s attitudes. While education led to a shift in girls’ attitudes to gender egalitarian ones, it did not impact the attitudes of adolescent boys.

Prior Sexual Relationship, Gender and Sexual Attitudes Affect the Believability of a Hypothetical Sexual Assault Vignette

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of contextual and individual difference features on perceptions of believability of a hypothetical sexual assault victim’s report. Undergraduates read a vignette describing an alleged sexual assault in which the victim was either poor or wealthy and rated the woman’s believability. In both socioeconomic status conditions, participants then learned that the victim and perpetrator had a previous, consensual sexual relationship and consumed alcohol at the time of the assault and provided a second and third believability rating. Believability ratings decreased as additional information was provided. Men, participants with greater rape myth acceptance, and men with lower levels of rape empathy rated the victim’s believability as significantly lower than women, participants with less rape myth acceptance, and men with higher rape empathy. Based on study findings, we provide recommendations for college campuses and law enforcement groups working with sexual assault victims.

Affiliation and Dominance in Female and Male Dyads: When Discoordination Makes Happy

Abstract

Drawing on sixteen 45-min-long dyadic same-sex conversations between unacquainted females or males, we used the joystick method by Sadler et al. (J Pers Soc Psychol 97:1005–1020. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016232, 2009) to rate the moment-to-moment levels of affiliation and dominance during the first and last 10 min of these conversations. Besides comparing the behavioral patterns in female and male dyads, we drew on the pre- and post-conversation questionnaires filled by the participants of the rated conversations to study the experiential consequences (valence, arousal, happiness, anxiety) of these patterns. Both genders exhibited the same complementary patterns where affiliation pulls for affiliation and dominance for submissiveness. However, these patterns were experienced differently by females and males. Greater affiliation synchrony increased the levels of happiness and arousal for males, but not for females. In addition, greater dominance coordination predicted a more negative valence change for females than for males. The paper thus points to gender differences in what constitutes a positive interactional experience and suggests a need to revisit social scientific theorizing in this regard.

Development and Validation of the Latina American Shifting Scale (LASS)

Abstract

The present research developed and validated a new measure of Latina American shifting (the Latina American Shifting Scale, LASS) or the self-altering coping strategies employed by some Latina American women. A 17-item instrument was developed to measure various facets of shifting phenomena based on a review of the literature, focus group feedback, and cultural experts. An initial validation study, using principal components analysis and promax rotation, was conducted with a national sample of 582 Latina Americans that reduced the initial set of 37 items to 17 items that assessed three constructs. A second independent national sample of 448 Latina Americans provided support for the 3-component structure using a confirmatory factor analysis. The final version of the new 17-item inventory comprised the following three subscales: Cultural Presentation Appropriateness, Language Appropriateness, and Appealing to the White Ideal. Implications for future research are discussed.