New research on sexism suggests the abuse extends to eyewitnesses.

In other words, the actions of one sexist man can affect how female bystanders feel and behave toward men in general.

Stephenie Chaudoir and Diane Quinn, from the University of Connecticut, publish their work on the effects of bystander sexism and group-level reactions to sexism in Springer’s journal Sex Roles.

Women are often bystanders to sexist remarks directed at other women. Research shows that women often experience a variety of negative emotions when they are the targets of sexism and other women who witness the derogatory remark can also be affected.

Sexism also has the potential to shape how women think, feel and behave towards men in general. Chaudoir and Quinn examined women’s reactions to overhearing a catcall remark and, in particular, how observing a specific sexist incident affects women’s feelings and attitudes toward men.

They asked 114 undergraduate female students to watch a video and imagine themselves as bystanders to a situation where a man made either a sexist catcall remark (“Hey Kelly, your boobs look great in that shirt!”) at another woman or simply greeted her (“Hey Kelly, what’s up?”).

The researchers then asked the students to rate their anxiety, depression and hostility levels, their anger and fear toward men, how prejudiced they thought the comment was, their desire to move against or away from men in general, as well as how strongly they felt about their gender identity as a result of witnessing the sexist remark.

The analyses showed that women were more likely to think about themselves in terms of their gender group identity and, as a result, feel greater anger and motivation to take direct action toward men, in general, when they are bystanders to sexism.

In other words, they experienced emotions and motivations in line with how the situation may help or harm women as a whole, rather than how it might affect them personally as individuals. Chaudoir and Quinn’s work highlights how men and women in general are implicated in individual instances of sexism and that sexism is bad for everyone.

They conclude: “Women are obviously implicated because they suffer direct negative consequences as targets of prejudice and, as the current work demonstrates, indirect consequences as bystanders. But sexism also harms men as well.

“Whenever a single man’s prejudiced actions are attributed to his gender identity, male perpetrators impact how women view and react to men more generally.”

Source: Springer