Implications of femininity threat for support for transgender rights and gender-specific system justification

Abstract

The literature on precarious manhood defines manhood as an achieved status, which can be threatened, and needs to be protected or restored. Womanhood, however, is assumed to be a biologically or physiologically ascribed status. However, the idea that womanhood cannot be threatened due to its ascribed nature can be questioned. In the present thesis, I examined femininity threat based on failure to fulfill social expectations about womanhood (i.e., fertility and attractiveness) in the Turkish context, and its implications. I hypothesized that the experience of femininity threat (affirmation) would lead women to report more (less) negative transgender attitudes, less (greater) support for transgender rights, and greater (less) support for gender specific system justification, compared to a control condition. I further hypothesized that these effects would be larger among women who show stronger gender identification. I analyzed data from 710 community members collected via an online survey. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions (fertility threat, fertility affirmation, attractiveness threat, attractiveness affirmation) or a control condition. Results showed that participants in the threat conditions reported significantly higher negative affect than those in the affirmation conditions, suggesting that the manipulation caused the intended affective reactions. However, contrary to the hypotheses, participants did not differ significantly in social distance, negative feelings towards transgender individuals, support for transgender rights, or gender-specific system justification across conditions. There was no evidence for the moderating role of gender identification. I discussed the findings in light of how they expand the literature on masculinity and femininity threats.