The Weight of Benevolent Expectations: Benevolent Sexism and the Emotional Discomfort of Men's Unfulfilled Prescriptions

Benevolent sexism is a harmful ideology that prescribes traditional gender roles to men (i.e., protector and provider) and women (i.e. warm and nurturing homemaker). Existing research has largely focused on how benevolent sexism negatively affects women and positively affects men—overlooking the possibility that benevolent sexism may also harm men. Two studies in the current thesis aimed to address this research gap. First, we tested the extent to which benevolent sexism is linked with heightened expectations for men. Then, using self-discrepancy theory as a guiding framework, we tested the extent to which benevolent sexism magnified men’s emotional discomfort when unable to fulfill heightened expectations in romantic relationships. Study 1 (N = 26,618) used a large cross-national dataset and showed that benevolent sexism was associated with increased prescriptions for men to hold traits related to agency, communality and weakness. In Study 2 (N = 69 man-woman couples), we conducted a dyadic weekly diary study that examined whether men’s or partner’s benevolent sexism magnified emotional discomfort in men when unable to live up to their ascribed relationship roles. We found evidence that men’s benevolent sexism magnified feelings of guilt when men reported showing less devotion and protection, and suggestive evidence that men’s partners benevolent sexism may magnify feelings of anxiety when men report increased financial stress. Together, our studies indicate that benevolent sexism contributes to heightened prescriptions for men, and when unfulfilled, results in increased discomfort for these men. Our findings also emphasize the central role of benevolent sexism in eliciting harm towards people who commit gender role-related violations, further revealing the insidious and harmful nature of benevolent sexism, despite its surface-level positivity.