Witnessing a sexist interaction harms more than the intended target of a sexist remark. That may be something you already knew, but it has been confirmed by two researchers at the University of Connecticut.
Stephenie Chaudoir and Diane Quinn’s goal was to determine how women felt when they observed—but were not the direct recipient of—a sexist comment. The research team asked 114 female undergraduate students to watch a video and imagine themselves as bystanders to a situation in which a man either greeted another woman (no sexist language involved) or directed a sexist catcall at a woman. The participants then completed a survey regarding their feelings of identification with the woman in the video and their anger or fear toward men, and as a result, whether they were likely to “move against or away from” or men.
Turns out that women (again, no surprise here) consider themselves part of a gender group and don’t particularly like it when men direct sexist remarks to other women. In other words, the participants in the study viewed the situation as something that was harmful to women in general—not just the woman who was the victim of the sexist catcall.
In essence, the study showed that sexist comments hurt all women, including those who are the targets and those who just happen to be in the room, so to speak. And as some who reviewed the study have pointed out, if sexist remarks result in women feeling that men are harmful to women in general, then those comments hurt men as well.
The study findings got quite a bit of media play here and across the pond (thank goodness) after being published in Sex Roles: A Journal of Research (which according to its publisher, Springer, is an “interdisciplinary behavioral science journal offering a feminist perspective”). The findings are a great tool for women and men who want to stop sexist remarks in the office, so file this away for that moment when you decide to take action at your place of work. Because any smart business owner, corporate executive, or human resources manager will need to consider the implications of this study’s finding when dealing with sexist comments in the work place.
Cynthia
