How is masculinity ideology related to transprejudice in Turkey: the mediatory effect of femmephobia

ABSTRACT

Prejudice towards trans women is an under-examined but a critical social problem in Turkey. Patriarchal femininity sanctions women who do not comply with the idealised female bodies and feminine norms. On the other hand, ideals of hegemonic masculinity necessitate that men avoid femininity. In that sense, prejudice against trans women ostensibly stands at the intersection of hegemonic masculinity ideology and femininities that diverge from patriarchal feminine norms. Therefore, this study examines the mediatory effect of femmephobia in the link between masculinity ideology and prejudice towards trans women as measured by negative affect and social distancing motivations. Results indicate that femmephobia significantly mediates the relationship between the endorsement of masculinity ideology and prejudice towards trans women. Among three mandates of masculinity ideology, the endorsement of the antifemininity mandate was the most solid indirect predictor of negative affect and social distance through femmephobia, followed by mandates of toughness and status, respectively. Although participant gender does not have an indirect effect on the outcome variables, it has a direct effect on men’s social distancing intentions but not on negative emotions. The results are discussed in the light of existing literature which intersects with the devaluation of femininity.

KEYWORDS:

• Femmephobia
• antifemininity
• masculinity
• transprejudice
• trans women

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary materials

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Notes

1. Analyses of the current study were conducted on a merged data set including participants from two samples: a sample with 175 heterosexual-cisgender women and a sample with 105 heterosexual-cisgender men. Apart from gender, the two data sets were identical in terms of study procedures and tested variables.

2. Apart from these, participants were asked about their faith, conservativeness, and political orientation. However, the information on these variables were not included in the scope of this paper as they were not included in the analyses.

3. An overview of the resultant scale can be found in supplementary materials (Table 1) at https://osf.io/abqem/

4. Details of the CFA can be found in supplementary materials at https://osf.io/abqem/

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Beril Türkoğlu

Beril Türkoğlu has received her PhD in social psychology from the Middle East Technical University, Turkey, in 2019. She had been visiting scholar at the University of South Florida, Gender and Interpersonal Relations Dynamics Lab, USA. Her research is mainly focused on the dynamics of precarious manhood and womanhood; prejudice and discrimination towards sexual and gender minorities; and gender stereotypes. She is also interested in political psychology with a specific focus on socio-political attitudes and political orientation. She has been an active member of Initiative for Critical Studies of Masculinities (ICSM) in Turkey, and a member of an editorial board of Masculinities: A Journal of Identity and Culture. She works as an assistant professor at Ankara Medipol University since 2019.

Gülden Sayılan

Gülden Sayılan is a social psychologist from Turkey who has received her PhD degree from Middle East Technical University. Her research interests include social psychology of gender, prejudice and discrimination against sexual and gender minorities, masculinity studies and political psychology. She has co-authored several articles and book chapters related to prejudice and discrimination against gender minorities. Also, she has been a member of editorial board of the international peer reviewed journal named Masculinities: A Journal of Identity and Culture since 2013. She has been working as a research assistant at Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University.