Ambivalent Sexism and Attitudes Toward Women in Different Stages of Reproductive Life: A Semantic, Cross-Cultural Approach

Abstract

College students in southeastern Mexico (n = 185) and the northeastern United States (n = 96) utilized a semantic differential scale to rate subtypes of women: a menstruating woman, a menopausal woman, a pregnant woman, a premenstrual woman, a woman with a hysterectomy, a teenage girl, a woman in love, and a woman with a young baby. Americans reported significantly more negative attitudes than Mexicans did toward a menstruating woman, a premenstrual woman, a teenage girl, and a pregnant woman. Participants chose more positive words to describe a teenage girl, a woman in love, a pregnant woman, and a woman with a young baby, which is suggestive of a pronatal bias. Participants also completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI). Men scored significantly higher than women on hostile sexism. Mexicans scored significantly higher than Americans on both hostile and benevolent sexism. Sexism scores are related to attitudes toward premenstrual, menstruating, and menopausal women; women with a hysterectomy; and women with a young baby.