“When men were men”: the effects of Gender Nostalgia on bias against trans men and women

ABSTRACT

In recent years, many people have expressed opposition to the increased public representation of trans men and women. This opposition often includes a sentimental longing for a bygone past wherein ‘men were men, and women were women’. Across three studies (N = 860), we investigated the causes and consequences of this longing, herein called Gender Nostalgia. In Study 1, we developed a measure of Gender Nostalgia, and found it to be a uniquely strong predictor of extreme forms of anti-trans bias such as acceptance of anti-trans violence. Critically, Gender Nostalgia predicted acceptance of anti-trans violence above-and-beyond other direct measures of anti-trans bias and relevant demographics. Study 2 replicated Study 1 and investigated predictors of Gender Nostalgia, finding that Gender Nostalgia was strongly predicted by participants’ self-reported gender essentialism (e.g. the belief that men and women are discretely separate social categories). Study 3 experimentally manipulated participants’ perceptions of the degree to which traditional masculinity/femininity has changed over time. Results indicated that among participants high, but not low, in gender essentialism, considering eroding traditional masculinity/femininity increased Gender Nostalgia and acceptance of anti-trans violence. Discussion surrounds the importance of considering Gender Nostalgia when investigating people’s bias against trans men and women.

KEYWORDS:

• Nostalgia
• transgender
• prejudice
• bias
• gender

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank undergraduate research assistants in the first author’s research lab as well as graduate student assistants Katrina Spontak, Madeline Rice, Chandler Mills, and Kathryn Rowe for their insightful and encouraging feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2024.2358229

Notes

1. For space, full demographics are reported in supplemental materials.

2. In all studies herein, other measures were included for piloting, norming, or exploratory purposes. Readers can find a full accounting of these measures in Supplemental Materials.

3. See Supplemental Materials for exploratory analyses investigating potential gender moderation.

4. Given the cross-sectional nature of Study 2’s data, we tested alternative models wherein we changed the positions of the constituent parts. Interested readers may find the results of these alternative models in Supplemental Materials.