Finding it fascinating that a recent study on how men react to being called out on certain types of sexism only included women calling out the men, instead of other men calling out the men. While it's good information to learn that, in certain situations, calling out men on sexism may have some positive effects and seems to have no negative effects, I'd also like to know how men react to men calling them out on their sexism--because calling out sexism is something that men ought to be doing to other men, as well.
Forbes article on the study here.
Actual study here.
4 comments:
If I were a man, I would gladly participate in such a study.
My (male) fiance is openly a feminist, he doesn't call out his best friends when they say sexist things (I think that'd be significant to the study - because he talks about it with confidently around his University friends). Strangers/shit on TV/radio/etc he's also quick to point sexism out. I feel like negative reactions from men calling out sexism would stem from 'demasculating' rarashit.
I think the set up of this study is rather problematic. As you pointed out, it only evaluates men being called out by women on sexism, which I will come back to later in this comment. The confrontation also occurs in the presence of an authority figure (researcher), the participants weren't previously acquainted, and the participants were not with friends to back up their views.
Most importantly, the study design is not generalizable to most social interactions involving sexism because the comment being pointed out as sexist is one that was unconscious, unintentional, and generally considered sexist by society (note modern language shifts from things like "fireman" to "firefighter" to avoid assuming the gender of people in different job categories). This situation is not directly comparable to calling someone out on conscious/intentional sexist comments that are considered more acceptable by society.
It has been my experience that calling men out on intentional sexist comments - sexist jokes, slut-shaming, comments perpetuating rape-culture, etc, goes over quite differently, and is more likely to result in a negative reaction or derailing tactics like claiming I just don't have a sense of humor or am oversensitive. People get much more defensive when being called out on comments they actually meant to make.
Ultimately, I believe that men have a huge role to play when it comes to calling out other men on intentional sexist remarks. As a woman, it is very difficult to get men to reconsider their intentional sexist comments for a number of reasons. I find men often derail these conversations, I assume because their sexist comments often stem from unconscious internalized views of inequality between men and women that the offender would rather avoid seeing in themselves. Even if the views are conscious, it can be difficult as a woman to get a positive response for calling out intentional sexist comments because some common views in modern sexism are that women are oversensitive, generally crazy, and very irritable, particularly during their periods. So, for the most part, any time a woman calling out sexist comments makes a man uncomfortable, it can be passed off as the woman being one of these things, and he can avoid seriously considering the oppressive and/or damaging aspects of his original comment.
This is where male allies come in. Because sexist views involve the belief that men at least, more or less, equal to one another (and superior to women), a man is more likely to get a positive response from calling out another man on intentional sexist comments than a woman is. A man calling out another man is more likely to be taken seriously, and cannot be passed off as simply being oversensitive unless the offender questions the ally's masculinity. I think we can enact significantly more rapid social shifts away from sexist views if more men are willing to stick up for women and call out other men on sexist comments than if women need to shoulder this burden alone.
I think the set up of this study is rather problematic. As you pointed out, it only evaluates men being called out by women on sexism, which I will come back to later in this comment. The confrontation also occurs in the presence of an authority figure (researcher), the participants weren't previously acquainted, and the participants were not with friends to back up their views.
Most importantly, the study design is not generalizable to most social interactions involving sexism because the comment being pointed out as sexist is one that was unconscious, unintentional, and generally considered sexist by society (note modern language shifts from things like "fireman" to "firefighter" to avoid assuming the gender of people in different job categories). This situation is not directly comparable to calling someone out on conscious/intentional sexist comments that are considered more acceptable by society.
It has been my experience that calling men out on intentional sexist comments - sexist jokes, slut-shaming, comments perpetuating rape-culture, etc, goes over quite differently, and is more likely to result in a negative reaction or derailing tactics like claiming I just don't have a sense of humor or am oversensitive. People get much more defensive when being called out on comments they actually meant to make.
Ultimately, I believe that men have a huge role to play when it comes to calling out other men on intentional sexist remarks. As a woman, it is very difficult to get men to reconsider their intentional sexist comments for a number of reasons. I find men often derail these conversations, I assume because their sexist comments often stem from unconscious internalized views of inequality between men and women that the offender would rather avoid seeing in themselves. Even if the views are conscious, it can be difficult as a woman to get a positive response for calling out intentional sexist comments because some common views in modern sexism are that women are oversensitive, generally crazy, and very irritable, particularly during their periods. So, for the most part, any time a woman calling out sexist comments makes a man uncomfortable, it can be passed off as the woman being one of these things, and he can avoid seriously considering the oppressive and/or damaging aspects of his original comment.
This is where male allies come in. Because sexist views involve the belief that men at least, more or less, equal to one another (and superior to women), a man is more likely to get a positive response from calling out another man on intentional sexist comments than a woman is. A man calling out another man is more likely to be taken seriously, and cannot be passed off as simply being oversensitive unless the offender questions the ally's masculinity. I think we can enact significantly more rapid social shifts away from sexist views if more men are willing to stick up for women and call out other men on sexist comments than if women need to shoulder this burden alone.
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