The social nature of benevolent sexism and the antisocial nature of hostile sexism: Is benevolent sexism more likely to manifest in public contexts and hostile sexism in private contexts?

Previous research converges on demonstrating that benevolent sexism (BS) is socially approved, whereas hostile sexism (HS) is socially disapproved. We postulated that a sample of married women would be likely to report that their husbands express hostile sexist attitudes and engage in related actions towards them more in private than public contexts, where they lie concealed from public censure. By contrast, the women would report that their husbands would be likely to express benevolent sexist attitudes and engage in related actions more in public than private contexts, where they are reinforced not only by their target (i.e. wife), but also by significant others and the society at large. We tested these hypotheses with a sample of Black, heterosexually married Zimbabwean women (n = 109, mean age = 31.83). Results supported our hypotheses: the women reported hostile sexist attitudes and actions to be more likely to occur in private than public contexts; on the other hand, they reported benevolent sexist attitudes and actions to be more likely in public than private contexts. We conclude that differences in social approval of BS and HS account for these results.

An investigation of the sexist application of the morality concept of Tsika in the Shona culture of Zimbabwe.

We investigated the sexist application of a morality concept of Tsika, characterized by communal traits, in the Shona culture of Zimbabwe. Tsika has been defined as "politeness, civility and circumlocution" (Samkange & Samkange, 1980, p. 74), thus generally falling under communal traits. Theoretical literature suggests that although Tsika is a cultural ideal for all Shona people, it is especially expected of women and children, and that women can be punished like children if they lack Tsika. This research tested whether Tsika would be expected more of women (and children) than men. In line with ambivalent sexism theory, it was predicted that, because Tsika is constituted of communal traits, a bias in its expectation of women over men would be predicted by benevolent sexism. Furthermore, the research tested whether women (and children) would be judged more negatively than men if they defaulted on Tsika. It was hypothesized that a more negative evaluation of women than men if they defaulted on Tsika would be predicted by hostile sexism. Results confirmed that Tsika is expected more of women than of men. Benevolent sexism and its interaction with hostile sexism predicted the bias in expectation of Tsika of women over men. Results also confirmed that women who default on Tsika are evaluated more negatively than men. Hostile sexism predicted the bias in negative evaluations of women over men who default on Tsika.

Predicting HIV risk using a locus of control-based model among university students.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to predict HIV risk using a locus of control-based intervention. The locus of control-based variables that were used in this study were social systems control, self-control, fatalism and achievement-oriented behaviour. The study sample was made up of 257 university students whose ages ranged from 17-20 years. All the students were black. METHOD: The study assessed participants' perceived health control perceptions using Rotter's locus of control scale, social systems control scale, self-control scale, fatalism scale, the intellectual responsibility questionnaire and HIV risk assessment questionnaire. The study performed correlational and linear regression analyses using statistical software SAS to establish the relationship between locus of control-based factors and HIV risk. RESULTS: The results showed significant correlations between locus of control-based variables and HIV risk. The locus of control-based model significantly predicted variance in HIV risk. CONCLUSION: Directions for future research on the relationship between locus of control-based interventions and HIV risk could focus on the development of locus of control-based HIV risk reduction interventions in South African universities.