Gul and Kupfer take a related tack, but head in a slightly different direction. They suggest that female interest in sexist men, specifically men who display “benevolent sexism” may be seen by women as being more interested in investing resources in a woman.
Benevolent sexism is a concept describing a form of sexism which is overtly less hostile and misogynistic, and are beliefs that I was taught, as a man from the US South. Benevolent sexism includes beliefs that:
Women should be “put on a pedestal”
Women should be cherished and protected by men
Men should be willing to sacrifice to provide for women
Women are more virtuous than men
Women are more refined and pure, compared to men.
Notably women who were both more and less feminist displayed similar levels of attraction, and it wasn't influenced by feelings of unsafeness:
Gul and Kupfer conducted several separate experiments, showing that their results did replicate in different samples and using different methods (an important strategy in today’s replication crisis), and that the effect was apparent both potential mates, AND in work colleagues. Even in men who were not being scoped out as potential intimate partners, women were more likely to see sexist men as more attractive. Women who were both more and less feminist displayed similar levels of attraction to sexist men, so this effect isn’t the result of women not being “woke” enough.
One of the experiments tested whether women’s ratings of sexist men varied depending on cues about there being more hostile men around from whom the woman might need protection. But here again, women’s attraction towards sexist men wasn’t influenced by her potential need for safety from more hostile men.
Link to the study itself: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10 ... lCode=pspc
Really throws a wrench in the claims of people who say that feminists are interested in breaking down male gender roles.
Though before people claim it's biological I'm curious about something, if it is instinctual among women, how would lesbian relationships be affected by such an instinct?
Discuss, NS.