We have a new article out: Hostile and benevolent sexism: The differential roles of human supremacy beliefs, women’s connection to nature, and the dehumanization of women, authored by Alina Salmen and Kristof Dhont, published in Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. This is the first article published by Alina Salmen and is part of her PhD research project.   

In five studies, we consistently show that stronger beliefs in human supremacy over animals and nature are related to heightened hostile and benevolent sexism. Furthermore, perceiving women as more closely connected to nature than men is particularly associated with higher benevolent sexism, whereas subtle dehumanization of women was uniquely associated with higher hostile sexism. Blatant dehumanization predicted both types of sexism.

By showing that the way people think about animals is associated with exploitative views about women, our findings move beyond traditional psychological theorizing on gender-based bias and provide empirical support for the ideas of feminist scholars that on a psychological level, systems of oppression and exploitation of women and animals are closely connected.

Reference:

Salmen, A. & Dhont, K. (in press). Hostile and benevolent sexism: The differential roles of human supremacy beliefs, women’s connection to nature, and the dehumanization of women. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430220920713