Explaining Sexist Beliefs - Male Gender and Political Conservatism Show Stronger Associations with Sexist Beliefs Than Mate Value or Mate Access

We tested the hypothesis that individual differences in difficulties finding a romantic partner are associated with sexism and belief in sexism shift. We hypothesized that, because heterosexual men with low (vs. high) mate value and low (vs. high) mate access face greater difficulties in finding a partner, they are more likely to hold sexist beliefs. We used self-reports of mate value, mate access, hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, and belief in sexism shift from 1,604 Finnish adults. We examined associations between these self-reports by using multivariate multiple regression, controlling for political ideology, sex ratio, and whether the respondent was searching for a partner. Higher mate value was associated with more benevolent sexism in women, but not in men. Contrary to predictions, frequent mate access encounters were associated with lower benevolent sexism in women, but not in men. We did not find associations between mate value or mate access and hostile sexism or belief in sexism shift in men or women. The findings highlight the role of male gender and political conservatism in predicting sexist beliefs, as men and politically conservative respondents reported more benevolent and hostile sexism and belief in sexism shift than women and politically liberal respondents.