BENEVOLENT SEXISM IN FAMILY AND ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS: A SUBTLE AND EFFICIENT MECHANISM OF PERSISTENCE OF MODERN PATRIARCHY
BENEVOLENT SEXISM IN FAMILY AND ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS: A SUBTLE AND EFFICIENT MECHANISM OF PERSISTENCE OF MODERN PATRIARCHY

Author(s): Marija Todorović Tatar
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Sociology, Gender history
Published by: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju
Keywords: benevolent sexism; gender stereotypes; ambivalent sexism theory; patriarchy; private vs public sphere
Summary/Abstract: This paper will focus on positive gender stereotypes and prejudices directed toward women, on behaviours that are based on those prejudices and their consequences for gender equality. Benevolent sexism is a term conceived by Susan Fiske and Peter Glick within the ambivalent sexism theory and it refers to “a subjectively positive orientation of protection, idealization, and affection directed toward women that, like hostile sexism, serves to justify women's subordinate status to men” (Glick et al, 2000: 763). The classic definition of prejudice which was very influential until the nineties is the definition Allport wrote in his famous book The Nature of Prejudice in 1954: “Prejudice is an antipathy based on faulty and inflexible generalization” (Allport, 1954: 9). Many prejudice theories were built upon this definition. Scientists Susan Fiske and Peter Glick criticized the idea that “prejudice is an antipathy” and argued that sexism or gender prejudices are not just hostile, but can be benevolent as well.

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