Citation

Russell TD, King AR. Pers. Individ. Dif. 2017; 104: 252-257.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.paid.2016.08.020

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This national study of United States women (N = 522) took an evolutionary approach to explaining Hostility towards Women and Rape Myth Acceptance, two constructs loading on a latent variable called Hostile Femininity. Everyday Sadism, Suspiciousness, Cognitive and Perceptual Dysregulation, and a lack of Eccentricity were expected to predict Hostile Femininity. Callousness and Manipulativeness were expected to predict Everyday Sadism. These hypotheses were largely supported; however, Withdrawal, not Cognitive and Perceptual Dysregulation, predicted Hostile Femininity in the final model. The structural equation model accounted for 64% of the variance in Hostile Femininity. It is proposed Hostile Femininity may represent motives for female intrasexual competition, an evolutionary concept explaining same-sex aggression. The hostile feminine profile emerging from this study is that of a conservative, conventional, and introverted woman who deeply distrusts other females. She likely enjoys using tactics such as gossip and social ostracism against other females, including women who have reported being sexually assaulted.

Language: en