Sexual evaluation of women with feminist attitudes

A study was conducted to investigate whether subjects make inferences about a female's sexuality based on her attitudes toward feminist issues. Based on the idea that both attitudes toward feminist issues and toward sexual traits are components of prototypes about females, it was hypothesized that females who expressed nontraditional attitudes on various feminist issues would be rated higher on a number of sexual traits than females who expressed more traditional attitudes. Male and female subjects were given information about a 19‐year‐old, single, female's attitudes on a number of issues related to women's occupational and domestic roles. The target's answers were manipulated so that in one condition she expressed traditional attitudes, and in a second condition she expressed nontraditional or feminist attitudes. The respondents were then asked to rate the target on traits reflecting a sexual and an evaluative dimension. As predicted, it was found that the female expressing nontraditional attitudes was rated higher in the sexual traits and was evaluated more negatively. The results were discussed in terms of the perceived incongruity between feminist attitudes and the traditional female prototype.