Hilary M. Lips

Child Sexual Abuse: Victim Age, Victim Gender, and Observer Gender as Factors Contributing to Attributions of Responsibility.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of victim gender, and observer gender on the tendency to attribute responsibility for extrafamilial child sexual abuse to the victim and the nonoffending parents. METHOD A 2 (Victim Age) x 2 (Victim Gender) x 2 (Observer Gender) between-subjects design was employed. Undergraduate students (N = 145) read a vignette describing a sexually abusive interaction between an adult male neighbor and a child. In this vignette, the childs gender and age (6 years old, 13 years old) varied. After reading the vignette, participants used a 5-point scale to indicate the degree to which they believed the victim and the parents (a) were responsible for, (b) were to blame for, (c) caused, and (d) could have prevented the abuse. RESULTS Greater responsibility was assigned to older than younger victims. Both parents were ascribed similar levels of responsibility, and were ascribed greater responsibility when the child victim was younger than older. Male observers attributed greater responsibility and causality to the victim and the parents than did female observers. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate that responsibility attributions directed toward the victim and the nonoffending parents may be a function of the victims age. In addition, the findings support previous research suggesting that male observers may tend to hold victims more responsible for their abuse than female observers. Implications for treatment and research are discussed.

Gender differences and similarities in attitudes toward computers

Gender differences among university students in attitudes toward and involvement with computers were examined. Males were found to have taken more computer science courses, to be more knowledgeable about computer languages, to be more likely to want to major in computer science, and to have played video games more than females. There were no gender differences in reported nonvideo-game computer use or in exposure to computers in noncomputer science courses. Males and females did not differ on their reported personal interest in and enjoyment of computers. Consistent with previous research, however, males reported more comfort and confidence with computers and more positive attitudes toward mathematics than did females. Women believed more strongly than men that females should learn and are as capable of learning about computers and science as are males. It appears that these university women were as intrigued by computers as the men were. However, they were apparently somewhat inhibited from the pursuit of specialized training and careers in computer science. This inhibition may be linked to their anxiety about their own skills and to the communication, by male peers, of the attitude that women are less capable than men of learning about computers.

Gender- and Science-Related Attitudes as Predictors of College Students' Academic Choices.

Abstract Attitudes toward womens combining scientific careers with family roles, perception of scientific careers as demanding, acceptance of the stereotype that scientists are asocial, and rated importance of a list of work-related values were measured in 253 female and 235 male first-year university students and used as predictors of intent to take mathematics and science courses, intended major, career goal, and number of mathematics and science courses attempted over 3 years. Males disagreed more than females that women can combine scientific careers and family. Females agreed less than males that scientists are asocial. The two groups rated work-related values differently: females placed more importance than males on people-related values, enjoyment of their work, and self-efficacy. For both females and males, agreement with the asocial scientist stereotype related inversely to all of the criterion variables. Perception of scientific careers as demanding related positively to attempting science and mathematics courses and to selecting mathematics or science career goals, especially for males. Only modest support was obtained for a relation between womens beliefs or concerns about combining career and family responsibilities and their academic and vocational choices with respect to mathematics and science.

Violent pornography and self-reported likelihood of sexual aggression

Abstract Two hundred twenty-two undergraduate males were administered an “attitudes survey” examining pornography use, attitudes, and self-reported likelihood of rape (LR) or using sexual force (LF). Nonviolent pornography was used by 81% of subjects within the last year, whereas 41 and 35% had used violent and sexually violent pornography, respectively. Twenty-seven percent of subjects indicated some hypothetical likelihood of raping or using sexual force against a woman. Discriminant function analysis revealed that use of sexually violent pornography and acceptance of interpersonal violence against women were uniquely associated with LF and LR. It is hypothesized that the specific fusion of sex and violence in some pornographic stimuli and in certain belief systems may produce a propensity to engage in sexually aggressive behavior. Results are interpreted in terms of Malamuth and Brieres (1986 , Journal of Social Issues, 42, 75–92) model of the effects of sexually violent media.

College Students' Visions of Power and Possibility as Moderated by Gender.

The research literature, the shortage of women in positions of visible leadership, and the medias treatment of powerful women suggest that cultural prescriptions for power and leadership mesh uncomfortably with expectations for women in many contexts. To explore the ways in which young women and men may be absorbing cultural messages about power and gender, this study investigated the ways in which university students imagined their “possible powerful selves.” Respondents provided written descriptions of their possible selves as persons with power, political leaders, chief executive officers, and directors of scientific research centers as well as ratings of how possible and how positive such roles would be for them. Women rated the possibility of becoming a person with power or a political leader lower than men did. Women were also significantly more likely than men to anticipate relationship problems associated with the political leader role.

Participation in competitive amateur sports as a function of psychological androgyny

Previous research has indicated that women who participate in competitive sports tend to score low on traditional measures of femininity, and such women have been characterized as masculine (Harris, 1975). These studies used the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1974) to measure the degree of sex-typing in 25 male and 23 female competitors in a national racquetball tournament and 24 male and 27 female competitors in local badminton, squash, and handball tournaments. Results for the first study indicated that a larger percentage of androgynous women as compared to traditionally feminine or masculine women entered the racquetball tournament, whereas the largest percentage of male entrants were in the masculine role category. Results for the second study indicated that among contestants who cited a competitive reason for entering the tournament, a larger percentage of both men and women were sex-typed as androgynous or masculine rather than feminine. These results were subsequently reanalyzed according to an alternate procedure suggested by Bem (1977) in order to compare the behavior of subjects who score high on both masculinity and femininity and those who scored low on both. While the percentages of masculine, feminine, and androgynous subjects were changed by the new categorization procedure, there were no differences found between high—high and low—low scorers. Implications of these results for the traditional characterization of women participants in competitive sports and for the usefulness of the BSRI in predicting nonlaboratory behavior are discussed.

Envisioning Positions of Leadership: The Expectations of University Students in Virginia and Puerto Rico

Eighty-six university students in Virginia and 46 in Puerto Rico were asked to imagine themselves in a series of powerful roles, describe what they imagined, and rate each roles positivity and possibility. Among the Virginia students, women were more likely than men to anticipate relationship problems with powerful roles and to mention physical appearance. The Virginia women rated images of themselves in powerful roles more negatively than did the Puerto Rico women. Women in the two samples did not differ in their frequency of anticipating relationship problems with powerful roles, but they differed in the correlates of such anticipation. For the women in the Virginia sample only, anticipating relationship problems was associated with low self-rated possibility of achieving these roles. Whereas young women do envision ambitious leadership possibilities for themselves, they apparently struggle to accommodate these visions to the contradictory prescriptions for powerful women.

Majoring in computer science: Causal models for women and men

Data taken from a questionnaire completed by 305 undergraduate students were used to test a causal model for predicting intent to major in computer science. The model, derived from an expectation × value theory framework, provided an acceptable fit to the data for both female and male samples. However, when the model was tested independently for males and females, there were some quantitative differences in the strength and significance of the causal paths. Attitudes toward mathematics appeared to play a more complex and stronger role in mens than in womens plans to major in computer science, while experience with computer science played a stronger, more positive role in womens than in mens plans.

Competing Discourses for Older Women: Agency/Leadership vs. Disengagement/Retirement

Older women are targets of competing discourses. On one hand, they are urged to maintain or even increase their engagement, to translate their experience and seniority into leadership roles finally available to women after many years of struggle. On the other hand, they are reminded that they have earned the right to retire and rest, and are bombarded with messages reminding them to be concerned about the encroaching limitations and problems associated with aging. These competing prescriptions are most evident in the realms of work/career and physical health/activity, where either early disengagement or refusal to disengage can cause problems. Women who exit early from employment may face poverty and deprive society of important contributions; those who resist retirement may face stress, exhaustion, and missed opportunities for fulfillment in other domains. Women who stop physical activity as they age face a variety of health consequences; those who persist run the risk of injury. Thus, womens negotiation of these contradictory prescriptions requires a complex balancing act. Therapists can assist older women in finding the right balance by acknowledging their own biases, helping women both to acknowledge their internalization of ageist stereotypes and to recognize ways in which ageing may increase their empowerment by releasing them from certain constraints. They can encourage their clients to maintain and increase their power through physical activity and support womens resistance to debilitating messages by exposing them to a wide range of older women as role models.

Subject reactions to a stimulus person as a function of sex of subject and sex-role appropriateness of stimulus person's career goal

In the first study, 40 male and 40 female undergraduates were given a written description of the career progress of a stimulus person. Subjects were each given one of four different descriptions in which sex of stimulus person and career of stimulus person (automotive mechanic or secretary) were varied, and asked for their attributions about the reason for the persons success. Results showed that male subjects attributed the success of the male mechanic and the female secretary more to ability than motivation, while they attributed the success of the female mechanic and the male secretary more to motivation than ability. Female subjects, on the other hand, attributed the success of the male mechanic more to motivation than ability and showed no difference between attributions to ability and motivation for the other three stimulus persons. In a second study, 47 male and 62 female undergraduates were given the resumés of two stimulus persons and asked to indicate which of the two they would choose to hire. The two resumés were in the areas of engineering, nursing, or teaching, and one resumé described a male while one described a female. Results showed a difference in the choice behavior of male and female subjects, with females more often choosing the sex-role-inappropriate person (i.e., the male nurse or the female engineer) than the males.