Literature Review - Abstracts or Excerpts from Articles

Mosquera, P. M. R. (2011). “Masculine and feminine honor codes.” Revista De Psicologia Social 26(1): 63-72.

ABSTRACT:

We present a study on the importance of masculine and feminine honor and attitudes towards sex roles in Spain and the Netherlands. Honor is more important in Spanish than in Dutch culture. Participants were asked to rate the extent to which gender-neutral (e.g., caring for reputation) and gendered (e.g., assertiveness, modesty) honor attributes were desirable in their culture for each sex. We also measured attitudes towards sex-roles in different domains (e.g., work, marriage). The Spanish participants rated gender-neutral honor attributes as more desirable than the Dutch participants did. Both Spanish and Dutch participants rated masculine honor attributes as more desirable for men, and feminine honor attributes as more desirable for women. Participant’s sex emerged as the most important predictor of attitudes towards sex roles, with males expressing more traditional attitudes than females. Taken together, the results indicate that masculine and feminine honor are expressions of pan-cultural ideals of masculinity and femininity.

Saucier, D. A., Till, D. F., Miller, S. S., O'Dea, C. J., & Andres, E. (2014). Slurs against masculinity: masculine honor beliefs and men's reactions to slurs. Language Sciences.

ABSTRACT:

We examined the manifestation and effects of slurs against men and masculinity. In Study 1, we created a taxonomy of slurs against men and masculinity. In Study 2, we established that men may respond with physical aggression when targeted by these slurs. In Study 3, we demonstrated that slurs in different categories of our taxonomy produce varying levels of perceived offensiveness and likelihoods of aggressive responses. Finally, in Study 4, we showed that men’s masculine honor beliefs are associated with their perceptions of slurs as offensive and the ratings of their likelihood of responding physically, especially for slurs that directly challenge their masculinity. These findings extend the extant literature that has examined the content of and reactions to slurs and physically aggressive responses to provocation, as well as that which has examined conceptualizations of masculine honor from both cultural and individual difference perspectives.

General Discussion (page 11)

Our results are consistent with previous research that has examined how men respond to challenges to their heterosexuality. Previous research has shown that men report that homophobic slurs are among the “worst things” that men may call other men (Preston and Stanley,1987), and that heterosexual men seek to actively maintain gender identities that serve to distance themselves from gay men (Falomir-Pichastor and Mugny, 2009). Men perceive homophobic slurs negatively, and may take measures to highlight their heterosexuality even upon exposure to these slurs – even when not directly targeted by them (Carnaghi et al., 2011). Men similarly may respond negatively toward gay men to assert their heterosexuality in an attempt to compensate for feedback that their levels of masculinity were lower than the average of men nationally (Talley and Bettencourt, 2008). Our findings confirm these conclusions from the literature by showing that homophobic slurs, as well as other slurs that threaten masculinity, are perceived as particularly offensive by men. But our studies extend this extant research by innovatively demonstrating how men’s reactions to challenged masculinity are related to their masculine honor beliefs.

General Discussion (page 12)
Across four studies, we gathered and reported compelling data that contribute to the understanding of how men perceive and respond to being targeted by slurs, especially those that challenge or disparage their masculinity. We identified a taxonomy of slurs against men and masculinity that men report to be offensive that may be used to aid the design and communication of future research on slurs, insults, and provocation.We found that men report having fought when targeted by slurs against men and masculinity, and that they perceive slurs against their masculinity to be particularly offensive and report greater likelihoods of responding to these slurs physically. Finally, we found that men’s perceptions of and reactions to being targeted by slurs are associated with their adherence to masculine honor beliefs, with those relationships being stronger for the components of masculine honor related to pride in manhood, virtue in masculinity, and perceptions of provocation as threatening with slurs that directly challenge or disparage men’s masculinity. In summary, our research has demonstrated that slurs against men and masculinity may incite physically aggressive responses in men bound by the standards of masculine honor, highlighting the theoretical, practical, and societal importance of investigating and understanding “fighting words.”