Sexism It can take different forms, some of which are masked by attitudes of protection and flattery. However, different forms of sexism have negative effects on the way women are perceived and treated by others and on themselves. Reflections and research on ambivalent sexism – which includes both overtly negative attitudes (hostile sexism) and attitudes that seem subjectively positive, but actually harmful (benevolent sexism) – are making substantial contributions to understanding how sexism operates and the consequences for women.A review published on Nature Review Psychology took stock of predictors of ambivalent sexism and also health outcomes in women (1).
Various forms of sexism
Sexism is a form of prejudice that specifically subordinates women to men.
Although it can take clearly negative (and in some cases even violent) forms, attitudes towards women are not necessarily negative in obvious ways. In fact, women are often described more positively than men. However, positive descriptions of women tend to be limited to traits related to empathy (women are sociable and nice), while men are more positively described in domains such as free will and competence that determine status and power in society (men are bright and capable).
The theory of ambivalent sexism takes these specific circumstances into account and proposes that sexism combines antipathy (hostile sexism) with subjective benevolence (benevolent sexism) towards women in order to maintain men’s dominance over women.
Sexism and health
Although both women and men may experience sexism, women are more frequently targeted by this type of prejudice, despite perceived advances in women’s rights in recent decades.Because of its pervasiveness, sexism towards women has been conceptualized as a daily «nuisance» that can have major implications for women’s mental and physical health (2).
Despite the lack of consensus on whether sex and gender differences should be incorporated or even investigated into treatment paradigms, research on social determinants of health has gathered evidence that women’s symptoms are often taken into account, if not omitted, by (medical sexism). This has inspired research and interventions aimed at reducing the biases shown by health professionals, so as to reduce gender inequalities in health care management.
Sexism and disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD), despite being the leading cause of mortality among women worldwide, remains poorly understood, underdiagnosed and undertreated (3).For example, comparing data from the National Health and Nutrition Estimation Survey (NHANES) III (1988-94) and NHANES IV (1999-2002), more postmenopausal women were hypertensive than men of the same age. In addition, fewer postmenopausal women than men had reached the optimal blood pressure.
Based on NHANES data, it has been hypothesized that women are more likely not to be treated aggressively for their cardiovascular disease and that mechanisms uncommon in men may contribute to their heart disease (4). The positive association between experiences of sexism and post-traumatic stress disorder, psychological distress, smoking frequency, and alcohol consumption should prompt researchers to examine it more thoroughly as an additional CV risk factor in women.
In addition, those that are targets of benevolent or hostile sexism can be found with premonitory cardiovascular signs (5), with a cardiovascular system more responsive to experiences of hostile sexism, but also after experiences of benevolent sexism with a slower recovery in returning to its basal functions.
Sexism can also be a significant physical stressor and experiences of benevolent and hostile sexism are associated with an increased self-reported anxiety and anger, with relatively stronger associations for hostile sexism than benevolent sexism (6).To date, it is difficult to understand how to discriminate the specific affective and physiological sequelae of exposure to various forms of ambivalent sexism and this will be one of the objectives of future research on this issue.
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