Gender Roles & Ambivalent Sexism
This page serves as a brief introduction into the topics being discussed in this subsection, the stereotypical gender roles of America and the Ambivalent Sexism Theory.
First a deeper dive will be taken into the traditional gender roles from 1950’s America. The aim is to provide an overarching definition for each position within the nuclear family; while primarily focusing on the mother and father. Furthermore, it will dive into the expectations placed on men and women to fulfill this tradition. Even though this is not often the case nowadays because people often reject the myth of the traditional nuclear family.
Then we will dive into the ambivalent sexism theory, which is the theory that sexism is not just one dimensional but multidimensional with two different forms of sexism: hostile sexism and benevolent sexism. Hostile sexism is essentially viewing people who break those traditional roles in a negative manner and it tends to be directed at women more specifically. Whereas benevolent sexism is essentially viewing people who conform to these traditional gender roles in a positive manner[1]. These will be further defined in the Ambivalent sexism will also attempt to show the different kinds of people in America who apply these kinds of sexism in their daily lives and how that application may change with age, gender, and religion.
References:
[1] Grubbs, Joshua B. "Ambivalent Sexism." New Yourk University: 61-63. https://pages.nyu.edu/jackson/sex.and.gender/Readings/AmbivalentSexism-Sage17.pdf