1 University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.
2 Iowa State University, Ames, USA.
Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2019 Jan;45(1):146-161. doi: 10.1177/0146167218781000. Epub 2018 Jun 29.
Benevolent sexism (BS) has detrimental effects on women, yet women prefer men with BS attitudes over those without. The predominant explanation for this paradox is that women respond to the superficially positive appearance of BS without being aware of its subtly harmful effects. We propose an alternative explanation drawn from evolutionary and sociocultural theories on mate preferences: Women find BS men attractive because BS attitudes and behaviors signal that a man is willing to invest. Five studies showed that women prefer men with BS attitudes (Studies 1a, 1b, and 3) and behaviors (Studies 2a and 2b), especially in mating contexts, because BS mates are perceived as willing to invest (protect, provide, and commit). Women preferred BS men despite also perceiving them as patronizing and undermining. These findings extend understanding of women's motives for endorsing BS and suggest that women prefer BS men despite having awareness of the harmful consequences.
善意性别歧视（BS）对女性有不利影响，但女性更喜欢有 BS 态度的男性，而不是没有 BS 态度的男性。对于这种矛盾，主要的解释是，女性对 BS 的表面积极表象做出反应，而没有意识到其微妙的有害影响。我们提出了一个来自进化和社会文化理论对伴侣偏好的替代解释：女性认为 BS 男性有吸引力，因为 BS 态度和行为表明一个男人愿意投资。五项研究表明，女性更喜欢有 BS 态度的男性（研究 1a、1b 和 3）和行为（研究 2a 和 2b），特别是在交配环境中，因为 BS 伴侣被认为愿意投资（保护、提供和承诺）。尽管 BS 男性也被认为是屈尊俯就和破坏关系的，但女性还是更喜欢他们。这些发现扩展了对女性支持 BS 的动机的理解，并表明，尽管女性意识到 BS 男性的有害后果，但她们还是更喜欢 BS 男性。
