Femmephobia is related to essentialist and social constructionist beliefs about gender/sex and gender-related political ideologies

Femme theory suggests that femmephobia, or anti-feminine attitudes, may be connected to gender essentialist beliefs (e.g. beliefs about gender/sex identity as biologically determined and immutable) and gender-related political ideologies (e.g. endorsement of traditional gender norms, gender-specific system justification). We tested these links in a quantitative online survey (N = 250). We hypothesised that femmephobic attitudes would be (1) significantly positively related to gender-specific system justification, gender essentialism, and traditional gender values and (2) significantly negatively related to social constructionist beliefs about gender. Femmephobic attitudes were evaluated through responses to a vignette, in which participants were asked to imagine that they overheard a femmephobic conversation. We found that higher essentialist beliefs, traditional gender values, and gender-system justification and lower social constructionist beliefs predicted femmephobic attitudes. These findings contribute to our understanding of how femmephobic attitudes are connected to people's beliefs about the nature of gender and gender-related political ideologies.