Hello and welcome to another episode of Insane and Legitimately Harmful Gender Stereotypes Are Causing Real and Active Damage to Society. Today, we’re talking about people who are afraid taking care of the environment is unmanly. Yes, really.
According to Pacific Standard, recent studies suggest certain environmental efforts are widely seen to correspond with specific gender roles, with environmentalism in general being seen as “feminine” behavior. While a 2016 study published in the Journal of Consumer Research confirmed that gendered attitudes tend to link pro-environment behavior to femininity, a more recent study adds that a man who engages in such feminine acts of eco-consciousness “can lead people to wonder about [his] sexuality, and perhaps even avoid socializing with [him],” according to Pacific Standard.
In the new study, published in the journal Sex Roles, 170 participants evaluated a fictional character, named either David or Diane, based on a variety of environmentally friendly activities they performed. According to the paper, both characters were perceived as being more likely to have “positive feminine traits” than so-called “positive masculine traits” when they engaged in eco-conscious behaviors, such as recycling or using a reusable shopping bag. Moreover, when “David” engaged in these activities, participants “were uncertain of his heterosexual identity.”
In theory, this should make sense, considering eco-conscious behavior has absolutely nothing to do with sexuality or gender identity, so participants should have no reason to not be uncertain about David’s sexuality based on this completely irrelevant information. Of course, the fact that they specifically reported uncertainty regarding his “heterosexual” identity has entirely different implications that both reflect and reinforce a number of problematic attitudes and preconceptions regarding gender, beginning with the fact that this response figures heterosexuality as the default sexual identity.
But don’t worry, it turns out there are also some green behaviors that are seen as categorically “masculine,” such as caulking windows and doors and “donating to a waterfowl sportsman’s group.” Unsurprisingly, participants weren’t too happy to find the ladies participating in these manly activities. In a follow up study in which participants were asked what kinds of people they would be most interested in engaging with about environmental issues, researchers found that “gender-bending women were socially avoided by men” due to men’s “discomfort engaging with a woman who is not clearly heterosexual,” which is fantastic news for queer and questioning women everywhere.
Anyway, recycling doesn’t make you gay. Please, the earth is dying.
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