Internalized misogyny as a moderator of the link between sexist events and women's psychological distress

Sex Roles (2009) 61:101–109 DOI 10.1007/s11199-009-9611-y ORIGINAL ARTICLE Internalized Misogyny as a Moderator of the Link between Sexist Events and Women’s Psychological Distress Dawn M. Szymanski & Arpana Gupta & Erika R. Carr & Destin Stewart Published online: 28 March 2009 # Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009 Abstract This study examined the relationship between abroad often live in patriarchal cultures, many women are internalized misogyny and two other forms of internalized exposed to various forms of sexism that come from a sexism, self-objectification and passive acceptance of variety of places including the media, religious institutions, traditional gender roles. In addition, it examined the political and legal systems, places of work, and familial and moderating role of internalized misogyny in the link interpersonal relationships (American Psychological Asso- between sexist events and psychological distress. Partic- ciation 2007). The personal is political posits that sexism is ipants consisted of 274 heterosexual women who were likely to contribute to women’s mental health problems recruited at a large southern university in the United States directly through experiences of sexist events and through and completed an online survey. Results indicated that the internalization of negative and limiting messages about internalized misogyny was related to, but conceptually being a woman. In addition, Feminist Therapy Theory distinct from self-objectification and passive acceptance. postulates that internalized sexism may exacerbate or Findings also indicated that greater experiences of sexist moderate the effects of sexist events on psychological events were associated with higher levels of psychological distress (Brown 1994; Enns 2004; Worell and Remer 2003). distress. In addition, internalized misogyny intensified the Research on potential moderators of the link between sexist relationship between external sexism and psychological events and psychosocial health might identify subgroups of distress. women for whom this link may be more pronounced, which could ultimately inform interventions targeted to these Keywords Internalized sexism . Sexist events . Oppression . women. Feminist theory Sexist Events and Psychological Distress Introduction Sexist events have been conceptualized as gender specific, negative life events that are unique to women, socially According to Feminist Therapy Theory, the personal is based (e.g., they stem from relatively stable underlying political, that is, women’s personal problems both in the patriarchal social structures, institutions, and processes United States and abroad are influenced by the socio- beyond the individual), chronic, and cause excess stress cultural and political conditions in which they live and can (Klonoff and Landrine 1995; Swim et al. 1998). Two be conceptualized as reactions to oppression (Brown 1994; measures with good psychometric support have been Enns 2004). Because women both in the United States and developed to assess sexist events. The first, the Schedule of Sexist Events (Klonoff and Landrine 1995), assesses sexism in the forms of sexist degradation and its con- sequences and sexist discrimination in both close and D. M. Szymanski (*) : A. Gupta : E. R. Carr : D. Stewart distant relationships and in the workplace. The second, Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Knoxville, TN 37996-0900, USA the Daily Sexist Events Scale (Swim et al. 1998; Swim e-mail: dawnszymanski@msn.com et al. 2001), assesses sexism in the forms of traditional 102 Sex Roles (2009) 61:101–109 gender role stereotyping and prejudice, demeaning and et al. 2005; Muehlenkamp and Saris-Baglama 2002; Noll derogatory comments and behaviors, and unwanted sexually and Fredrickson 1998; Tiggemann and Kuring 2004; objectifying comments and behaviors. Tiggemann and Slater 2001). In addition, Moradi et al. Recent research, using either the Schedule of Sexist (2005) found that self-objectification mediated the rela- Events (Klonoff and Landrine 1995) or the Daily Sexist tionships between sexually objectifying experiences and Events Scale (Swim et al. 1998; Swim et al. 2001), has built disordered eating. This finding provides evidence for the support for a consistent connection between experiences of importance of looking at the influence of third variables external sexism and psychological symptoms among in the link between external sexism and psychosocial women in general and various subgroups of women. For distress. example, previous research has found that more experi- Another conceptualization of internalized sexism that ences of sexist events are related to greater psychological has garnered empirical support is passive acceptance of distress among college women (Fischer and Holz 2007; traditional gender roles and unawareness or denial of Moradi and Subich 2002, 2004; Klonoff et al. 2000; Sabik cultural, institutional, and individual sexism (Bargad and and Tylka 2006; Swim et al. 2001; Zucker and Landry Hyde 1991; Downing and Roush 1985; Fischer et al. 2000; 2007), both a college and community female sample Worell and Remer 2003). Passive acceptance has been (Landrine et al. 1995), lesbian and bisexual women found to be positively correlated with foreclosed identity (Szymanski 2005; Szymanski and Owens 2009), African (Fischer et al. 2000) and psychological distress (Moradi and American females (Moradi and Subich 2003), and women Subich 2002) among presumably heterosexual women. who sought counseling (Moradi and Funderburk 2006). In However, contrary to these findings, no support was found addition, Landrine et al. found that sexist events are related for a relationship between passive acceptance and psycho- to psychological distress above and beyond major and logical distress among lesbians and bisexual women minor generic stressful life events, and Klonoff et al. (2000) (Szymanski 2005). In addition, mixed findings have been found that sexist events may account for gender differences found concerning symptoms of disordered eating with one in anxious, depressive, and somatic symptoms. Moreover, study finding a positive relationship between passive this relationship between sexist events and poorer mental acceptance and symptoms of disordered eating (Snyder health holds when sexism is operationalized in other ways and Hasbrouck 1996) and another finding no relationship including experiences of childhood sexual abuse (Polusny between the two variables (Sabik and Tylka 2006). and Follette 1995), sexual assault, rape, and domestic Consistent with Feminist Therapy Theory, Moradi and violence (Koss et al. 2003; Wolfe and Kimerling 1997), Subich (2002) found that passive acceptance moderated the and workplace harassment and discrimination (Fitzgerald relationship between sexist events and psychological et al. 1997; Pavalko et al. 2003). Thus, these findings are distress. That is, this form of internalized sexism exacer- consistent with the feminist therapy tenet of attending to bated the relationship between experiences of sexist events sexist and oppressive power dynamics in the current within the past year and women’s psychological distress. contexts of women’s lives (Brown 1994; Worell and Remer Contrary to this finding, Sabik and Tylka (2006) found 2003). no support for the moderating role of passive acceptance in the link between sexist events and symptoms of Internalized Sexism and Psychological Distress disordered eating. These findings suggest that manifesta- tions of internalized sexism might moderate the sexism- Similar to research on external sexism, a burgeoning body of psychological distress link but not the sexism-disordered research has begun to demonstrate the negative relationship eating link. Taken together, these studies provide evidence between various manifestations of internalized sexism and for examining the internalized sexism-distress link among women’s psychosocial health. One of the most popular subgroups of women and for the importance of examining manifestations of internalized sexism that has been researched moderators in the link between sexism and mental health. is the construct of self-objectification (McKinley and Hyde Although self-objectification and passive acceptance 1996; Noll and Fredrickson 1998). Self-objectification refers appear to be important manifestations of the ways in which to the internalization of sexually objectifying experiences sexism can be internalized, they fail to attend to a core that occurs when women treat themselves as an object to be construct of sexism which is misogyny or a hatred and looked at and evaluated on the basis of appearance devaluation of women (Szymanski and Kashubeck-West (Fredrickson and Roberts 1997). Researchers have consis- 2008). Misogyny is a cultural practice that serves to tently found positive correlations between self-objectification maintain power of the dominant male group through the and both depression (Miner-Rubino et al. 2002; Szymanski subordination of women (Piggot 2004). Women, and their and Henning 2007; Tiggemann and Kuring 2004) and role in society, are thus devalued to increase and maintain disordered eating (McKinley and Hyde 1996; Moradi the power of men, which results in a fear of femininity and Sex Roles (2009) 61:101–109 103 a hatred and devaluing of women and female related Internalized Misogyny as a Potential Moderator characteristics (Burch 1987; O’Neil 1981; Worell and of the Sexist Events-Distress Link Remer 2003). The negative impact of the devaluation of something as central as gender is perpetuated not only by Moderators address the question of under what circumstances men but also by women who reinforce the central male does a variable most strongly predict an outcome variable culture of devaluing women through acts of horizontal (Frazier et al. 2004). Thus, moderators are variables which oppression and omission resulting from internalized misogyny could potentially intensify or buffer the relationship between (Piggot 2004; Saakvitne and Pearlman 1993). sexism and mental health. Feminist Theory postulates an The only known measure assessing internalized misogyny augmenting or synergistic effect of various aspects of is the Internalised Misogyny Scale (IMS; Piggot 2004). The internalized sexism in the relationship between sexist events IMS consists of 17 items which reflect three dimensions: and mental health (Brown 1994; Enns 2004; Worell and devaluing of women, distrust of women, and gender bias in Remer 2003). That is, as the level of internalized misogyny favor of men. Validity was supported by feedback from a (i.e., the moderator) increases, the relationship between focus group, exploratory factor analysis, cross-cultural sexist events and psychological distress becomes stronger. comparisons, and correlating the IMS with measures of Internalized sexism represents a form of self-blame and thus modern sexism, internalized heterosexism, body image, may intensify the relationship of sexist events and mental depression, self-esteem, psychosexual adjustment, and health. That is, an experience of sexist discrimination is more social desirability in a cross cultural sample of 803 women painful when the victim agrees with the sexist attitudes from Australia, the United States, Canada, Finland, and conveyed by the victimization event. Furthermore, oppres- the United Kingdom. In addition, internalized misogyny sive experiences many be more harmful to women who have assessed via the IMS has been found to related to lower self negative evaluations of women in general and of oneself as a esteem, less social support, and more psychological distress woman than those who hold positive evaluations (Moradi among sexual minority women living in the United States and Subich 2002, 2004). (Szymanski and Kashubeck-West 2008), and to negative body image, depression, low self-esteem, and less psycho- Summary of the Current Study sexual adjustment among lesbian and bisexual women living in five different countries; i.e., Australia, Canada, England, In sum, the purpose of this study is to examine: (a) the Finland, and the United States (Piggot 2004). However, no relationship between internalized misogyny and self- study has examined if the relationship between internalized objectification and passive acceptance to determine if these misogyny and poorer psychosocial health holds true for constructs are related but conceptually distinct forms of heterosexual women. internalized sexism, (b) the independent and concurrent Taken together, the results of these studies suggest that relationships of sexist events and internalized misogyny to internalized sexism can manifest in very different ways. psychological distress, and (c) the potential moderating role However, it is unclear how internalized misogyny is related of internalized misogyny in the external sexism-distress to these other forms of internalized sexism (i.e., are they link in a sample of undergraduate heterosexual women essentially measuring the same thing, are they related but living in the United States. More specifically, the following conceptually distinct from one another, or are they hypotheses will be examined: unrelated to each other). Feminist Theory would suggest Hypothesis 1: Internalized misogyny will be significantly that internalized sexism can manifest in many different correlated with self-objectification and pas- ways and that internalized misogyny would be related to, sive acceptance. but conceptually distinct from self-objectification and Hypothesis 2: Sexist events and internalized misogyny passive acceptance. In addition, research largely supports will be significantly correlated with psy- feminist contentions that there is a direct relationship chological distress. between internalized oppression and women’s mental Hypothesis 3: When examined concurrently, both sexist health. However, given the more recent development and events and internalized misogyny will be measurement of the internalized misogyny construct more significantly related to psychological dis- research is needed to examine the relationship between tress. internalized misogyny and the psychosocial health of Hypothesis 4: Internalized misogyny will moderate the heterosexual women and women from other minority relationship between sexist events and groups. Furthermore, scant research has examined the psychological distress. potential moderating role of various manifestations of internalized sexism in the link between sexist events and Hierarchical multiple regression will be used to examine women’s psychological distress. whether internalized misogyny moderates the relationship 104 Sex Roles (2009) 61:101–109 between sexist events and psychological distress because it a 5-point Likert scale with the following response options: is recognized as the best method to detect the presence or 1 (never), 2 (about once during the last semester), 3 (about absence of moderating effects (Aiken and West 1991; once a month during the last semester), 4 (about once a Frazier et al. 2004). In this analysis, the predictor (i.e., week during the last semester), and 5 (about two or more sexist events) and proposed moderator variable (i.e. times a week during the last semester). Mean scores were internalized misogyny) are entered at Step 1. Next, at Step used with higher scores indicating the experience of more 2, the interaction term (i.e., sexist events X internalized sexist events. Content and construct validity was supported misogyny) is entered. Evidence for a moderator effect is via a series of daily dairy studies of sexist experiences, noted at Step 2 by a statistically significant increment in R² exploratory factor analyses, findings indicating that women and beta weight. reported more sexist events than men, correlations demon- strating that more experiences of sexist events was related to more anger, greater depression, decreased comfort, and Method less self-esteem among women, and that sexist events was not related to neuroticism (Swim et al. 1998; Swim et al. Participants 2001). Alpha for scores in the current sample was .95. Internalized misogyny was assessed using the Internal- Participants consisted of 274 self-identified heterosexual ised Misogyny Scale (IMS; Piggot 2004), which consists of women who were recruited via undergraduate psychology 17 items reflecting three factors: distrust of women, courses at a large southern university in the United States. devaluing of women, and valuing men over women. We Two participants who identified as lesbian and one chose the IMS measure to assess internalized misogyny participant who identified as not sure about her sexual because it is the only known measure assessing this form of orientation were dropped from the sample and not included internalized sexism, has good psychometric support, and in any of the analyses. Participants ranged in age from 18 to was developed using an international sample so it may have 31 years, with a mean age of 18.88 years (SD=1.44). The more utility in use with both United States and non-United sample was 68% (n=187) 1st year undergraduates, 21% States samples. Example items include “Sometimes other (n=58) Sophomore, 7% (n=20) Junior, and 3% (n=9) women bother me by just being around,” “It is generally Senior. The sample was 11% (n=29) African American/ safer not to trust women too much,” and “Generally, I Black, 1% (n=4) Asian American/Pacific Islander, 84% prefer to work with men.” Each item is rated on a 7-point (n=230) European American/White, 2% (n=5) Hispanic/ Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly Latina, 1% (n=2) Native American, 1% (n=2) multiracial, agree). Mean scores were used with higher scores indicat- and 1% (n=2) other. Twenty four percent (n=65) were ing more internalized misogyny. Reported alpha for scores single and not dating, 46% (n=126) were single and dating, on the IMS were .88 full scale, .82 Distrust of Women and 30% (n=83) were married, partnered, or in a committed Subscale, .83 Devaluing Women subscale, and .74 Valuing relationship. Due to rounding percentages may not add up Men subscale. Validity was supported by feedback from a to 100%. focus group, exploratory factor analysis, cross-cultural comparisons, and correlating the IMS with measures of Measure modern sexism, internalized heterosexism, body image, depression, self-esteem, psychosexual adjustment, and Sexist events were assessed via the Daily Sexist Events social desirability in a cross cultural sample of 803 sexual Scale (Swim et al. 1998; Swim et al. 2001), which consists minority women (Piggot 2004). Alpha for full scale scores of 26 items assessing sexism in the forms of traditional in the current sample was .90. gender role stereotyping and prejudice and unwanted Self-objectification was assessed using the Self- sexually objectifying comments and behaviors. We chose Objectification Questionnaire (Noll and Fredrickson to use the Daily Sexist Events Scale in our study because it 1998), which consists of ten items pertaining to physical was developed using a series of daily diary studies to attributes that reflect the physical self-concept of the examine the incidence and nature of sexist events specif- respondent. Five items concern attributes that are ically experienced by college students. Participants are appearance-based (i.e., physical attractiveness, sex appeal, asked to indicate how often during the previous semester weight, firm/sculpted muscles, and measurements), and five they experienced a variety of sexist events. Example items items concern attributes that are competence-based (i.e., include “Had people shout sexist comments, whistle, or health, energy level, physical coordination, physical fitness make catcalls at me” and “Heard someone express level, and strength). Each item is rank ordered by the disapproval of me because I exhibited behavior inconsistent respondent from most important (rank 1) to least important with stereotypes about my gender.” Each item is rated using (rank 10). Scores were computed by summing the ranks for Sex Roles (2009) 61:101–109 105 the appearance and competence attributes separately, then Reviews of the literature suggest that all versions of the computing a difference score. Higher scores reflect a widely used Symptom Checklist, including the HSCL used greater emphasis on appearance, thus greater self- in the current study as well as the commercially published objectification. Validity was supported by correlating the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) appear to measure a Self-Objectification Questionnaire with measures of body general distress factor (Cyr et al. 1985). Inter-correlations dissatisfaction, body shame, appearance anxiety, neuroti- between HSCL subscales in the current study (r’s ranged cism, and negative affect (Noll & Fredrickson; Miner- from .67 to .83) support this assertion. In addition, a global Rubino et al. 2002). distress measure was used in several studies (e.g., Corning Passive acceptance was assessed using the passive 2002; Klonoff et al. 2000; Landrine et al. 1995; Moradi and acceptance subscale of Bargad and Hyde’s (1991) Feminist Funderburk 2006; Moradi and Subich 2002, 2003, 2004; Identity Development Scale (FIDS), which consists of ten Szymanski 2005; Szymanski and Kashubeck-West 2008) items assessing passive acceptance of traditional gender examining the relationship between external and/or internal- roles and unawareness or denial of cultural, institutional, ized sexism and mental health, so we chose to use the HSCL and individual sexism. Example of items include “I think full scale scores so we could make better and cleaner that rape is sometimes the woman’s fault” and “I think that comparisons to previous studies. Alpha for scores in the men and women had it better in the 1950s when married current sample was .97. women were housewives and their husbands supported them.” Each statement is rated on a 5-point Likert scale Procedures from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Mean scores were used with higher scores indicating more Participants were recruited via undergraduate psychology passive acceptance of traditional gender roles. Reported courses through a psychology department’s research website alpha for scores on the passive acceptance subscale was .85 at a large southern university. Potential participants used a (Bargad and Hyde 1991). Validity was supported via hypertext link to access the survey website. After reading an theoretically predicted significant score changes in pre- informed consent, participants were instructed to complete post comparisons of students enrolled in women’s studies the online survey, which included the aforementioned courses (Bargad and Hyde 1991), and significant correla- measures. As an incentive to participate, all participants tions between extent of exposure to women’s issues in were given course credit for their undergraduate psychology graduate psychology programs and less passive acceptance class and were eligible to enter a participant raffle awarding (Worell et al. 1999). Alpha for scores in the current sample $100 each to five randomly selected participants. was .80. Procedures for this website survey were based on Psychological distress was assessed using the Hopkins published suggestions (Buchanan and Smith 1999; Michalak Symptom Checklist (HSCL; Derogatis et al. 1974), which and Szabo 1998; Schmidt 1997). Methods for protecting consists of 58 items reflecting psychological distress across confidentiality included having participants access the five symptom dimensions: depression, somatization, inter- research survey via a hypertext link rather than e-mail to personal sensitivity, anxiety, and obsessive compulsive. We ensure participant anonymity and the use of a separate chose to use the HSCL in our study because several studies course credit database so there was no way to connect a examining the relationships between external and internal- person’s on-line raffle submission with her submitted ized sexism and psychological distress have used the HSCL survey. Methods used for ensuring data integrity included (e.g., Klonoff et al. 2000; Landrine et al. 1995; Szymanski using “cookies” to identify problems associated with 2005; Szymanski and Kashubeck-West 2008) or derivations multiple submissions of data from the same computer, of it (e.g., (Moradi and Funderburk 2006; Moradi and and use of a secure server protected with a firewall to Subich 2002, 2003, 2004) in their studies. Examples of prevent tampering with data and programs by “hackers” items include “Feeling easily annoyed or irritated” and and inadvertent access to confidential information by “Feeling blue.” Participants indicate how often they have research participants. Gosling et al. (2004) reported that felt each symptom during the past several days using a 4- results from Internet studies are consistent with findings point Likert scale from 1 (not at all) to 4 (extremely). Mean obtained from traditional pen-and-paper methods. scores were used with higher scores indicating more psychological distress. Reported alpha for scores on the HSCL ranged from .84 to .87. Test-retest reliability ranged Results from .75 to .84. Validity of the HSCL was supported by studies reflecting the factorial invariance of HSCL symp- Possible range, means, standard deviations, and inter- tom dimensions, between group differences, and the correlations among all continuous variables assessed in this HSCL’s sensitivity to the use of psychotherapeutic drugs. study are shown in Table 1. To test hypothesis 1, correlations 106 Sex Roles (2009) 61:101–109 Table 1 Possible ranges, means, standard deviations, and Variable Possible Range Mean SD 1 2 3 4 correlations among all study variables. 1. Sexist Events 1–5 2.24 .69 — 2. Internalized Misogyny 1–7 3.28 1.01 .13* — 3. Self-objectification −25–+25 .26 13.43 .15* .12* — 4. Passive Acceptance 1–5 2.43 .64 −.03 .53* .03 — 5. Psychological Distress 1–4 1.76 .55 .44* .12* .02 .04 *p<.05 between internalized misogyny and self-objectification and (r=.13), condition index values (range=1.00 to 1.19), and passive acceptance were conducted to determine if internal- variance inflation factors (range=1.01 to 1.03) revealed that ized misogyny was a related but conceptually distinct form of multicollinearity was not a problem for the current analysis. internalized sexism. Low to moderate correlations between Main effects were entered at Step 1 and interaction effects at internalized misogyny and self-objectification (r=.12; p<.05) Step 2. A significant change in R² for the interaction term and passive acceptance (r=.53; p<.05) supported this indicated a significant moderator effect (see Table 2). That is, assertion. the interaction between sexist events and internalized To test hypothesis 2, correlations between sexist events and misogyny (β=.13) was a significant predictor of psycholog- internalized misogyny and psychological distress were con- ical distress scores and accounted for 1.6% beyond the ducted. As expected sexist events (r=.44, p<.05; medium variance accounted for by sexist events and internalized effect size) and internalized misogyny (r=.12, p<.05; small misogyny (R² Change=.016; F Change=5.380; Significant F effect size) were significantly positively correlated with Change=.021). psychological distress. To test hypothesis 3, a simultaneous To interpret the statistically significant interaction, regres- multiple regression was conducted to test the unique sion lines were plotted using an equation which included contributions of sexist events and internalized misogyny in terms for the two main effects (sexist events and internalized predicting psychological distress. The results of this analysis misogyny), and the interaction term (sexist events X internal- were significant, R²=.197, F (2, 263)=31.915, p<.001, and ized misogyny, along with the corresponding unstandardized revealed that sexist events (β=.43; t=7.696; p<.001) was a regression coefficients and regression constant (Aiken and significant and unique predictor of psychological distress but West 1991; Cohen and Cohen 1983). As recommended by internalized misogyny was not (β=.065; t=1.161; p>.05). Aiken and West (1991), psychological distress scores for To test hypothesis 4, a hierarchical multiple regression was sexist events scores of one standard deviation below and conducted to test the moderator effects of internalized above the mean and low internalized misogyny (one standard misogyny in sexism-distress link. Scores for sexist events deviations below the mean) versus high internalized misog- and internalized misogyny were centered to reduce multi- yny (one standard deviations above the mean) were plotted collinearity between the interaction terms and other predictor on a graph. Aiken and West’s (1991) simple slope analysis variables (Aiken and West 1991; Tabachnick and Fidell showed that sexist events predicted psychological distress for 2001). Multicollinearity is a problem that occurs when women with low internalized misogyny, β=.327, t (260)= variables are redundant and too highly correlated which 4.606, p<.001, and for women with high internalized results in an inflation of the size of error terms and weakens misogyny, β=.531, t (260)=7.544, p<.001, indicating that an analysis (Tabachnick and Fidell 2001). Absolute value sexist events predicts psychological distress for women with correlations below .90, condition indexes below 30, and both low and high levels of internalized misogyny but this variance inflation factors below ten indicate that multi- relationship is stronger for those with high internalized collinearity is not a problem (Myers 1990; Tabachnick and misogyny scores. As shown in Fig. 1, the difference between Fidell 2001). Correlations between the predictor variables the two internalized misogyny groups occurs at the higher Table 2 Summary of hierarchical regression Step Variables β R² R² Change F Change df predicting psychological distress. 1 Main Effects .197 .197 31.915** 2,261 Sexist Events .43** Internalized Misogyny .04 β reflects values for the final 2 Interaction Effects .213 .016 5.380* 1, 260 regression equation. Sexist Events X Internalized Misogyny .13* *p<.05; **p<.001. Sex Roles (2009) 61:101–109 107 2.10 Hi IM y = .423x + 1.788 effect size (r=.12) for the relationship between internalized Low IM y = .261x + 1.730 misogyny and psychological distress among a heterosexual 2.00 female sample. Although consistent with Feminist Therapy Theory and the relations found among sexual minority women, the effect size found in the current study is smaller 1.90 than that reported for sexual minority women (i.e., r=.24 for depression; Piggot 2004; and r=.26 for psychological 1.80 distress; Szymanski & Kashubeck-West 2008). Further- Distress more, when sexist events and internalized misogyny were 1.70 examined concurrently, only sexist events emerged as a unique predictor of psychological distress. In addition, the moderator analysis indicated that the interaction of sexism 1.60 and internalized misogyny was also a unique predictor of psychological distress. This suggests that both main effects 1.50 and the moderated effects of internalized misogyny in the link between external sexism and psychological distress 1.40 may be important when working with heterosexual female clients. -.6957 .00 .6957 The moderated effect of internalized misogyny in the Sexist Events sexism-distress links is consistent with studies demonstrat- Fig. 1 Interaction of internalized misogyny and sexist events on ing the moderating role of passive acceptance of traditional psychological distress. gender roles and an unawareness of sexism (Moradi and Subich 2002) and self-esteem in the relationship between external sexism and psychological distress (Corning 2002; levels of sexism when women who have more internalized Moradi and Subich 2004). The findings of our moderated misogyny have more psychological distress. model suggest that internalized misogyny exacerbates the relationship between sexist events and psychological distress among heterosexual women. Thus, practitioners Discussion working with clients with high experiences of sexist events might use therapeutic strategies aimed to decrease their Consistent with Feminist Therapy Theory and previous client’s internalized misogyny as a way to possibly mute research, the findings of this study suggest that sexist the potentially unfavorable influence of sexist events on events are positively related to psychological distress in an their mental health. undergraduate sample of heterosexual women. In addition, This study is limited by sampling method (undergraduate the medium effect size (r=.44) found in this study is students enrolled in a course at a Southern University in the consistent with previous research examining the sexism- United States), self-report measures, a correlational design, distress link (c.f., Fischer and Holz 2007; Moradi and and a predominately young adult White sample. Respond- Subich 2002, 2003, 2004; Szymanski 2005; Szymanski and ents recruited from enrollment in undergraduate psychology Owens 2009). Thus, feminist psychologists are encouraged courses may be biased in some way (e.g., being more to assist their female clients in recognizing the potentially homogeneous than the larger target population and having negative impact of sexism on their lives, help them see their lower levels of internalized misogyny than the larger target problems in a contextual light in order to reduce shame and population). As is true with all self-report data, participants victim blame, and teach them skills for dealing with and may not have responded honestly to survey items and confronting oppression. In addition, it provides empirical results could be due to method variance or a general support to validate feminist psychologists’ social justice tendency to respond negatively. In addition, individual efforts aimed at eradicating sexism. differences are likely to exist in judgments about what The results of our study also support the need to focus constitutes a sexist event. Inferences about causality cannot on internalized misogyny or a devaluation and distrust of be made due to the cross-sectional and correlational nature women as well as a belief in male superiority, as a of this study. For example, sexist events might result in manifestation of internalized sexism that is related to, but greater psychological distress, psychological distress might conceptually distinct from self-objectification and passive result in more frequent perceptions of sexist events, or a acceptance of traditional gender roles and an unawareness circular relationship might exist between sexist events and of sexism. 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