Have you ever suspected someone of being an egregious misogynist only to hear that he’s actually just a jerk to everyone? Yeah, me too. But discovering that someone is an all-around asshole has never put my suspicions to rest. My logic is that just because someone is a jerk to everyone that doesn’t mean he’s not also a sexist pig. I really believe in the both/and philosophy. And it turns out I may have been right all along. New research published in Psychological Science suggests that sexists use rude behavior to mask gender bias.
The study, which was published in March, analyzed data from five studies conducted between 2019 and 2021. The first study, which was conducted by survey, was geared to figuring out whether someone could be rude towards men and also hold sexist beliefs. That study found that men who hold negative stereotypes about women are also more impolite towards everyone they work with. It may seem like common sense to infer that sexists are generally dickbags to work with, but science relies on evidence and these researchers found it.
