Introduction

Belief in male superiority at the individual and societal levels is often cited as an explanation for the persistence of gender inequality, as well as specific harms to women, such as domestic violence (Hewkes 2002). Recent research suggests that masculine overcompensation may play a role in perpetuating hegemonic masculine attitudes such as homophobia, support for war, and dominance over women

The masculine overcompensation thesis asserts that men react to having their masculinity questioned with extreme demonstrations of masculinity. It is comprised of two types of theories:

1) the masculinity theory, which argues that masculinity is both more narrowly defined (making masculinity more easily threatened) and socially valued (making men more motivated to recover it) than femininity. This narrowly defined, hegemonic masculinity includes competitiveness, assertiveness, physical strength, aggression, risk-taking, courage, heterosexuality and lack of feminine traits. Because femininity is less valued in society, there are fewer social repercussions for women who are not stereotypically feminine than there are for men who are not stereotypically masculine.

2) theories of identity, which argue that individuals tend to react to feedback that threatens valued identities with “overcompensation”, enacting attitudes and behaviors associated with the identity to a more extreme extent than they would have in the absence of threats.

The authors test the idea of masculine overcompensation by threatening participants’ masculinity (using a manipulated gender identity feedback survey) in a series of three laboratory experiments and a large-scale survey to better understand how it shapes political and cultural attitudes.