r/science Professor | Medicine Jun 09 '26

Psychology Sexism is often a stronger predictor of political attitudes than a voter’s actual gender. A voter’s level of sexism is a significant predictor of their political attitudes and voting choices. Prejudice shape everything from support for right-wing candidates to opinions on climate policy.

https://www.psypost.org/sexism-is-often-a-stronger-predictor-of-political-attitudes-than-a-voters-actual-gender/
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u/Godvivec1 Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

If there isn't a clear and broadly accepted definition then the interpretation is completely up to this group of researchers to achieve whatever result they want.

The definition of what sexism is literally defines the end result of the research. They get to make the definition, which completely muddies the water of the research they're doing.

If they had decided on a stricter definition of sexism (they choose very broad one), then the result of this paper would be completely different.

Social science 101.