The Impact of the Emotional Tone of Confrontation on Perceptions of Confronters of Sexism

Despite the numerous benefits associated with confronting sexism, many women refrain from doing so due to social consequences and negative perceptions. Utilizing an online scenario study, the present research further examines these perceptions, exploring whether a woman confronting with an angry, sad, or disgusted tone may impact how she is perceived on a series of traits related to likability, power, morality, masculinity, and age, whether the emotional tone of the confrontation impacts beliefs about her obligation to confront, and expectations of future behavior for both the confronter and the perpetrator. Findings revealed that an angry or disgusted confronter was perceived as more powerful than a sad confronter. Additionally, participants felt she was more obligated to confront when angry and anticipated future confrontations when disgusted. Notably, the emotional tone did not influence expectations regarding the perpetrator's future behavior. Discussion explores implications of these findings and suggests potential avenues for future research.