Date Approved

2022

Degree Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department or School

Psychology

Committee Member

Rusty McIntyre, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Steven Jefferson, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Natalie Dove, Ph.D.

Abstract

Many studies have looked at perceptions or attitudes toward women who violate a single type of gender norm but not the effect of multiple gender norm violations. The purpose of this study was to examine the perception and perceived success of a female who violated either body hair norms and/or occupational norms as part of her online dating profile. Two hundred eighty participants were asked to read one of four online dating profiles where the occupation was either kindergarten teacher or mechanic (e.g., occupational norm maintained or violated) and shaving products were either utilized or not utilized (e.g., body hair norm maintained or violated). The profile was evaluated on three domains. Included in the evaluations were trait ratings (attractiveness, sociability, intelligence, friendliness, happiness, aggressiveness, ambitiousness, confidence, and strength), evaluations of the potential success of the dating profile (including success of profile, number of messages to profile, rejections of profile, and number of dates from profile), and the degree of affiliation (including the degree of wanting to talk to, get to know, be friends with, work with, and include or avoid and be embarrassed to be seen with the person in the profile). The results suggested that the violation of both gender norms does not have a combined effect. The physical appearance gender norm and the occupational gender norm were perceived the same way for most of the variables. Violating gender norms did tend to increase the perception of masculine traits but did not decrease the perception of feminine traits.

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