Men’s Discomfort and Anticipated Sexual Misclassification Due to Counter-Stereotypical Behaviors: the Interplay between Traditional Masculinity Norms and Perceived Men’s Femininization

The present research examines men’s self-conscious discomfort while imagining performing counter-stereotypical (traditionally feminine) behaviors as compared to stereotypical (traditionally masculine) behaviors, as a function of traditional masculinity endorsement and perceived social changes in men’s gender norms (men’s feminization) in two distinct cultural populations (U.S. Americans and Kosovan Albanians). Experiment 1 (n = 192, U.S.) confirmed prior findings by showing that men, as compared to women, experienced more self-conscious discomfort when imagining performing counter-stereotypical (vs. stereotypical) behaviors. Experiments 2 (n = 292, U.S.) and 3 (n = 191, Kosovo) focused solely on heterosexual men and experimentally manipulated perceived social changes in men’s gender norms. Results showed that the men’s feminization condition, as compared to a control or masculinity conditions, decreased self-conscious discomfort when imagining performing feminine behaviors among men who endorsed a lower versus higher level of traditional masculinity. Experiment 3 further indicated that this effect was driven by lowered expectations of being misclassified as gay. We discuss the relevance of these findings for both the gender and sexual prejudice literature. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11199-020-01210-5.