A Mixed-Methods Examination of Modern Feminist Identity
Abstract
Gender inequality remains a pressing social issue around the world. Due to recent social movements, feminism has become a part of the cultural zeitgeist, and an increasing number of people have begun identifying as feminists in recent years. However, many modern feminists maintain a sense of ambivalence about the movement and their place within it. This ambivalence is difficult to study because the tools designed to evaluate feminist attitudes and identity do not capture this or other important and common aspects of modern feminist identity, such as fear of stigma, solidarity with other feminists, and competence to engage in feminist activism. Given that modern feminism is not well-understood by psychological researchers, I conducted five studies to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the subject. In Study 1, I provide a critical review of measures of feminist identity and attitudes over the past fifty years. In Study 2, In Study 2, I conducted a grounded theory analysis of interviews with 26 women and nonbinary feminist-identified people to develop a framework for understanding the areas in which these individuals felt uncertain or ambivalent about their beliefs and identities. In Studies 3-5, I developed and validated a new measure of feminist social identity (the Feminist Social Identity Scale) that evaluates six distinct components of modern feminist identity: four aligned identity subscales (Beliefs, Competence, Solidarity, Centrality) and two ambivalent identity subscales (Fear of Stigma, Uncertainty). In Study 3, I provide evidence of structural (exploratory factor analysis) and external validity (convergent and discriminant validity) for the FSIS. In Study 4, I provide additional evidence of structural (confirmatory factor analysis) and external validity (convergent validity) for the measure. In Study 5, I provide further evidence of the tool’s external validity (convergent validity, known-groups validity, incremental validity, criterion validity). In Study 6, I engaged in reflexive thematic analysis to analyze interviews with 28 men about their experiences adopting a feminist identity, and the ways their identities as feminists have shifted and grown over time. Taken together, this dissertation reflects a series of studies geared at understanding the ways that feminist identities are negotiated in the present cultural context.