Sexist attitudes and postures toward sexuality in early adolescence
M. Lameiras Fernández, M. V. Carrera Fernández, Y. Rodríguez Castro

SUMMARY

Aim: We intend to analyse the sexist attitudes and attitudes toward sexuality held by a group of adolescent students enrolled in their first two years of Compulsory Secondary School in Spain, and to study the link between these two variables.

Design: This study is transversal and descriptive in nature.

Location: Secondary Schools in the city of Ourense (Galicia, Spain).

Participants: 212 students from the first two years of Compulsory Secondary School (98 girls and 114 boys) with a mean age of 12.05 years.

Procedure: We administered the Sex Role Ideology Scale, comprised of 12 items measuring traditional sexism; the Attitudes Toward Sexuality Scale, made up of 13 items; and we collected information regarding socio-demographic variables.

Results: Adolescents reveal high levels of sexism (higher in boys than in girls), and they hold considerably positive attitudes toward sexuality. The most sexist students are also found to hold the most negative attitudes toward sexuality. Gender, adherence to religious beliefs, and the parents’ professions are all significantly correlated with sexist attitudes. The parents’ level of education, the father’s profession, and adherence to religious beliefs correlate significantly with attitudes toward sexuality. The variables which best predict traditional sexism are gender, adherence to religious beliefs, and the father’s profession and level of education. Adherence to religious beliefs and the mother’s level of education are the best predictors of attitudes toward sexuality.

Conclusions: It is necessary to carry out sex education programmes which are approached from a gender perspective, thus dealing with the topic of human sexuality in conjunction with gender issues.

KEY WORDS

Sexuality, sexism, sex education.