An experimental study which sought to determine perceptions of sexual text (sext) messaging situations concluded that men and women were judged differently by the sext messages they sent, even when they were the same.
When messages were unsolicited, men were judged as creepy while women were judged as more appropriate.
The strange conclusion by the authors from their finding was not the obvious one, that men were being discriminated against, "slut shaming" for guys, but that consent is important in sexting.
Sexting. Vaguely date rapey when a guy does it. But when a woman does it, hegemonic masculinity stereotypes gave more women a free pass.
61 male and 61 female psychology class undergraduates (naturally) at a predominantly white liberal arts university (naturally) read a vignette in which either a female or a male target sent a solicited or unsolicited sext message to an opposite-sex acquaintance; participants then reported their perceptions of the situation and the sender of the sext message.
Southwestern University women and men who sent solicited sext messages were unsurprisingly perceived as equally appropriate but the sterotype came into play when the messages were unsolicited. Women who sent unsolicited sext messages were rated as more appropriate.
The stigma of much-promoted "toxic masculinity" in pop culture caused even males to engage in gender bias and stereotype threat about males. Yet stereotypes about hegemonic masculinity made women think women were not engaging in sexual harassment. It was sexual harassment when males did it, though.
