Sensitivity to sexism and perceptions of reports about sexist events

We tested the hypothesis that women would vary in their sensitivity to the occurrence of sexism directed at themselves and others, and that this sensitivity would influence their estimations of the frequency of occurrence of sexism-related behaviors that they were exposed to. Results showed that women who indicated that they and others frequently experienced sexism estimated that they had seen more newspaper headlines relating to sexism than had actually been shown during an experimental session. Furthermore, high-sensitive women overestimated the occurrence of sexist behaviors, whereas low and medium-sensitive women underestimated their occurrence, in comparison to their estimates of the frequency of non-sexist headlines. These results provide information both about differences among women in their sensitivity to sexism, and also suggest that women may either over-or underestimate the extent to which sexism is directed at the self and others.