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. 2025 May;31(6-7):1447-1468.
doi: 10.1177/10778012241234892. Epub 2024 Mar 4.

Sexism and Feminist Conspiracy Beliefs: Hostile Sexism Moderates the Link Between Feminist Conspiracy Beliefs and Rape Myth Acceptance

Daniel Jolley  1 , Silvia Mari  2 , Tanya Schrader  3 , Darel Cookson  4
Affiliations

Sexism and Feminist Conspiracy Beliefs: Hostile Sexism Moderates the Link Between Feminist Conspiracy Beliefs and Rape Myth Acceptance

Daniel Jolley et al. Violence Against Women. 2025 May.

Abstract

This research examined the effect of belief in feminist conspiracy theories and sexist ideology on endorsing rape myths. Study 1 (N = 201) uncovered that the relationship between feminist conspiracy beliefs and rape myth acceptance was conditional on higher levels of hostile sexism. Study 2 (N = 552) demonstrated that for those with higher hostile sexism, exposure to feminist conspiracy theories (vs. control) increased feminist conspiracy beliefs, which were then associated with rape myths. The current research suggests that the link between feminist conspiracy beliefs and rape myths could result from such beliefs upholding a hostile sexist view of women.

Keywords: feminist conspiracy beliefs; hostile sexism; prejudice; rape myth acceptance; sexist ideology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
A path diagram to present the predicted moderated mediations (Model 58), including conspiracy exposure (predictor), belief in conspiracy theories (mediator), and rape myth acceptance (outcome), conditioned by hostile sexism (moderator) in Study 2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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