How caring for environment makes you ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’

Getting classified as ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’ for the methods you adopt to protect the environment might come across as odd. But a new study says that some pro-environmental behaviors may be seen as either ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’.

The findings published in the journal ‘Sex Roles’ found that men and women were more likely to question a man’s sexual orientation if he engaged in “feminine” pro-environmental behaviors, such as using reusable shopping bags.

They were also more likely to question a woman’s sexual orientation if she engaged in “masculine” pro-environmental behaviors, such as caulking windows. Additionally, men were more likely to avoid women who were interested in “masculine” pro-environmental behaviors.

“There may be subtle, gender-related consequences when we engage in various pro-environmental behaviors,” said study author Janet K Swim.

Swim added, “People may avoid certain behaviors because they are managing the gendered impression they anticipate others will have of them. Or they may be avoided if the behaviors they choose do not match their gender.”

“Behaviours don’t just help us accomplish something concrete, they also signal something about who we are. Line drying clothes or keeping tires at proper pressures may signal that we care about the environment, but if those behaviors are seen as gendered, they may signal other things, as well,” she said.

Researchers incorporated a total of 960 participants in three studies.

During the first two studies, participants read fictional summaries of a person’s daily activities, which included feminine, masculine or neutral pro-environmental behaviors.

They then rated whether the person had masculine or feminine traits and guessed what the person’s sexual orientation might be.

“Reflecting the tendency to see environmentalism as feminine, all the people were rated as more feminine than masculine regardless of the behaviors they did,” Swim said.

The researchers found that participants whose behaviors conformed to their gender were seen as more heterosexual than those whose behaviors did not. And while participants didn’t view the nonconformists as gay or lesbian, but on average they were uncertain about the person’s sexuality.

The researchers did a third study to examine whether people avoided others based on their pro-environmental behavior preferences.

In a room with several people, participants completed a digital survey where they indicted which environmental topics they would like to discuss with a partner.

Following which researchers found that women avoided men more than women, as well as people who were interested in more masculine behaviors. And men were more likely to distance themselves from women engaging in masculine behaviors.

The researchers said these results suggested that compared to men, women were more likely to experience negative social consequences from men for engaging in non-gender role-conforming pro-environmental behaviors.

“We were surprised that it was only women who experienced being avoided if they engaged in nonconforming gender-role behaviors,” Swim said.