Disarming the Threat to Feminist Identification

Abstract

Many individuals endorse feminist values but do not identify as feminist. The present set of studies tests the concept of threat, grounded in G. A. Kelly’s personal construct theory of personality, as a potential factor in feminist nonidentification. Study 1 introduces the theoretically grounded Feminist Threat Index and evaluates its psychometric properties with data from 91 undergraduate students. In this study, feminist threat scores yielded acceptable evidence of convergent and discriminant validity and of test–retest reliability. Study 2 evaluates a theoretically grounded intervention designed to reduce level of feminist threat and increase degree of feminist identification by enabling students to interact with a diverse panel of feminists. In this study, a mixed between–within subjects design was employed to compare pre- and postintervention change in continuous threat and feminist identification scores across intervention ( n = 52) and comparison ( n = 63) groups. As expected, the intervention reduced level of threat and increased degree of feminist identification significantly in the intervention group, whereas these scores remained unchanged in the comparison group. These studies offer researchers, educators, and activists a promising approach for assessing and reducing the threat to feminist identification.