Researchers Claire Gothreau of Lebanon Valley College and Amanda Friesen of the University of Western Ontario published a paper in the journal Politics and the Life Sciences showing that an internal sense of one's masculinity and femininity is more strongly linked to political views than formal sex category. The researchers propose measuring these qualities as continuous scales rather than dividing people only into "men" and "women".
In three surveys the authors tested how far self-perceived gender explains political participation and ideological preferences. The first analysis involved 1,017 American adults (2022 data). Respondents indicated how masculine and feminine they felt, and also reported political activity - signing petitions, taking part in protests, donating to campaigns. After accounting for age, race, education, income and party affiliation, it emerged that traditional sex on its own was not a significant predictor of political participation when the continuous scales were included in the model. People with higher self-rated masculinity or femininity participated in politics more often. The researchers suggest that those whose gender identity does not match traditional expectations may see it as politically significant and therefore take a more active part in public life.
The second survey (1,043 people, 2020) repeated the participation results and added questions on attitudes to the right to bear arms and the death penalty. Among men, higher masculinity predicted support for the right to bear arms, while higher femininity predicted lower support for the death penalty. Among women, higher masculinity, by contrast, was associated with lower support for the death penalty, and the link with attitudes to guns was weaker. The authors stress that masculinity does not always lead to support for aggressive or conservative policies - it all depends on the specific issue and the respondent's biological sex.
The third survey (1,200 people, 2022) concerned worldview orientations: right-wing authoritarianism (a tendency to submit to traditional authority and follow conventions) and social dominance orientation (a preference for hierarchy and inequality between groups). No links were found with social dominance orientation. Correlations were found with authoritarianism, however: among men, high masculinity went together with higher authoritarianism and high femininity with lower authoritarianism; among women the picture was the reverse. That is, traditional gender identity more often coincided with authoritarian views, while atypical identity opposed them.
All the associations identified are correlational, that is statistical, and do not in themselves prove causation. It is unclear what comes first: whether gender identity shapes political beliefs or the reverse. In addition, people may answer about their masculinity and femininity with social expectations in mind (the social desirability effect). The authors call for longitudinal studies that follow people over time, and for research into "desired masculinity" - the gap between how masculine people feel and how masculine they think they should feel. This gap may explain aggressive political behaviour or a sense of grievance among those who believe they do not match gender ideals.