Men more open to feminism when it’s paired with a photo of Canadian actor Ryan Gosling: study“
Men more open to feminism when it’s paired with a photo of Canadian actor Ryan Gosling: study“Men are more likely to believe in feminist statements when those statements are paired with a photo of attractive Canadian-born actor Ryan Gosling, according to research from the University of Saskatchewan.“We don’t know what it was about him that they liked so much,” said co-researcher Linzi Williamson, a PhD student with the university’s applied social psychology program. “It could have been they just really admired him or they think he’s a cool dude.”The study was inspired by Feminist Ryan Gosling, an Internet meme created by New York City writer Danielle Henderson and consisting of photos of Mr. Gosling overlaid with examples of feminist theory.Women were generally unaffected. Feminist statement or no, their feelings on feminism remained unchanged after a session of looking at Mr. Gosling.Male participants, on the other hand, saw their pro-feminist sympathies boosted by as much as 10%.Two forms of feminism, in particular, saw their stars rise among males exposed to the Ryan Gosling meme: socialist feminism and radical feminism. Participants primed by Feminist Ryan Gosling, for instance, were more inclined to believe that making women economically dependent on men was “capitalism’s subtle way” of promoting marriage, or that “men use abortion laws and reproductive technology to control women’s lives.”Feminist Ryan Gosling is an “image macro,” a photo superimposed with text to humourous effect — and frequently employed for political ends. The ultimate takeaway from the University of Saskatchewan study, say the researchers, is the somewhat surprising revelation that these memes could actually be affecting people’s belief systems.“What our research says is that we shouldn’t quickly dismiss pop culture phenomena, and realize that there is potential to use it as a persuasive device,” said Ms. Sangster.”Read the full piece here -- source link
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