Despite allegations of sexual misconduct, politicians have gone on to have successful careers while maintaining support from their constituents. Even after openly bragging about and being accused of sexual assault, Donald Trump went on to win the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. And despite his recent conviction of sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll, Trump remains the Republican frontrunner for the 2024 Presidential election. In addition, Trump successfully appointed Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in 2018 after a public and contentious hearing that focused on allegations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted Dr. Christine Blasey Ford when the two were in high school.
Donald Trump and Brett Kavanaugh represent neither isolated nor rare instances of government figures being successful despite allegations of sexual misconduct. Nor are allegations of sexual misconduct unique to conservative officeholders. In fact, the Associated Press counts over 90 state lawmakers—both Democratic and Republican—who have been accused of sexual misconduct since 2017.
Why, especially in the era of #metoo, do people continue to support politicians accused of, and sometimes even convicted of, sexual misconduct?
Political Loyalty
According to research, partisanship matters. People are more likely to defend and continue to support a politician accused of sexual misconduct if they share a political party affiliation with that politician. In fact, the more strongly one identifies with their political party (both Republicans and Democrats), the more likely they are to believe in myths surrounding sexual assault (such as victim blaming) and downplay the severity of sexual assault as a problem in the U.S.
Politics in the U.S. have long been intertwined with performances of masculinity. Furthermore, certain conceptualizations of masculinity presuppose sexual violence as a tool of maintaining men's dominance over women. Therefore, we sought to examine if, beyond political party affiliation, endorsement of the culturally idealized form of masculinity would predict support for politicians accused of sexual misconduct.
Masculinity
"Hegemonic masculinity" refers to the culturally idealized form of masculinity that inspires gendered attitudes and behaviors that maintain men's dominance over women (and over marginalized men). In the U.S., this culturally idealized form of masculinity requires that "good men" be high in power/status; be emotionally, physically, and mentally tough; and reject anything associated with femininity. Research has found associations between men's endorsement of these characteristics and proclivities toward sexual harassment and violence.
In three studies, my colleagues and I surveyed U.S. adults. Participants answered questions that measured their endorsement of hegemonic masculinity, evaluations of Brett Kavanaugh and the women who accused him of sexual assault, and their evaluations of then-President Donald Trump. In addition, each study included a measure of attitudes associated with the perpetuation of sexual misconduct—sexism (Study 1), acceptance of rape myths (Study 2), and one's self-reported likelihood to sexually harass (Study 3).
Participants who more strongly endorsed hegemonic masculinity more positively evaluated Kavanaugh and more negatively evaluated the women who came forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct. In addition, stronger endorsement of hegemonic masculinity was associated with more positive evaluations of Trump.
Importantly, this pattern of results existed independent of political party affiliation, gender identity, racial identity, and level of education. Put differently, the strength with which one believes men should be (1) high in power/status, (2) tough, and (3) nothing like women, is uniquely and independently associated with their support for government figures who have been accused of sexual misconduct.
The extent to which participants reported stronger sexist attitudes and belief in rape myths was also associated with greater support for Kavanaugh and less support for his accusers. However, across studies and analyses, endorsement of hegemonic masculinity remained a unique predictor of these evaluations.
An Ongoing Cycle
Social scientists have long argued that people want to elect masculine figures to political leadership. When a person's notion of masculinity is tied to allowances of sexual harassment and violence (think "boys will be boys" and "locker room talk"), it allows people to overlook (and sometimes even justify) these behaviors, so that the acceptance and perpetuation of sexual misconduct becomes embedded in political and social institutions.
For Further Reading
Fahlberg, A., & Pepper, M. (2016). Masculinity and sexual violence: Assessing the state of the field. Sociology Compass, 10(8), 673-683. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12397
Katz, J. (2016). Man enough? Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and the politics of presidential masculinity. Interlink Books.
Savani, M. M., & Collignon, S. (2023). Values and candidate evaluation: How voters respond to allegations of sexual harassment. Electoral Studies, 83, 102613. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2023.102613
Schermerhorn, N. E., Vescio, T. K., & Lewis, K. A. (2023). Hegemonic masculinity predicts support for US political figures accused of sexual assault. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 14(5), 475-486. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506221077861
Nathaniel Schermerhorn is a Lecturer of Psychology at the University of Essex. He studies the ways in which people reinforce the status quo.
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