(PS10-92) An Exploratory Analysis of Gendered Violence Stress, General Perceived Stress, and Feminist Orientations

Providing culturally responsive care to cisgender women requires an understanding of how daily experiences of living in a patriarchal world impact thoughts, behavior, and perceptions of stress (Bryant-Davis, 2023; Herman, 1997). One common example of gendered violence is rape culture (Buchwald et al., 1993). Rape culture refers to the ways our society allows others to feel entitled to women’s bodies and is exemplified through the objectification of women’s bodies, rape myths, sexual harassment, and victim blaming (Brodt, 2020). These daily experiences of rape culture present the risk of sexual assault as normal and inevitable. Brodt (2020) found that gendered violence stress significantly increased PTSD symptoms in sexual assault survivors. A common critique of rape culture is that only feminist women are distressed by these experiences (Gay, 2018). Despite the appeal of this critique, its implications have never been tested in the literature. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore how various feminist orientations (i.e., conservative, womanism, liberal, radical, cultural, and socialist) relate to gendered violence stress and general perceived stress.  

Two hundred eighty-one participants (M age = 21.44; SD = 4.31) completed the following questionnaires: Daily Experiences of Gendered Violence Stress Scale (Brodt, 2020), Feminist Perspectives Scales-Short Form (FPS3; Henley et al., 2000); Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen et al., 1983).  

First, a Pearson’s correlation revealed significant correlations between each of the variables (p < .05), except for conservative feminism and general stress (p = .28). Second, a multiple linear regression was run to determine whether gendered violence stress predicts feminist orientation. The overall model was significant, F(6, 255) = 19.49, p < .001, R2adj = .30. Gendered violence stress positively predicted conservative feminism (b = 1.51, S.E. = .57, t = 2.64, p < .01, 95%CI[.38, 2.64]), radical feminism (b = 2.68, S.E. = 1.08, t = 2.49, p < .05, 95%CI[.56, 4.81]), and womanism (b = 3.28, S.E. = 1.06, t = 3.09, p < .01, 95%CI[1.19, 5.37]). Gendered violence stress did not predict cultural feminism (p = .06), socialist feminism (p = .61), and liberal feminism (p = .51). Third, simple linear regressions were run to determine which feminist orientations predicted general perceived stress. Results revealed that womanism (b = .26, S.E. = .07, t = 4.01, p < .001, 95%CI[.13, .39]), liberal feminism (b = .22, S.E. = .10, t = 2.21, p < .05, 95%CI[.02, .41]), radical feminism (b = .18, S.E. = .06, t = 3.04, p < .01, 95%CI[.06, .29]), cultural feminism (b = .17, S.E. = .07, t = 2.58, p < .05, 95%CI[.04, .30]), and socialist feminism (b = .24, S.E. = .06, t = 3.91, p < .001, 95%CI[.12, .35]) each predicted general perceived stress. Conservative feminism did not predict general perceived stress (p = .28). 

The present study provides insight into the experience of gendered violence for cisgender women. Findings from this study reveal that assessing for women’s feminist orientations will assist clinicians in understanding a client’s cultural beliefs regarding women and their place in society. Understanding these cultural beliefs can inform clinicians on how best to support women suffering from gendered violence.