Internalized Sexism in Youth: A Study of Women in Post-Socialist Romania

• In Event: 519 - Section on Race, Class and Gender Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 05. Global/Comparative Perspectives

Abstract

Post-communist Romania has had a poor record when it comes to women’s rights. While the restoration of reproductive rights and some policy initiatives have helped remedy this, the situation is comparatively worse than it is for most developed Western states. This situation is further hindered by an unwillingness to discuss the situation in the general public, as well as a set of specific stereotypes and prejudices about women and feminism, which are particular to the heritage of communist cultural policies. This study will attempt to analyze internalized misogynistic attitudes in Romanian women, using social psychology theories in order to describe the way in which these attitudes reinforce systemic discrimination against women and impede the struggle for gender equality within Romania. I will focus on the way in which stereotypes and prejudices specific to Romanian society help explain the particular differences in the construction of gender roles between Romania and the Western developed world. Furthermore, I will address the relationship between internalized misogyny and racist attitudes, in an attempt to establish how exactly the internalization of dominant attitudes towards marginalized groups is interconnected, describing how this occurs precisely within Romanian society.

Author

• Sorana Alexandra Constantinescu, Babes Bolyai University