(Sage Journals, 2020-12-03) Vázquez Botana, Alexandra; López Rodríguez, Lucía; Gómez Jiménez, Ángel; Dovidio, John F.
Positive intergroup contact, under some conditions, can undermine the interest of members of both socially disadvantaged
and advantaged groups to act for equality. However, little is known about whether similar effects appear in a unique form of
intergroup relations, gender relations. In two correlational studies and two experiments, we investigated the relationships
among quality of contact, perceived discrimination, fusion with the feminist movement, and willingness to engage in collective
action for women’s rights. For women (Study 1a), positive contact with men was associated with less perceived discrimination,
less fusion, and less collective action. For men (Study 1b), the relationships were in the opposite direction. Studies 2a and
2b revealed that recalling experiences of gender discrimination nullified the effects of contact for both women and men as
compared to a control condition. Thus, when discrimination is not explicitly recognized, positive contact might have sedative
effects on women, but mobilizing effects on men.
