The Internalized Misogyny Scale (IMS) is a 17-item measure of a woman’s internalized cultural devaluation of women. Different features captured by this scale include distrust of women, devaluing of women, and valuing men over women.
Geographies Tested: United States of America
Populations Included: Female
Age Range: Adolescents, Adults
Distrust of women
1.Women exaggerate problems they have at work
2.Women are too easily offended
3.Women seek to gain power by getting control over men
4.When women lose to men in a fair competition, they typically complain about being discriminated against
Devaluing of women
5.It is generally safer not to trust women too much
6.When it comes down to it a lot of women are deceitful
7.I think that most women would lie just to get ahead
8.I am sure I get a raw deal from other women in my life
9.Sometimes other women bother me by just being around
10.I believe that most women tell the truth
Valuing men over women
11.When I am in a group consisting of equal numbers of men and women and a woman dominates the conversation I feel uncomfortable
12.I am uncomfortable when I hear a woman speaking with authority on male dominated topics such as football or horseracing
13.I prefer to listen to male radio announcers than female
14.The intellectual leadership of a community should be largely in the hands of men
15.I prefer to work for a male boss
16.If I were to beat another woman for a job I would feel more satisfied than if I beat a man
17.Generally, I prefer to work with men
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Each item is rated on a 7-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).
Scores from individual items are used to calculate a mean score, with higher scores indicating more internalized misogyny.
Szymanski, D. M., Gupta, A., Carr, E. R., & Stewart, D. (2009). Internalized misogyny as a moderator of the link between sexist events and women’s psychological distress. Sex Roles, 61(1-2), 101-109.
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