Amplified? : uncovering how internet usage impacts religious people's views of women.

Historically, sexism has proliferated in some religious traditions and online spaces. However, it remains unclear how the socializing institutions of religion and the internet interact and impact the construction of restrictive gender roles and norms in U.S. society. Using Glick and Fiske’s (1996) framework of Ambivalent Sexism, I test four sets of hypotheses to analyze relationships of religion (religious tradition and religiosity), time spent on internet-enabled devices, views of women in leadership, and views toward women seeking abortion with national data from the 2025 Baylor Religion Survey. Findings indicate that Evangelical Protestants and people who describe themselves as religious have more punitive views of women seeking abortion, but not more restrictive views of women in leadership. There are no significant interaction effects for the religion variables and device usage, except for Catholic respondents. Consequently, for most religious people, internet usage does not seem to amplify views of women in leadership or views of women seeking abortion.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Grantor

Baylor University.

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Deere, Elizabeth Andrasi, 1989-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Dougherty, Kevin D.

• Gender.
• Religion.
• Evangelicals.
• Digital studies.

Statement dc:rights

• Baylor University works are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2104/14760

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:baylor-ir.tdl.org:2104/14760