Ch. Nance et Cl. Ruby, ON GENDER-ROLE VIOLATIONS AND JUDGMENTS MADE ABOUT EUTHANASIA - A RESEARCH NOTE, Journal of social issues, 52(2), 1996, pp. 105-117
The impact of perceived gender role violations oil the willingness of
evaluators to label a deadly act to ''end suffering'' as euthanasia wa
s explored in two studies, It was predicted that ''killing'' (even mer
cy killing) Mould be perceived as more role contradictory for a female
actor than for a male actor. Therefore, it was expected that the dead
ly actions of a female actor Mould be judged as less justified (i.e.,
less likely to be labeled as euthanasia) than the same action committe
d by a male actor, A total of 486 undergraduates participated in one o
f two studies. It was found that although perceptions of justification
for a deadly act Mere clearly influenced by whether or not the method
of action taken was direct and proactive (commission) vs. indirect an
d passive (omission), the gender of the actor did not impact different
ly on the judgments of the participants, Possible explanations and fut
ure research directions are discussed.