A study of adults in the United States and the United Kingdom found that strong certainty about sex and gender was associated with authoritarian attitudes on both sides of the political spectrum—but in different directions.
People who viewed sex and gender as binary and fixed tended to score higher on what the researchers called right-wing authoritarian conventionalism. People who viewed sex and gender as nonbinary or changeable tended to score higher on left-wing authoritarian anti-conventionalism.
The researchers emphasized an important distinction: neither belief is authoritarian in itself. Many participants who held either view scored relatively low on authoritarianism. The associations were concentrated among people who combined the belief with stronger support for imposing or enforcing their side’s moral standards.
What the surveys found
Alex Bertrams and Ann Krispenz of the University of Bern conducted two preregistered online surveys, with 1,431 adults in the US and 1,390 adults in the UK recruited through Prolific. The study was published in Archives of Sexual Behavior in 2026.
Participants completed measures of beliefs about sex and gender, along with questionnaires assessing different forms of authoritarianism. The sex-and-gender measure included a 10-item section of the Transgender Attitudes and Beliefs Scale and a separate question asking whether there are only two genders.
On that single question, 57% of US participants and 68% of UK participants selected “only 2 genders.” The broader measures showed the same general pattern as the single question, although the relationships were weaker.
- The association between a binary or fixed view and right-wing authoritarian conventionalism was r = 0.75 in the US and r = 0.59 in the UK.
- The association between a nonbinary or changeable view and left-wing authoritarian anti-conventionalism was r = 0.66 in the US and r = 0.49 in the UK.
- These relationships remained after adjustments for age, income, political orientation and other collected demographic factors.
The authoritarianism scales ranged from 1 to 7, with average scores in both countries falling between about 3.2 and 3.6.
Different forms of moral pressure
In the study, right-wing authoritarian conventionalism meant supporting traditional values and moral standards being followed throughout society. Left-wing authoritarian anti-conventionalism meant viewing progressive moral values as absolutely right, expecting the wider social environment to share them, and regarding conservative values and people as immoral.
The researchers did not treat these measures as opposite ends of one political scale. They said the right-wing and left-wing questionnaires were developed separately, so their correlations should not be compared as though they measured exactly the same thing.
In the UK analysis, each one-point increase in left-wing anti-conventionalism was associated with about twice the odds of answering that there are “not only 2 genders.” Each one-point increase in right-wing conventionalism was associated with about one-third the odds of that answer.
Within the right-wing model, conventionalism had the strongest relationship with a binary or fixed view, followed by authoritarian aggression. Submission and social dominance had much smaller links. Within the left-wing model, anti-conventionalism had the strongest relationship with a nonbinary or changeable view; top-down censorship was not significant.
One additional finding was less straightforward. Left-wing anti-hierarchical aggression had a small association with the nonbinary view on its own, but after anti-conventionalism was taken into account, it was linked to the binary view. The researchers described this as a side finding that needs follow-up.
What the results do—and do not—show
Because the surveys were cross-sectional, they cannot show which factor comes first. The study did not establish whether authoritarian attitudes shape beliefs about sex and gender, whether those beliefs influence authoritarian attitudes, or whether another factor contributes to both.
The researchers also noted that the measure combined beliefs about biological sex and social gender. The design therefore cannot identify which part of that combined view drove the associations. The samples were recruited online in the US and UK, so the findings should not automatically be extended to other cultures.
Some analyses—including demographic adjustments, single-question models and comparisons between specific facets—were not preregistered and require replication. The study also did not test possible explanations such as personality traits.
A finding about rigidity, not a verdict on a viewpoint
The study’s conclusion was that rigid moral certainty appeared on both sides of the political divide, while the underlying beliefs and the desire to impose those beliefs remained separate issues.
That distinction matters when interpreting the results. Holding a traditional or nontraditional view about sex and gender does not, by itself, indicate authoritarianism. The reported associations concerned the combination of a particular belief with relatively high levels of the corresponding authoritarian attitude.
Earlier research had focused mainly on right-wing authoritarianism and had linked it with binary views and less favorable attitudes toward transgender and nonbinary people. A 2022 meta-analysis of 82 studies involving 36,285 participants identified authoritarianism among significant predictors of prejudice toward transgender people, alongside political orientation and gender-related beliefs. The new study extends that line of research by examining a left-wing authoritarianism measure as well.
The researchers did not test “horseshoe theory,” the idea that political extremes converge. Their findings instead point to a narrower conclusion: strong moral certainty can be associated with authoritarian tendencies across opposing political camps, but the mechanisms and meanings of those associations still require further study.
AI tools were used to assist with the preparation of this article.
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