Perceived Similarity With Gay Men Mediates the Effect of Antifemininity on Heterosexual Men’s Antigay Prejudice

This research examined the hypothesis that heterosexual men’s motivation to differentiate themselves from gay men mediates the relationship between the antifemininity norm of masculinity and antigay prejudice. We assessed masculinity through three concepts: status, thoughness, and antifemininity. Participants then reported their perceived similarity with gay men and their antigay prejudice. The results showed that antifemininity was the best predictor of both perceived similarity and antigay prejudice: The more people endorsed the antifemininity norm, the more they perceived themselves as dissimilar from gay men and showed antigay prejudice. More important, perceived similarity mediated the effect of antifemininity on antigay prejudice. These findings provide direct evidence for the link between masculinity and the motivation to differentiate oneself from gay men, and they suggest that antigay prejudice accomplishes the identity function of maintaining unambiguous gender boundaries.     

Abstract Reasoning as a Predictor of Attitudes Toward Gay Men

This study examined the hypothesis that participants scoring lowest on a measure of abstract reasoning skills would have the highest levels of anti-gay prejudice. It was further hypothesized that abstract reasoning scores would account for variance in prejudice beyond that accounted for by previously established correlates of attitudes toward gay men: sex of the respondent (men being more prejudiced than women), contact with gay people (less contact being associated with higher prejudice), and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA; positively correlating with prejudice). It was also expected that abstract reasoning skills would be negatively correlated with RWA. The results supported each hypothesis. The predictor most strongly related to anti-gay prejudice was RWA, followed by contact with gay people, abstract reasoning skills, and sex of the respondent.     

Implicit and explicit attitudes towards lesbians and gay men

Attitudes towards lesbians and gay men, as assessed with questionnaires, have become more and more positive in the last decades. An open question is, however, whether that trend reflects true change or rather a growing reluctance to admit negative attitudes (to others and self). New procedures measuring implicit attitudes may help find an answer. In three studies with 208 students at a German university, attitudes towards lesbians and gay men were measured with explicit scales and with an Implicit Association Test (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) adapted for that purpose. Explicit attitudes were very positive. However, implicit attitudes were relatively negative instead, except for female participants' implicit attitudes towards lesbians which were repeatedly as positive as were their attitudes towards heterosexuals. The internal consistencies of the implicit tests were exemplary. Correlations with sexual orientation as well as with explicit homosexuality-related and gender-related attitudes attested to their validity. However, context effects were found for different implicit attitudes measured in close succession, and correlations of implicit homosexuality-related and gender-related attitudes could not be detected.     

Culture and contact in the promotion and reduction of anti-gay prejudice: evidence from Jamaica and Britain

Jamaica has been called "the most homophobic place on Earth" ( Padgett, 2006 , p. 1), and has been involved in numerous international incidents with Britain, and other countries, concerning anti-gay prejudice. However, neither the severity of Jamaican anti-gay prejudice, nor any means of reducing this prejudice has ever been empirically investigated. Intergroup contact-social interaction with a person from another group-is one of the most successful and widely used social-psychological interventions to reduce prejudice and improve intergroup relations. In this article, we compared sexual prejudice in Jamaica to that in Britain and investigated the relationship between contact and sexual prejudice in both countries. Jamaican participants reported more negative attitudes toward gay men than did British participants, but contact was more strongly associated with reduced sexual prejudice for Jamaican participants than for British participants. Implications for reducing Jamaican sexual prejudice are discussed.     

Effects of subtle heterosexism on gays, lesbians, bisexuals

This study examined heterosexism that is not specifically targeted at LGB individuals, but may be experienced as antigay harassment, and may contribute to the stigma and stress they experience. LGB participants (N = 175, primarily Euro-American college students), read scenarios of heterosexuals saying or assuming things potentially offensive to gay men or lesbian women. For each scenario, they indicated extent to which they would be offended and less open about their sexuality, and their perceptions of the behaviors as evidence of antigay prejudice. Not only did respondents find the scenarios to be offensive and indicative of prejudice, but perceived offensiveness was associated with a decreased likelihood of coming out. In comparison to gay men, lesbian women and bisexuals found the scenarios more offensive and more indicative of prejudice. Limitations of the current study and directions for future research are outlined.     

Prejudice,internalization, and the accessibility of personal standards for responding to gay men

Heterosexual participants who were very low, moderately low, moderately high and very high in prejudice toward gay men reported their personal standards for responding to gay men (i.e., how they believed they should feel or think in an imagined scenario involving a gay man) via computer. As expected, the standards of very low-prejudice individuals were the least prejudiced, the most internalized (i.e., most important and central to the self), and the most accessible (i.e., reported most quickly). Regression analyses revealed the predicted relation between accessibility and internalization, such that the more internalized the standard the greater its accessibility. A significant quadratic trend for prejudice revealed that accessibility decreases with increasing prejudice, except that at very high levels of prejudice accessibility begins to increase. Implications for prejudice reduction for both low- and high-prejudice individuals are discussed.     

Affective Responses to Gay Men Using Facial Electromyography: Is There a Psychophysiological “Look” of Anti-Gay Bias

ABSTRACT

Despite a wealth of attitudinal studies that elucidate the psychological correlates of anti-gay bias, studies that provide evidence of the physiological correlates of anti-gay bias remain relatively scarce. The present study addresses the under-representation of physiological research in the area of homonegativity by examining psychophysiological markers, namely the affective manifestations of anti-gay prejudice, and their correspondence with anti-gay behavior. Facial electromyography (EMG) was the technique used to acquire the psychophysiological markers via recordings from two facial muscle sites. Whether heterosexual men’s implicit affective reactions to gay male couples best predicted their overt and covert discriminatory behavior toward a presumed gay male confederate was determined. The strength of the implicit affective reactions to predict anti-gay discrimination was then tested against the strength of participants’ implicit cognitive reactions acquired via the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Results indicated that the affective reactions recorded via facial EMG emerged as the strongest predictor of discrimination toward gay men compared to the cognitive reactions recorded using the IAT. Findings support the contention that emotional reactions to gay men using implicit techniques such as facial EMG are potentially valuable pathways toward understanding the nature and sequelae of anti-gay behavior.     

Mistakes that heterosexual people make when trying to appear non-prejudiced: the view from LGB people

In two studies, lesbians, gay men and bisexuals were queried concerning mistakes that well-meaning heterosexual people have made when interacting with them. In qualitative, open-ended research, we determined that the most common mistakes concerned heterosexuals' pointing out that they know someone who is gay, emphasizing their lack of prejudice, and relying on stereotypes about gays. Following up with a quantitative, close-ended questionnaire, we determined that the mistakes respondents experienced most often involved heterosexuals (a) relying on stereotypes and (b) ignoring gay issues; the most annoying mistakes were heterosexuals (a) using subtle prejudicial language and (b) not owning up to their discomfort with gay issues. We used two theoretical perspectives, shared reality theory and the contact hypothesis, to analyze the quantitative responses. Implications for intergroup relationships between heterosexual people and gay people are discussed.     

Attitudes, subjective experiences, and behaviors in imagined and actual encounters between gay and heterosexual people

Across four studies, we assessed the relationship between participants' attitudes toward gay men and their experiences during either imagined or actual interpersonal encounters with gay men. In the first three studies, participants imagined interactions with gay men and either responded in an open-ended or a closed-ended fashion. In these imagined interactions, participants reported that they expected to have considerable agreement between their attitudes and their subjective experiences during the intergroup encounter. However, during actual interactions, there were no differences between members of different prejudice levels in their responses to the gay confederate. A comparison of the actual and imagined interactions demonstrated that high prejudice people are particularly unlikely to have subjective experiences that match their negative attitudes concerning actual interpersonal encounters.     

Individuals' Beliefs about the Etiology of Same-Sex Sexual Orientation

We examined the relationships between beliefs about the etiology of having a same-sex sexual orientation, sexual prejudice, and support for gay-relevant legislation using the justification-suppression model of prejudice as our theoretical foundation. Results indicated that more belief that a same-sex sexual orientation was due to nurture factors predicted less support for gay-relevant legislation, and that this relationship was mediated by levels of sexual prejudice. The opposite pattern was found for belief that a same-sex sexual orientation was due to nature factors. This suggests that beliefs about the etiology of sexual orientation may serve as justification (or suppression) factors in the expression of prejudice toward gay men and lesbians.     

Individuals' beliefs about the etiology of same-sex sexual orientation

We examined the relationships between beliefs about the etiology of having a same-sex sexual orientation, sexual prejudice, and support for gay-relevant legislation using the justification-suppression model of prejudice as our theoretical foundation. Results indicated that more belief that a same-sex sexual orientation was due to nurture factors predicted less support for gay-relevant legislation, and that this relationship was mediated by levels of sexual prejudice. The opposite pattern was found for belief that a same-sex sexual orientation was due to nature factors. This suggests that beliefs about the etiology of sexual orientation may serve as justification (or suppression) factors in the expression of prejudice toward gay men and lesbians.     

Ambivalent Homoprejudice towards Gay Men: Theory Development and Validation

ABSTRACT

Myriad social groups are targets of hostile and benevolent (i.e., ambivalent) prejudice. However, prejudice toward gay men is typically conceptualized as hostile, despite the prevalence of benevolence toward gay men in popular media. This article aims to compare gay men with other targets of ambivalent prejudice (i.e., women and elderly people) and draw on the stereotype content and microaggressions literatures in order to develop a theory of ambivalent homoprejudice. The resultant framework, comprising repellent, adversarial, romanticized, and paternalistic homoprejudice was investigated using seven focus groups of heterosexuals and gay men (N = 22), and the findings were consistent with stereotype content theory. Directions for future research into the deleterious effects of ambivalent homoprejudice and possible empowering interventions are discussed.     

Mental Health and Coping Patterns in Jewish Gay Men in Israel: The Role of Dual Identity Conflict,Religious Identity,and Partnership Status

This study examined the effects of dual-identity conflict, religious identity (religious/spiritual vs. sexual), and partnership status on the coping strategies and mental health of gay Jewish men in modern Israeli society. Participants were 73 religious and 71 secular gay men recruited via e-mail, social networking sites, and online resources targeting sexual minority men. Participants were assessed via measures of identity conflict, mental health, and coping strategies. Jewish gay men who reported more severe identity conflict also reported using less problem-focused and avoidance coping and more emotion-focused coping strategies and reported poorer mental health than their less identity-conflicted counterparts. Furthermore, gay men who self-identified as religious reported poorer mental health as well as less problem-focused coping and more emotion-focused coping compared to secular men. Religious gay men in romantic relationships reported lower intensities of dual-identity conflict and better mental health compared to their nonpartnered counterparts.     

Racism, sexism, and erotophobia: attitudes of heterosexuals toward homosexuals

This investigation examines the differential power of explanation of a sexual conservatism theory of homophobia against a more general theory of intergroup prejudice. Forty-eight female and 31 male undergraduate introductory psychology students from a large Eastern university completed a survey assessing contemporary attitudes toward women, Blacks, and homosexuals, as well as their affective orientation towards sex. The results indicate that sexual conservatism, as measured by an affective dimension of erotophilia-erotophobia, and social prejudice, as measured by racist and sexist beliefs, are independent and equal predictors of antihomosexual sentiment. It is suggested that distinct etiological differences may exist in the development of the homophobic personality. Findings are discussed within the context of Herek's (1984) functional approach to understanding attitudes toward lesbians and gay men.     

“We’re Disgusted With Queers,not Fearful of Them”: The Interrelationships Among Disgust,Gay Men’s Sexual Behavior,and Homonegativity

ABSTRACT

Using a combination of personal reflections, published literature, and original empirical research, we argue that the disgust triggered by gay men’s sexual practices (specifically, anal intercourse) is a critical, though overlooked, contributor to heterosexual men and women’s homonegativity (i.e., negative attitudes and behaviors directed toward men who are or are perceived to be gay). We conclude our article by articulating several directions for future inquiry that we believe will advance current understanding of prejudice and discrimination directed toward gay men.     

Gay officers in their midst: heterosexual police employees' anticipation of the consequences for coworkers who come out

While fear among gay men and lesbians about being out in a masculinist environment is not surprising, this article examines what heterosexuals expect will happen when gay men and lesbians come out. We draw on a unique dataset from a police department in the southwest United States to examine the consequences anticipated by heterosexual police department employees if a gay or lesbian officer's sexual orientation became known in the workplace. We test four main sets of factors: individual-level demographic characteristics and religious background; homophobia; organizational tolerance for discrimination; and intergroup contact theory to explain how heterosexuals expect gay and lesbian coworkers to be treated. Using ordinary least squares regression, we find that characteristics of workplaces, measured by tolerance of discrimination, as well as contact with gay men and lesbians on the job are more significant predictors of anticipated outcomes than are individual-level traits and homophobic attitudes. We conclude by discussing the policy implications of our research.     

Gay men and lesbians' experiences in and expectations for interactions with heterosexuals

We analyzed 97 gay men's and lesbians' experiences with and expectations for interactions with majority group members. Respondents described reactions to previous or imagined future interactions with an unfamiliar heterosexual person who had just become aware that the respondent was lesbian or gay. Results indicated that respondents are more proactive than reactive (in contrast to expectation states theories), that the contact hypothesis can be appropriately applied to this group, even though the formulation of the theory was based upon negative attitudes in the absence of extensive contact, and that they have different reactions for people of different prejudice levels, rather than being globally suspicious, as is predicted by many intergroup theories. Future research should direct more attention to the stigmatized group members' attitudes about and reactions toward the majority group.     

Pictures of male homosexuals in the heads of Turkish college students: the effects of sex difference and social contact on stereotyping

The purpose of this study was to focus on the context of stereotypes of gay men, and how sex differences and social contact influence the stereotypic and counter-stereotypic attributes of them. To do that, 77 female and 106 male heterosexual undergraduate students participated in the study. The participants filled out a rating scale. The findings of the study demonstrated that male participants defined male homosexuals by using more stereotypic, less counter-stereotypic attributes, while female participants used less stereotypic and more counter-stereotypic attributes to define gay men. In the same way, participants who hadn't had any social contact with any homosexuals used more stereotypic and less counter-stereotypic attributes, while others who had had social contact with at least a homosexual defined gay men by using less stereotypic and more counter-stereotypic attributes. Both male participants and participants who hadn't had social contact with any homosexuals used more negative stereotypes than both females and participants who at least had had social contact with a homosexual. The findings were discussed in terms of gender-based judgments of gay men.     

A Comparative Study of Attitudes Toward Same-Gender Parenting and Gay and Lesbian Rights in Portugal and in Mexico

ABSTRACT

The belief that gay men and lesbians are unable to provide a stable environment in which to raise children fuels manifestations of sexual prejudice that are still highly prevalent in Portugal and Mexico. The aim of this study was to assess attitudes toward same-gender parenting and gay and lesbian rights, as well as beliefs about the controllability of homosexuality among a sample of 531 university students. A further aim was to assess the predictors of attitudes toward same-gender parenting. Results revealed the existence of ambivalent attitudes toward same-gender parenting. The belief that homosexuality is a choice and thus controllable in particular explained over 50% of the total variance of attitudes toward same-gender parenting. Being a man, older, and highly religious predicted higher levels of sexual prejudice regarding same-gender parenting. Comparative cross-cultural studies have the potential to highlight common features but also specificities of sexual prejudice.