Affective Mediation of Homophobic Reactions to Homosexual Males

Abstract

In a test of the assumed dissimilarity/revulsion (AD/R) model of homophobia, 58 heterosexual males who differed in homophobia participated in an acquaintanceship exercise with a male partner who self-disclosed, midway through the exercise, that his sexual orientation was homosexual or heterosexual. As predicted by the AD/R model, (1) participants high in homophobia became less emotionally invested in their self-disclosures after learning of a homosexual partner's sexual orientation, whereas those low in homophobia disclosed with more emotion over time; (2) participants high in homophobia interacting with a homosexual partner reported more negative affect stemming from the acquaintanceship exercise, evaluated their partner less favorably and indicated greater desired and actual social distancing from their partner than did participants in the remaining three conditions; and (3) the relatively negative behavioral/evaluative responses of participants high in homophobia to homosexual (but not heterosexual) partners were mediated by their affective reactions to the acquaintanceship exercise.     

Correlates of negative attitudes toward gay men: Sexism,male role norms,and male sexuality

Research has shown that heterosexual men are more negative toward gay men than women are on measures of attitudes toward homosexual behaviour and homosexual persons (Kite & Whitley, 1996). Gender differences in attitudes toward gay men's civil rights are less clear. No empirical studies, however, have investigated these findings with a scale that measures specifically these three attitudinal subcomponents. This study was a preliminary test of a scale that measured these subcomponents. In addition, this study investigated the relationship between these subcomponents and other attitudinal measures: hostile sexism, male toughness, and attitudes toward male sexuality. Results revealed that attitudes toward homosexual behaviour and homosexual persons comprised one factor: affective reactions toward gay men. Results showed that men were more negative on affective reactions than women were. No gender differences were revealed on attitudes toward civil rights. I found significant correlations between affective reactions, hostile sexism, male toughness, and male sexuality. I discuss these findings in relation to traditional gender role beliefs and make suggestions for future research.     

Is Homophobia Associated with an Implicit Same-Sex Attraction?

Some theorists propose that homophobia stems from underlying same-sex attraction. A few studies have tested this hypothesis, yet without a clear measure of implicit sexual attraction, producing mixed results. For the first time, we test this attraction-based account of homophobia among both men and women using an implicit measure of sexual attraction. No evidence of an attraction-based account of homophobia emerged. Instead, implicit same-sex attraction was related to positive evaluations of gay men and lesbians among female participants. Even in targeted analyses examining the relation between implicit same-sex attraction and homosexual evaluations among only those theoretically most likely to demonstrate an attraction-based homophobic effect, implicit same-sex attraction was not associated with evaluations of homosexuals or was associated with more positive evaluations of homosexuals. In addition, explicit same-sex attraction was related to positive evaluations of gay men and lesbians for male participants. These results are more in keeping with the attitude-similarity effect (i.e., people like, rather than dislike, similar others).     

Young,Effeminate, and Strange: Early Photographic Portraiture of Truman Capote

How did the young Truman Capote, a homosexual writer who closeted neither his person nor his writing, succeed amidst the homophobia and censorship of 1948? This paper examines how Capote vaulted himself into celebrity through a campaign of photographic self-representation that climaxed with the spectacular notoriety of the author photo of his first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms. Capote's photographic portraits allowed him both to be recognized as gay and to be seen and discussed as nonspecifically queer–as effeminate, childish, and strange–deviations less threatening than the bald assertion of sexual difference, although associated with homosexuality through the nexus of nonnormative masculinity. Capote thus both deflected and attracted attention to the homosexual contents of his work and person to best serve his career. His media manipulations offer a case study of how gay men could strategically harness the simultaneous currents of fascination and repulsion with nonnormative masculinity in postwar America.     

Improved outcomes following contact with a gambling helpline: the impact of gender on barriers and facilitators

Gambling helplines were developed at a time when evidence for help-seeking was almost entirely based on male gamblers and there is limited evidence that helplines have changed in response to the exponential increase in female gamblers over the past 20 years. The current study aimed to explore the impact of gender on calls to Australian helplines, including caller characteristics, barriers and facilitators to contact as well as call outcomes. We surveyed 170 callers (94% problem gamblers, 61% male) approximately 1 month following their helpline call and found gender differences in terms of age, preferred gambling type, employment and source of referral. Males reported barriers related to pride and problem denial more frequently than females did, and also reported more frequent problems associated with the welfare of others and/or their living arrangements that facilitated their calling. Males and females were equally likely to seek further help from formal, informal and self-help resources. With only 10% of callers not accessing further help, these findings highlight the importance of helplines as a key support for both men and women with gambling problems.     

Correlates of negative attitudes toward gay men: sexism, male role norms, and male sexuality

Research has shown that heterosexual men are more negative toward gay men than women are on measures of attitudes toward homosexual behaviour and homosexual persons (Kite & Whitley, 1996). Gender differences in attitudes toward gay men's civil rights are less clear. No empirical studies, however, have investigated these findings with a scale that measures specifically these three attitudinal subcomponents. This study was a preliminary test of a scale that measured these subcomponents. In addition, this study investigated the relationship between these subcomponents and other attitudinal measures: hostile sexism, male toughness, and attitudes toward male sexuality. Results revealed that attitudes toward homosexual behaviour and homosexual persons comprised one factor: affective reactions toward gay men. Results showed that men were more negative on affective reactions than women were. No gender differences were revealed on attitudes toward civil rights. I found significant correlations between affective reactions, hostile sexism, male toughness, and male sexuality. I discuss these findings in relation to traditional gender role beliefs and make suggestions for future research.     

Misplaced Mistrust: The Collaborative Construction of Doubt In 911 Emergency Calls

In this paper, we analyze how the call-taker in a taped 911 call came to doubt a caller who was reporting a genuine emergency. Using conversation analysis, we show how the caller's actions in the unfolding context of the call did not successfully support his claims to be a caller with legitimate trouble to report. We show how the participants' experience of the call as it unfolded differed from the media's depictions of the call. The call-taker's doubt was not an intrapersonal phenomenon but was constructed by both participants throughout the call. One of the major factors in this construction was the unsuccessful claims-making techniques used by the caller.     

“Brain Says You're a Girl, But I Think You're a Sissy Boy”: Cultural Origins of Transphobia

The author argues that transphobia—fear and hatred of transgender persons—is a variant of homophobia understood as hatred of the queer, where queer means any formation of sexuality and/or gender that deviates from the norm of reproductive heterosexuality. The male-to-female transgender incites transphobia through her implicit challenge to the binary division of gender upon which male cultural and political hegemony depends, and through her capacity to initiate an uncanny rememoration, in the heterosexual or homosexual male, of his own primal (pre- and postnatal) participation in the female. Medical/sexological discourse and films such as To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar have struggled to curtail the freedom of self-actualization, and to discipline the meaning, of the m-t-f transgender, especially through the institution of regimes of binarism (male/female, heterosexual/homosexual, healthy/perverse, appropriate/inappropriate). The film Paris Is Burning documents the subversion of binaries of gender and sexuality by trans persons and other queers.     

Gender differences in the initiation and attribution of tactile intimacy

Cultural norms may restrict the demonstration of intimacy between men, such that male adults are relatively unlikely (in comparison to females) to display affection in public by hugging or putting hands around one another's waists. Study 1 examined via a role playing technique how the gender composition of a dyad and types of friendship influence tactile greetings. Males displayed less physical intimacy with male friends than with female (platonic or dating) friends and less than females displayed with their same-sex friends. Study 2 examined subjects' perceptions of and attributions about reciprocal touch. Male-male behavior was rated as less normal as a function of the level of physical touch (going from no touch, hugging, to arms around the waist). The normalcy rating of opposite-sex pairs did not vary as a function of the touch manipulation, but female, same-sex pairs' behavior was rated as less normal in the arms around the waist than in either the no touch or hug conditions. In the male same-sex pairs, hugging was seen as more likely to reflect a sexual relationship than no touch, while arms around one another's waist was rated as even more likely to represent a sexual relationship. It was suggested that homophobia, the fear of appearing or being homosexual, may operate to inhibit physical intimacy between men.     

Testosterone therapy - what,when and to whom?

Testosterone therapy has been used for more than 60 years in the treatment of male hypogonadism. The classical forms of hypogonadism are comprised of primary testicular failure or insufficient testicular stimulation due to the lack of pituitary gonadotropins. Typical causes of primary hypogonadism are Klinefelter's syndrome, anorchia or acquired disturbances of testicular function. Secondary hypogonadism is characterized by insufficient production of pituitary gonadotropins, due either to pituitary failure or defects at the hypothalamic level. It is unequivocally accepted in clinical practice that any male with inadequately low testosterone production for his age will require androgen therapy. In addition to the classical forms of hypogonadism, the past decade of research has clearly demonstrated that, with increasing age, many men will suffer from decreasing testosterone production. About 15-25% of men over the age of 50 years will experience serum testosterone levels well below the threshold considered normal for men between 20 and 40 years of age. Studies substituting testosterone in elderly men with low serum testosterone have shown that men with clinical symptoms identical to the symptomatology of classical hypogonadism will benefit most from such therapy. Therefore, it is the general consensus to treat men with age-related hypogonadism only when clinical symptoms are present that can be potentially corrected by testosterone administration. Until recently, intramuscular injections of esters, such as testosterone enanthate, have been the mainstay of testosterone therapy. The introduction of testosterone patches has not challenged this approach, since many users of patches suffer from moderate to severe skin reactions. Some oral testosterone formulations have proven to be problematic, as absorption can be variable, bioavailability is frequently poor, due to the first-pass effect of the liver, and frequent administration is often required<citeref rid="b1"><emph>¹</emph></citeref>. Oral testosterone undecanoate avoids, at least partially, the first-pass effect of the liver. However, plasma testosterone levels generally undergo large fluctuations<citeref rid="b2"><emph>²</emph></citeref>. The large fluctuations in serum testosterone levels caused by conventional intramuscular injections result in unsatisfactory shifts in mood and sexual function in some men, which, combined with the frequency of injections, make the intramuscular mode of delivery far from ideal. Recently, a hydroalcoholic gel containing 1% testosterone has proven to be as efficient as a testosterone patch, but with fewer side-effects and a higher grade of patient satisfaction<citeref rid="b3"><emph>³</emph></citeref>^-<citeref rid="b4"></citeref><citeref rid="b5"><emph>⁵</emph></citeref>. Doses of 50-100 mg gel applied once daily on the skin deliver sufficient amounts of testosterone to restore normal hormonal values and correct the signs and symptoms of hypogonadism. The gel has been shown to be effective and successful in patients in the United States, who have benefited from its availability for almost 3 years. In the near future, intramuscular injections of testosterone undecanoate will become commercially available. Such injections have a very favorable pharmacokinetic profile, with one injection every 3 months maintaining serum testosterone well within the normal range. In phase III studies, intramuscular testosterone undecanoate proved to be as efficient as testosterone enanthate, with only one-quarter of the number of injections required and more stable serum testosterone levels. Thus, the new application modes - hydroalcoholic gel (for example, Testogel®, Schering AG, Germany) and intramuscular testosterone undecanoate (Nebido®, Schering AG, Germany) - appear to be the methods of choice in the near future, one being very suitable for hormone therapy in elderly men, the other for long-term substitution in classical forms of hypogonadism.     

A Causal Model of Secondary Deviance: the Case of Homosexuality*

The causal structure of a theory of secondary deviance is fitted to data from a sample of 148 male homosexuals. The model suggests that if one perceives others reacting to him on the basis of the homosexual stereotype, his self definition may incorporate the stereotype. These responses, and the accompanied feelings of stigma, are likely to produce stress. As an adaptation, the individual may shift his reference associations to homosexual groups. While providing for a more positive identity, the ultimate outcome of these associations is often the adoption of a role consistent with the stereotype (i.e., secondary deviance). The basic concepts of the theory are operationally defined in terms of Likert-type scales. Dichotomizing the variables on the basis of median scale scores, a log-linear technique of causal inference is used to test the propositions. Offering support for the theory, the analysis suggests that secondary deviance is caused by association in homosexual groups which is caused by perceived societal rejection. Self definition is shown not to be related to secondary deviance, but is affected by perceived rejection and may affect and be affected by homosexual association. Implications for the labeling, anomie, and social and cultural support theories from which the model originated are also discussed.     

Demographic Predictors of Consistency and Change in Heterosexuals' Attitudes toward Homosexual Behavior over a Two-Year Period

This study investigated demographic predictors of consistency and change in heterosexual people's attitudes toward homosexual behavior. A nationally representative sample of Australian men and women were recruited via random digit dialling in 2004 through 2005. Participants completed annual computer-assisted telephone interviews over the next five years. Questions about attitudes toward male and female homosexual behavior were assessed at Wave 1 (2004–2005) and Wave 3 (2006–2007) of the study. The majority of the sample reported tolerance of both male and female homosexual behavior (with women slightly more tolerant than men). Multivariate analyses showed that those who regularly attended religious services were more likely to consistently disapprove of homosexual behavior and more likely to change from tolerant to disapproving. Among those who were initially tolerant, younger respondents and those with higher educations were less likely to become homophobic. The results of this study show that individual attitudes toward homosexual behavior are open to change, particularly toward a more tolerant position. Religiosity appears to be consistently associated with the development and reinforcement of homophobic tendencies.     

An appointment with god: AIDS, place, and spirituality

This article describes how an African American gay man living with AIDS used his spiritual, religious, and cultural strengths to resist internalized dislocation because of heterosexism and homophobia. He was able to experience a relocation of God from places that rejected him to places that were conducive to his healing. By using these strengths, he was able to reject his physician's prediction of death and to call on God in response to an end-stage AIDS crisis. The development of spiritual agency is addressed.     

Seeking Help for Same-Sex Relationship Abuses

Abstract

Four hundred ninety-nine ethnically diverse gay men, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people were surveyed regarding use of resources to stop same-sex relationship abuses. Just over half (54%) reported seeking help, and most resources, with the exception of police, shelter and crisis hotlines, were considered helpful. When asked about perceived services needed, most participants focused on intra-psychic solutions rather than use of community or macrosystem institutions. Perceived or actual homophobia is the biggest barrier to seeking help. Women and people of color expressed a statistically significant preference for caregivers of the same gender and ethnicity, respectively, but indicated that this would not stop them from seeking assistance.     

“I’m Part of This Family”: How Five Care-Giving Partners of Gay Men Story Their Experiences

This study explores how five care-giving partners of gay men with chronic illness “story” their experiences, or how they construct their experiences in narrative form. Participants, all of whom were recruited with the help of local social service agencies, took part in two in-depth semi-structured interviews intended to invoke their stories as care-giving partners of gay men. Narrative analysis was used to conceptualize the respondents’ experiences. Several themes emerged in the study, many of which arguably related to participants’ real or perceived need to negotiate expressions of homophobia and heterosexism in the context of their care-giving narratives.     

Factors related to childhood sexual abuse among gay/bisexual male Internet escorts

This exploratory investigation examined the relationship between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and related psychosocial characteristics and sexual behaviors among 46 gay/bisexual male escorts who advertise via the Internet. More than a quarter of men (28.3%) reported some history of CSA. Men reporting CSA were more likely to be from an ethnic minority group, identify as bisexual, have a primary male partner, and were less likely to identify an anal receptive ("bottom") sexual role preference. Men with a history of CSA were more likely to report unprotected sex with work-related partners, increased internalized homophobia, and decreased adolescent isolation. Interventions designed for male escorts with a history of CSA should emphasize safer sex strategies with work partners and reducing internalized homophobia.     

Acting Gay: Male Actors Shift the Frequency Components of Their Voices Towards Female Values When Playing Homosexual Characters

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether actors playing homosexual male characters in North-American television shows speak with a feminized voice, thus following longstanding stereotypes that attribute feminine characteristics to male homosexuals. We predicted that when playing homosexual characters, actors would raise the frequency components of their voice towards more stereotypically feminine values. This study compares fundamental frequency (F0) and formant frequencies (F _i ) parameters in the speech of fifteen actors playing homosexual and heterosexual characters in North-American television shows. Our results reveal that the voices of actors playing homosexual male characters are characterized by a raised F0 (corresponding to a higher pitch), and raised formant frequencies (corresponding to a less baritone timbre), approaching values typical of female voices. Besides providing further evidence of the existence of an “effeminacy” stereotype in portraying male homosexuals in the media, these results show that actors perform pitch and vocal tract length adjustments in order to alter their perceived sexual orientation, emphasizing the role of these frequency components in the behavioral expression of gender attributes in the human voice.     

Using action methods to counter social isolation and shame among gay men

ABSTRACT

Despite legal and cultural amelioration of homophobia, shame and internalized homophobia persist with concomitant adverse health and mental health consequences. J. L. Moreno's system of psychodrama, sociometry, and group psychotherapy offers approaches that help counter shame and internalized homophobia and increase peer support among diverse groups of gay men. Sociometric tools help create safety, establish group cohesion, build interpersonal connections, and strengthen identification and a sense of universality. The technique of doubling increases empathy. Explorations conducted during brief enactments using psychodramatic techniques heighten appreciation for diversity in the community while promoting self-acceptance and increased self-efficacy. Group sharing guidelines help strengthen mutual identification and mitigate shame and social isolation.     

The promised planet: alliances and struggles of the gerontocracy in American television science fiction of the 1960s

Introduction.?Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a common medical disorder affecting the aging male. A man's perception of a disease affects his health seeking behaviour. This study aimed to explore perceptions of ED among men with ED and how these perceptions came about.

Methods.?This qualitative study utilized in-depth interviews involving 17 urban men aged between 40 and 75 years old.

Results.?Misconceptions existed regarding the definitions of ED. Most men perceived impotence to be more serious than ED. Although most were aware of the medical causes of ED, ‘overuse of penis’ and black magic were mentioned as culturally-related causes. ED was perceived as a serious problem associated with loss of manhood and it had a significant impact on relationships with their partners. However, some adopted an ‘accepting’ view and attributed it to aging and fate. Most men were only familiar with PDE-5 inhibitors and traditional therapies. PDE-5 inhibitors were perceived to be effective but they were concerned about side effects and costs.

Conclusions.?Identifying men's perceptions of ED and its treatment would help doctors in their consultation, and inform health policy makers in planning appropriate public education and services.