Reading about homosexuality

A study was conducted to access the importance of reading about experiences on homosexuality for adolescents and post-adolescents. Although no conclusive evidence could be found to link their reading experience to later experiences as a means of instigating change or providing role models, the author suggests that reading materials can be influential.     

Gender differences and attitudes towards homosexuality

The aim of this research is two-fold. First, it examined individuals' attitudes towards homosexuals in Singapore. Second, it also investigated whether gender differences in attitudes towards homosexuals exist. Respondents comprised 365 students and data were collected through the use of questionnaires. Results generally suggested that respondents harboured negative attitudes towards homosexuals. The prevalence of such ambivalent attitudes seemed to suggest that respondents were still generally quite conservative in their attitudes towards gender roles and homosexuality. Our findings also revealed that, generally, women reported that they were more comfortable in working closely with male homosexuals while the reverse was true for men. Implications of our findings were discussed.     

Self-perceived origins of attitudes toward homosexuality

Undergraduate students (N = 417) at a large southern university responded to open-ended questions designed to assess self-perceived origins of attitudes toward homosexuality and circumstances that may prompt a shift in attitudes. Inductively coded responses pointed to a positive correlation between attitudes toward homosexuality and experience interacting with gay men or lesbians; this is discussed in the context of Allport's (1954 ) contact hypothesis and Herek's (1984 , 1986 ) theory of functional attitudes. Implications are discussed for education and intervention efforts aimed at facilitating understanding and tolerance of gay men and lesbians.     

Multiple dimensions of attitudes about homosexuality: development of a multifaceted scale measuring attitudes toward homosexuality

Attitudes toward homosexuality are complex. To get a comprehensive view on the attitudes of people, different dimensions need to be included in research. Based on a review of the literature, we distinguish five dimensions: acceptance of homosexuality in a general sense; attitude toward equal rights; reactions to homosexuality "at close quarters"; reactions to homosexuality in public; and so-called modern homonegativity. In a study on a representative sample of Dutch Defence personnel (N = 1,607) we tested this model. Structural equation modeling of several items measuring the attitude toward homosexuality offers a six factor solution. These six factors are more or less comparable to the five dimensions we distinguished. The dimension "reactions to homosexuality at close quarters" is, however, empirically split in a dimension on affective reactions to homosexuality and homosexual persons in general and a dimension on affective reaction to homosexual friends or acquaintances.     

Boeotian swine: homosexuality in Boeotia

This article shows that the accounts in our ancient sources regarding Boeotian attitudes towards homosexuality, namely that the Boeotians were different from other Greeks in that they enjoyed great freedom in this respect and seemingly everything was permissible to them, present a distorted picture of the homosexual practices in this region. In fact, vase paintings with homosexual iconography dating from the sixth century BC reveal marked similarities with Attic and Corinthian pottery ware of the same period. The view that the Boeotians conducted themselves in an 'uncivilized' manner in their homosexual relations is therefore better understood as an attempt by other Greeks to distinguish themselves from the 'boorish' Boeotians and to justify their own aversion to this form of erotic love.     

Theories on homosexuality among professional therapists

Current viewpoints on homosexuality among Dutch psychiatrists and psychologists in the period of 1945 to 1980 are discussed. In a detailed examination of these differing theories, a change in the approach to therapy with homosexual clients unfolds, incorporating more of a sociodynamic focus as compared to the psychodynamic concepts of earlier theorists.     

Men and not-men: male gender-mixing statuses and homosexuality

Male gender-mixing statuses, such as Native American berdaches, consist of men who assume the cultural, symbolic attributes of women to attain the status of not-men. Remaining distinct from women, not-men are a culturally defined gender status whose indexing features include women's dress and behavior, occupational inversion, and some cultural traits of men. Another indexing feature of not-men is the absence of sexual relations with other not-men, which forces them to seek not-status men or women as sexual partners. The frequent equation of gender-mixing statuses with homosexuality is a misunderstanding: Sex with men is a secondary and derivative characteristic.     

Judaism and homosexuality: the traditionalist/progressive debate

This article critically reviews modern Jewish teaching on Judaism and homosexuality. The historical prohibition of homosexual acts is grounded in a world-view that views heterosexuality as natural and heterosexual marriage as the only route to religious and personal fulfillment. Progressive Jews have begun in recent years to question the underlying premises of traditional Jewish teaching on sexuality. Employing the categories of covenant theology and applying the interpretative methodology of liberal Judaism, the author argues for the valuation of the person as homosexual as a legitimate expression of human and Jewish covenantal obligation.     

A research into homosexuality in The Netherlands

This article presents varying ideologies regarding homosexuality. The history of homosexual research is reviewed from a clinical and sociological perspective. Centers for research in the area of homosexuality in The Netherlands are described in terms of their area of study as well as their differing ideological views. In conclusion, the increased awareness of the Dutch Government and the governance of the Dutch universities of the importance of research into homosexuality is described.     

The effect of homosexuality on perceptions of persuasiveness and trustworthiness

This study investigated the effect of sexual orientation on perceptions of persuasiveness and trustworthiness. Subjects were told that a university was considering adding either an International Studies Minor or a Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Studies minor to its curriculum. Subjects then viewed a videotape of a male professor, introduced as either homosexual or heterosexual, speaking about the benefits of the proposal. Following the video, ratings of the speaker's trustworthiness and persuasiveness were assessed. Results indicate that the speaker's sexual orientation alone did not have a significant effect on either of these ratings. However, a significant interaction occurred between the speaker's sexual orientation and the speech topic, indicating that subjects expressed especially low levels of trustworthiness when the homosexual speaker was lecturing on the GLB minor. Regression analyses revealed that subjects' attitudes toward homosexuals were a significant predictor of their judgements of the speaker's trustworthiness.     

Allies and persecutors: science and medicine in the homosexuality issue

Using Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935) and his Zwischenstufentheorie (theory of intersexual stages) as an example, the problems raised for homosexuals by etiological research into homosexuality are scrutinized. Hirschfeld, one of the most influential sex researchers working in the first part of the century, fully intended his biological theory to support his campaign on behalf of homosexuals' rights. However, the Zwischenstufentheorie and modern variations of it, such as the ideas of the endocrinologist, Günter D?rner, have been converted into strategies for preventing or curing homosexuality. From an historical point of view, it becomes clear that, in a society hostile to homosexuals, the results gained from research into the causes of homosexuality can be used against homosexuals and, in fact, have been.     

Freud reconsidered: bisexuality, homosexuality, and moral judgement

This article examines methodological problems and unacknowledged moral judgements in Freud's theory of homosexuality. Freud raises the issue of bisexuality in connection with the origins of homosexuality. When critically examined, the theory of bisexuality reduces to a theory of the capacity to be attracted to either females or males, and in that sense explains little about the origin of exclusive homosexual orientation. Freud's further investigations into the origin of homosexuality, strictly speaking, do not provide a clear explanation of sexual exclusivity. Finally, it is argued that Freud's moral assumptions color the nature of his conclusions. At the very least, without morally justifying his procedure, he transforms the course of psychosexual development as determined by psychoanalysis into a moral imperative against which homosexuality is judged a fixated and immature state.     

The relationship of self-reported sex-role characteristics and attitudes toward homosexuality

The present study investigated the relationship between self-reported sex-role characteristics and attitudes toward homosexuality using the Bem Sex Role Inventory, the Personal Attributes Questionnaire and the Attitudes toward Homosexuality Scale. Relationships occur for both males and females who are exhibiting greater amounts of cross-sex traits. Females with more instrumental characteristics were more accepting while males with more expressive characteristics were more rejecting. These findings are discussed in relation to those of Weinberger and Millham (1979) who also investigated this relationship, as well as to research investigating the relationship between attitudes toward homosexuality and attitudes toward sex roles and feminism.