Heterosexual Attitudes to Homosexuality

Abstract

This study compared attitudes towards homosexuality of 164 students from two faculties at a rural Australian university. Eighty-two percent of participants were aged from 18–24 years, 65% percent of the sample were female with 58% of participants enrolled in a humanities course and 42% in a business course. A cross-sectional design using the Heterosexual Attitudes to Homosexuals (H.A.T.H.) and Fear of HIV/AIDS questionnaires found that for the total sample the major predictors of homophobia were fear of HIV/AIDS, gender, religiosity, and academic major. Business majors were significantly more homophobic than humanities majors. The findings imply that homophobia may be prevalent among university faculties and that staff and student programs need to be implemented to address homophobia, especially among business majors and lecturers.     

Reactions to First Postpubertal Coitus and First Male Postpubertal Same-Sex Experience in The Kinsey Sample: Examining Assumptions in German Law Concerning Sexual Self-Determination and Age Cutoffs

ABSTRACT

In German law, sexual self-determination is seen as undeveloped in minors ≤13 and underdeveloped from 14 to 15. Consequently, harm from sex with adults is assumed likely in the former and possible in the latter. We tested assumed harm using the Kinsey data on first postpubertal coitus and male same-sex experience by comparing reactions across 5 groups: minors/peers; minors ≤13/adults; minors 14–15/adults; minors 16–17/adults; adults/adults. Contrary to assumptions, for example, minors ≤13 with adults reacted just as positively and no more negatively than adults with adults. Present-day relevance of these data in light of cultural changes since Kinsey's time is discussed.     

Stigma Consciousness Concerns Related to Drug Use and Sexuality in a Sample of Street-Based Male Sex Workers

Abstract

Measurement of, and response to, three different stigmas and their exposure (homosexual behavior, sex work, and drug use) were studied a group of 90 key-informant recruited male sex workers in Houston, Texas who were over 18 and had exchanged sex for money in the previous 7 days. Respondents reported on self-identified sexual orientation and were interviewed, including providing responses on a measure of perceived stigma relating to sexual behavior and drug use. Two thirds were white, almost all had used drugs (many in the past week), and half had ever injected. A fifth identified as heterosexual, with the remainder split between gay and bisexually-identified men. There was a high level of homelessness and contact with the criminal justice system for drug and property offences. Consciousness about drug-related stigma was moderately associated with concerns about drug-related exposure and sensitivity to rejection as a drug user, but not to exposure as homosexual or as a sex worker. Drug-using status is related to greater concern about exposure as a sex worker. Data suggest that stigma is domain-specific and that there are different patterns of response to different stigmata in the same individual. Measurement of stigmata and concern about exposure and rejection need to be specific to stigmatized behaviors, and not generalized to other stigmatized behaviors since the data suggest that they are minimally related.     

Development of Attitudes Toward Homosexuality Scale for Indians (AHSI)

Attitudes toward homosexuality vary across cultures, with the legal and societal position being rather complicated in India. This study describes the process of developing and validating a Likert-type scale to assess attitudes toward homosexuality among heterosexuals. Phase 1 describes the development of the scale. Items were written based on thematic analysis of narratives generated from 50 college students and reviewing existing scales. After administering the 70-item scale to 68 participants, item analysis yielded 20 statements with item-total correlations over .70. Cronbach’s alpha was .97. In Phase 2, the 20-item Attitudes Toward Homosexuality Scale for Indians (AHSI) was administered to 142 participants. Analysis yielded a corrected split-half correlation of .91. Further, AHSI discriminated between women and men; between liberal arts and STEM/business students; and those who reported interpersonal contact with gay men and lesbian women and those who did not. The scale has satisfactory reliability and shows promising construct validity.     

Competing Claims: Religious Affiliation and African Americans’ Intolerance of Homosexuals

Literature on religion and political intolerance indicates competing expectations about how Black Protestant church affiliation affects African Americans’ attitudes about civil liberties. On the one hand, Black Protestant theology emphasizes personal freedom and social justice, factors generally linked to more tolerant attitudes. On the other hand, Black Protestants tend to be conservative on family and social issues, factors often linked to intolerance of gays and lesbians. Data from the General Social Survey are used to examine the influence of religious group identification, as well as other relevant aspects of religiosity, on political intolerance among African Americans. Results indicate that although other aspects of religion (beliefs and behaviors) help explain variation in political intolerance, Black Protestant church affiliation has no relationship with attitudes about the civil liberties of homosexuals. However, additional tests show that Black Protestant church affiliation significantly predicts intolerance of other target groups (atheists and racists).     

Media Representation of Tongxinglian in China: A Case Study of the People’s Daily

Over the past few decades, the worldwide lesbian and gay movements have diversified and increased their rights claims. The achievement of gay rights claims in society is the result of an interplay among various social factors and forces. Media is one of most influential players in building homosexual images and promoting mutual understanding. Chinese homosexuals were not treated as criminals or mental illness patients anymore in 1997 and 2001, respectively, after decriminalization and depathologization. Thus this article aims to explore how homosexuals were portrayed in the official media of China, particularly the People’s Daily, to illustrate the changing perception of homosexuals in China’s political and social spheres. It argues that representation of homosexuals in the People’s Daily changed gradually from a negative perception to a more positive one with less discrimination and prejudice as shown by the article’s quantitative and qualitative results.     

When Heterosexuality is Questioned: Stifling Suspicion Through Public Displays of Heterosexual Identity

This study examined public heterosexual identity management practices of heterosexual-identified young adults in the United States. Analysis of 415 participants’ written narratives indicated that 41% (n = 169) described consciously engaging in public displays of their heterosexual status in relation to suspicion about their sexual orientation. This article describes our findings regarding five aspects of these narratives of suspicion: types of suspicion, causes of suspicion, reasons for concern about suspicion, the types of public displays of heterosexual status employed to quell suspicion, and intended audiences for these displays. Overall, the results indicated that heterosexual identity suspicion is multifaceted, this suspicion serves as a catalyst for public displays of heterosexual status, and the climate of suspicion described by our participants reflects and reinforces contemporary heterosexism.     

Host-size-dependent sex ratio in a parasitoid wasp

Charnov's host-size model explains parasitoid host-size-dependent sex ratio as an adaptive consequence when there is a differential effect of host size on the offspring fitness of parasitoid males versus females. This article tests the predictions and the assumptions of the host-size model. The parasitoid wasp Pimpla nipponica Uchida (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) laid more female eggs in larger or fresher host pupae when choice among hosts of different sizes or ages was allowed. Then, whether an asymmetrical effect of host size and age on the fitness of females versus males existed in P. nipponica was examined. Larger or fresher host pupae yielded larger wasps. Larger females lived longer, whereas male size did not influence male longevity. Large males mated successfully with relatively large females but failed with small females, whereas small males could mate successfully either with small or with large females. Thus, small-male advantages were found, and this held true even under male–male competition. Ovariole and egg numbers at any one time did not differ among females of different sizes. Larger females attained higher oviposition success and spent less time and energy for oviposition in hosts. Larger females produced more eggs from a single host meal. Taken together, females gained more, and males lost more, by being large. Host size and age thus asymmetrically affected the fitness of offspring males versus females through the relationships between host size or hast age and wasp size, which means the basic assumption of the host-size model was satisfied. Therefore, sex ratio control by P. nipponica in response to host size and age is adaptive. Received: November 13, 1998 / Accepted: January 18, 1999     

Hirschfeld to Hooker to Herek to High Schools: A Study of the History and Development of GLBT Empirical Research,Institutional Policies,and the Relationship Between the Two

Empirical gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) research has passed through three stages. Transitions between stages have been caused by an interaction of empirical research and institutional policies. The first period is from the late 1800s up to 1972, when research focused on categorizing homosexuality as a disease, treatments for homosexuality, and then research refuting the disease model. The second period ran from 1972 to approximately 1990, when researchers began to apply the disease model not to GLBT persons, but rather to those having negative attitudes toward homosexuality (homophobia), and researchers began to look at what it was like to be a GLBT person from GLBT persons' perspectives. The third period began in the early 1990s and continues today, when researchers focus on institutions, particularly action research aimed at changing institutions.     

The Relationship Between Anxiety and Sexual Functioning in Lesbians and Heterosexual Women

The association between anxiety and sexual functioning was studied in relation to women's sexual orientation. Participants in lesbian relationships (n = 42) and heterosexual relationships (n = 78) completed the Multidimensional Anxiety Questionnaire and Female Sexual Function Index. No difference was found between groups on the anxiety measure, but lesbians scored higher than heterosexuals on sexual functioning scales for arousal and orgasm. Intercorrelations among sexual functioning scales were dissimilar for lesbians and heterosexuals. Among heterosexuals, anxiety was negatively correlated with overall sexual functioning, lubrication, orgasm, and pain, but among lesbians anxiety was uncorrelated with all sexual functioning variables.