Attitudes toward homosexuality: Preservation of sex morality or the double standard?

Abstract

Just as there is now a shift in emphasis in regard to other minority groups (e.g., the nonpoor are being studied in order to make possible needed and desired changes for the poor; Mac-Donald, 1973), the time is perhaps right to study the sources of the nonhomosexual's attitudes toward homosexuality.Despite repeated negative findings, researchers continue to look for data to substantiate the belief that homosexuals are abnormal. The explanation for such persistance may lie more in the nature, needs, and values of the nonhomosexual than in a commitment to objective scientific investigation.The present investigation tests the differential power of explanation offered by two hypotheses about the sources of negative attitudes toward homosexuality: (a) Attitudes are determined by conservative standards of sex morality. (&) Attitudes are determined by a need to preserve a double standard; that is, we may condemn the homosexual ("pansy," "fairy," "butch") in order to reduce sex-role confusion.The 5s were 101 (47 male and 57 female) university students and faculty (mean age = 27-28 years) who were administered (a) the Intimacy Permissiveness Scale (Christensen & Carpenter, 1962), ( 6) the Premarital Sexual Permissiveness Scale (Reiss, 1964), Male and Female forms, (c) a sex-role survey (S-RS), a 22-item Likert-type scale designed to measure support for equality between the sexes, and (d) the Attitude toward Homosexuality Scale (ATHS) developed by MacDonald and Huggins (presented

Anti-Homosexual Prejudice… as Opposed to What?

“…Herek (1984) questioned the necessity of multifactorial scales, and ultimately concluded that only a single factor was required to conceptualize heterosexism. Herek (1984) reported four studies which drew on both earlier attitude measures (Levitt & Klassen, 1974;MacDonald et al, 1973;Millham et al, 1976;Smith, 1971) and some original items. Notably, Herek excluded items from Mosher and O'Grady (1979) arguing that the "locker room" language of these behavioral items would offend participants instead of tapping into feelings of personal threat.…”

Gender-Role's Attitude, Perceived Similarity, and Sexual Prejudice against Gay Men

“…Traditional genderroles are shared beliefs, attitudes and behaviors that define hegemonic masculinity and femininity (e.g., Eagly, 1987;Zucker, 2001) and characterize a gender ideological system that supports a double standard for the sexes (MacDonald, Huggins, Young, & Swanson, 1973). A man learns to be different from women and similar to other men in order to become a 'real man', and a woman learns to be different from men and similar to other women in order to become a 'real woman'.…”

Homophobia: Conceptual, definitional, and value issues

“…Rather than focusing on the "etiology" and "cure" of homosexuality, theorists and researchers in psychology began to suggest that negative attitudes toward homosexuals, rather than homosexuality itself, are the cause of many of the difficulties that homosexuals face (Smith, 1971). Many of these researchers rejected what they referred to as the "victim analysis," which focused on the homosexual, and redirected their empirical pursuits toward the possible victimizers and, more specifically, toward the attitudes of nonhomosexuals toward homosexuals and homosexuality (MacDonald, Huggins, Young, & Swanson, 1972). Homosexuality was now taken to be a normal, healthy, life-style choice, and thus a new question arose: What are the etiology of, associated features of, and cure for individuals who have negative attitudes and reactions toward homosexuals and homosexuality?…”