The Development and Validation of the Genderism and Transphobia Scale

Abstract

A series of three studies were conducted to develop and validate a scale to measure violence, harassment, and discrimination toward cross-dressers, transgenderists, and transsexuals. In Study 1, we developed the Genderism and Transphobia Scale (GTS). In Study 2, we established the GTS's ability to predict parents' reactions to either a gender conforming or a gender non-conforming boy or girl. Correlations between the GTS and scales that assess homophobia and gender role ideologies suggest convergent validity. In Study 3, we conducted a factor analysis of the scale, found further evidence of the scale's discriminant and convergent validity, and tested the scale's ability to predict previous contact with gender non-conformists. Taken as a whole, the results of these studies demonstrate the basic psychometric properties of a new and useful scale to measure antipathy toward people who cross genders and sexes.Discrimination and prejudical attitudes are common topics in gender research. Although sexism has received considerable attention, few professionals have investigated the prejudice and violence experienced by individuals who cross or change genders. There is very little systematic research on discrimination against transsexuals (those who use or want to use hormones and/or surgery to change their gender and live full-time in their adopted gender), transgenderists (those who change gender often with minimal medical intervention, sometimes moving back and forth between genders), and crossdressers (those who change gender temporarily using mostly outward symbols of gender like clothing) referred to collectively here as trans persons. Can anti-trans sentiments be measured reliably with a questionnaire? Are hateful attitudes toward gender non-conformists conceptually related to other constructs like heterosexism and beliefs about gender? To answer these questions, the following three studies report on efforts to operationalize and conceptualize anti-trans attitudes, feelings, and behaviors.

Australian mental health professionals’ competencies for working with trans clients: a comparative study

“…This may be because the latter is rather blunt in the wording of its items, and the former includes both attitudinal and knowledge items. The issue of measures focusing on attitudes towards trans people being too blunt has also been raised by Ali et al (2016), whose participants suggested that the Genderism and Transphobia Scale (Hill & Willoughby, 2005) uses "unnecessarily inflammatory language" (p. 271). Concerns about the Genderism and Transphobia Scale led Riggs, Webber and Fell (2012) to adapt the scale in ways similar to the adaptions applied to the CATTS and ATTIS in the present study, producing factors that were argued to be relevant to the Australian context.…”

Attitudes Toward Transsexual People: Effects of Gender and Appearance

“…As alluded to above, researchers in the field consistently argue that negative attitudes toward homosexuality may be a reflection of negative perceptions of gender norm violations, in general. In addition, previous research (Hill & Willoughby, 2005) suggests that attitudes toward transsexuality and homosexuality are related. Therefore, it seems that the potential moderating effect of general attitudes toward transsexuality and homosexuality is a worthy consideration when examining perceptions of a specific transsexual.…”

“…In addition, transphobia, attitudes toward homosexuality, gender-role beliefs, and gender-role selfconcept were proposed as moderating variables. The methodology involved the use of vignettes and photographs designed to elicit attitudinal ratings toward a transsexual vignette character, as well as previously validated measures of the stated moderating variables including the Genderism and Transphobia Scale (GTS) (Hill & Willoughby, 2005), the Kite Homosexuality Attitude Scale (Kite & Deaux, 1986), the Hypergender Ideology Scale (HGIS) (Hamburger, Hogben, McGowan, & Dawson, 1996), and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) (Spence, Helmreich, & Stapp, 1974). The attitudinal ratings of the transsexual person were derived from questions similar to those used in comparable research (Moulton & Adams-Price, 1997) and assessed perceived attractiveness, general perception, and emotional health of the transsexual character.…”

“…The Genderism and Transphobia Scale (Hill & Willoughby, 2005) is a 32-item scale designed to measure discrimination and prejudice toward gender non-conformists. The items were generated from the literature on negative attitudes toward transgendered individuals and the discrimination faced by transgendered people on a dayto-day basis.…”

“…The Genderism and Transphobia Scale was developed in a series of three studies (Hill & Willoughby, 2005) that used both college undergraduate and graduate students as well as parents recruited from a community sample. The authors reported overall alpha coefficients between .88…”