Sexual Minority Discrimination + Reduction Flashcards
What is the history of sexual prejudice?
DSM I and II: Homosexuality was listed as a disorder which psychologist and psychiatrist aimed at ‘curing’
Homosexuality was equated with psycholpathology
Not until 1973, when the APA unclassified homosexuality as a mental disorder
What is the current situation?
A lot of progress, however:
> 61% of young non-heterosexual people reported experiencing verbal abuse
What is the impact of seuxal prejudice and discrimination
Meyer (2003) concluded that
> compared to heterosexuals, sexual minorities experience higher rates of mental disorders - double or even triple the rate
What is Meyer’s (2003) minority stress model?
The stigma, prejudice and discrimination associated with sexual minorities create a hostile and stressful social environment
> This can lead to poor mental health outcomes
What are the three stressors
> General stressors: not associated with someone’s particular sexual orietation eg. school, work, bills etc
Additional stressor associated with being in a sexual minorty group:
> Distal minority stressors (associated with the environment) - prejudiced events such as losing a job
Proximal minority stressors (internal to the individual):
- Expectation of rejection: a member of a sexual minority sees another member being excluded or rejected and therefore expects this more often.
- Concealment: a coping mechanism is to not disclose your sexuality
- Interalised homphobia: the stigma associated with their sexuality gets internalised and accepted - they begin to see themselves negatively -> low self-esteem and self-regard
How do proximal minority stressors relate to Branscombe’s rejection identification model?
> Because the members of a sexual minority have an EXPECTATION OF REJECTION, due to the observed rejection of other group members, they learn to CONCEAL their true identity
This prevents the member from seeking out the in group identification from the rejection-identification model, which can buffer them against discrimination and raise their levels of psychological well-being!
What are the gender differences in attitudes towards towards sexual minorities?
> MEN report more negative attitudes towards sexual minorities than women
Especially stronger when rating gay men - lesbians were rated equally
What are the two reasons why men have more negative views towards homosexual men?
- Gender belief system: we have belief on what it means to be male and female (gender stereotypes)
- Suppression of lesbian prejudice does not suppress gay men prejudice - they are just more accepting of lesbians
Why do men adhere more stringently to gender beliefs?
> Masculinity is regarded as a high status - the confines are also quite narrow and inflexible.
Therefore, men have more to lose if they don’t conform
Evidence of when male’s masculinity is threatened resulting in higher levels of discrimination (Talley & Bettencourt, 2008)
What?
> Manipulation of TWO groups: threat and no threat to masculinity
How?
> Word association task of colleague, either GAY or STRAIGHT
> If the colleague answered incorrectly, the participant could punish with a noise blast
Results:
> Levels of punishment for the threat group were NOT dependent on pre-level sexual prejudice
> Threat group: higher levels of punishment towards gay than straight
> Non-threat group: non sig. difference between punishment of gay and straight
Conclusion:
> When straight men’s masculinity is threatened, they are particularly motivated to show some kind of aggression to ONLY gay males AND
> This aggression is not dependent on their base levels of sexual prejudice
What happens when a male’s masculinity is threatened?
> When a male’s masculinity is threatened, they are more likely to show aggression towards and discriminate against gay males, when compared to straight males.
NOTE: see Talley & Battencourt (2008) research
How does the gender belief system have an effect on sexual minority attitudes and discrimination?
> People who are viewed to hold the quaities of the other gender receive more negative attitudes - eg Julia Gillard (woman who is tough and a leader)
Males see homosexual men as more feminine
This violates the gender belief system
The more you hold these DIPOLAR gender beliefs, the more NEGATIVE the attitudes you will hold towards sexual minorities… AND
Straight men adhere more stringently to these gender beliefs -> homosexualty violates these norms -> see more negatively
Why are straight men more accepting of lesbians than gay men?
> They eroticise lesbians, viewing them through an erotic lens
This counteracts stigma associated with their homosexuality
What is the effect of political ideology on sexual minority discrimination?
Conservatism is associated with:
> Increased explicit and implicit sexual prejudice
What is an explanation behind the effect of political alignment on sexual prejudice?
There are two reasons why people don’t express prejudice towards sexual minorities:
- INTERNAL motivation - self-beliefs and morals
- EXTERNAL motivation - don’t want to come across as bigoted and politically incorrect
GOAL: to NOT respond with sexual prejudice… AND
The more intrinsically motivated we are, the easier it is to achieve that goal!
What did Verelli and White (2016) find regarding political conservatism and sexual prejudice?
Results:
> Increased conservatism was related to increased explicit AND implicit prejudice to wards gay men
> Increased conservatism was related to REDUCED levels of internal motivation and INCREASED levels of external motivation to reduce sexual prejudice
Conclusion:
Conservatists are more concerned with the way others think than their own moral locus
How can we combat and reduce sexual prejudice?
Intergroup contact:
> Having more contact in associated with reduction in the prejudice
> Equally robust for correlational and experimental studies
> The effect of contact was most effective for lesbians
What are the limitations to intergroup contact
> Concealment is one of the proximal minority stressors associated with sexual minorities, therefore won’t be as easy to identify
How to address the issues of the limitations of intergroup contact
Electronic contact
> A good way of preparing people for more proximal face-to-face contact.
> A good way to help people move along the continuum of contact
- Engagement of the self in contact situation
- Less stressful than direct contact
- Increased opportunity for contact
WORK WELL FOR THOSE WITH MINIMAL OPPORTUNITY FOR INTERGROUP CONTACT
What did White and Virelli (2015) find for E-contacts effectiveness?
> For those with already high levels of contact or intention for contact, the intervention had non significant effects - hard to improve already positive people
It was beneficial for those who reported as having minimal prior contact with the outgroup - now increased intent to interact with outgroup.
