Abstract
Negative attitudes toward lesbians and gay men widespread in multiple spheres including mass media, politics, public institutions, pseudoscientific contexts, and interpersonal relationships can be very distressing and sometimes unbearable for the victims. The adoption of the term “homophobia” [Weinberg (Society and the healthy homosexual, 1972)], although it is not entirely satisfactory, can be considered a milestone in Social Sciences because it marked the transition of scientific paradigm from homosexuality (and its “causes”) to antigay hostility (and its causes). For clinical and research purposes, it is important to consider the role of prejudice in affecting psychological well-being and producing minority stress in gay people and their families. At the same time, a comprehensive understanding of sexual prejudice as a form of abuse is necessary to develop prevention policies and practices (e.g., against homophobic bullying) and to avoid antigay biases and secondary victimization (e.g., in the clinical settings). Some tools for the assessment of both explicit and implicit sexual prejudice (both in straight and gay people) will be briefly discussed.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Weinberg G (1972) Society and the healthy homosexual. St. Martin’s Press, New York, NY
Herek GM (2004) Beyond “homophobia”: thinking about sexual prejudice and stigma in the twenty-first century. Sex Res Social Policy 1(2):6–24
Moss D (ed) (2003) Hating in the first person plural: psychoanalytic essays on racism, homophobia, misogyny, and terror. Other Press, New York, NY
Freud S (11937) Analysis terminable and interminable. SE 23, pp 211–253
Nussbaum MC (2004) Hiding from humanity: disgust, shame and the law. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
Freud S (1915–1917) Introductory lectures on psycho-analysis. SE 15–16
Adams HE, Wright LW Jr, Lohr BA (1996) Is homophobia associated with homosexual arousal? J Abnorm Psychol 105:440–445
Westen D (1998) The scientific legacy of Sigmund Freud: toward a psychodynamically informed psychological science. Psychol Bull 124:333–371
Hudson WW, Ricketts WA (1980) A strategy for the measurement of homophobia. J Homosex 5(4):357–372
Morin SF, Garfinkle EM (1978) Male homophobia. J Soc Issues 34(1):29–47
Weinstein N, Ryan WS, Dehaan CR, Przybylski AK, Legate N, Ryan RM (2012) Parental autonomy support and discrepancies between implicit and explicit sexual identities: dynamics of self-acceptance and defense. J Pers Soc Psychol 102:815–832
Thompson C, Zoloth B (1989) Homophobia. Campaign to End Homophobia, Cambridge, MA
Blumenfeld WJ (2000) How homophobia hurts everyone. In: Adams M, Blumenfeld WJ, Castañeda R, Hackman HW, Peters ML, Xúñiga X (eds) Readings for diversity and social justice: an anthology on racism, sexism, anti-semitism, heterosexism, classism and ableism. Routledge, New York, pp 267–275
Cowan G, Heiple B, Marquez C, Khatchadourian D, McNevin M (2005) Heterosexuals’ attitudes toward hate crimes and hate speech against gays and lesbians: old-fashioned and modern heterosexism. J Homosex 49(2):67–82
Morrison MA, Morrison TG (2002) Development and validation of a scale measuring modern prejudice toward gay men and lesbian women. J Homosex 43(2):15–37
Raja S, Stokes JP (1998) Assessing attitudes toward lesbians and gay men: the modern homophobia scale. Int J Sex Gender Stud 3:113–134
Herek GM, Gillis JR, Cogan JC (2009) Internalized stigma among sexual minority adults: insights from a social psychological perspective. J Couns Psychol 56:32–43
Greenwald AG, McGhee DE, Schwartz JL (1998) Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: the implicit association test. J Pers Soc Psychol 74:1464–1480
Banse R, Seise J, Zerbes N (2001) Implicit attitudes towards homosexuality: reliability, validity, and controllability of the IAT. Z Exp Psychol 48:145–160
Karpinski A, Steinman RB (2006) The single category implicit association test as a measure of implicit social cognition. J Pers Soc Psychol 91:16–32
Steffens MC, Buchner A (2003) Implicit Association Test: separating transsituationally stable and variable components of attitudes toward gay men. Exp Psychol 50:33–48
Costa AB, Bandeira DR, Nardi HC (2013) Systematic review of instruments measuring homophobia and related constructs. J Appl Soc Psychol 43:1324–1332
Lottes IL, Grollman EA (2010) Conceptualization and assessment of homonegativity. Int J Sex Health 22:219–233
Lingiardi V, Falanga S, D’Augelli AR (2005) The evaluation of homophobia in an Italian sample. Arch Sex Behav 34:81–93
Lingiardi V, Baiocco R, Nardelli N (2012) Measure of internalized sexual stigma for lesbians and gay men: a new scale. J Homosex 59:1191–1210
Rozin P, Haidt J, McCauley CR (2008) Disgust. In: Lewis M, Haviland-Jones JM, Barrett LF (eds) Handbook of emotions, 3rd edn. Guilford, New York, NY, pp 757–776
Navarrete CD, Fessler DM (2006) Disease avoidance and ethnocentrism: the effects of disease vulnerability and disgust sensitivity on intergroup attitudes. Evol Hum Behav 27:270–282
Hodson G, Costello K (2007) Interpersonal disgust, ideological orientations, and dehumanization as predictors of intergroup attitudes. Psychol Sci 18:691–698
Nussbaum MC (2010) From disgust to humanity: sexual orientation and constitutional law. Oxford University Press, New York, NY
Inbar Y, Pizarro DA, Bloom P (2012) Disgusting smells cause decreased liking of gay men. Emotion 12:23–27
Inbar Y, Pizarro DA, Knobe J, Bloom P (2009) Disgust sensitivity predicts intuitive disapproval of gays. Emotion 9:435–439
Schaller M, Park JH (2011) The behavioral immune system (and why it matters). Curr Dir Psychol Sci 20:99–103
Cullen JM, Wright LW Jr, Alessandri M (2002) The personality variable openness to experience as it relates to homophobia. J Homosex 42(4):119–134
Herek GM, Capitanio JP (1999) Sex differences in how heterosexuals think about lesbians and gay men: evidence from survey context effects. J Sex Res 36:348–360
Smith SJ, Axelton AM, Saucier DA (2009) The effects of contact on sexual prejudice: a meta-analysis. Sex Roles 61:178–191
Allport GW (1954) The nature of prejudice. Perseus Books, Cambridge, MA
Olson LR, Cadge W, Harrison JT (2006) Religion and public opinion about same-sex marriage. Soc Sci Q 87(2):340–360
Schwartz J (2010) Investigating differences in public support for gay rights issues. J Homosex 57:748–759
Herek GM (2002) Gender gaps in public opinion about lesbians and gay men. Public Opin Q 66:40–66
Kerns JG, Fine MA (1994) The relation between gender and negative attitudes toward gay men and lesbians: do gender role attitudes mediate this relation? Sex Roles 31:297–307
Kite ME (1984) Sex differences in attitudes toward homosexuals: a meta-analytic review. J Homosex 10(1–2):69–81
Kite ME, Whitley BE (1996) Sex differences in attitudes toward homosexual persons, behaviors, and civil rights: a meta-analysis. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 22:336–353
Parrott DJ, Adams HE, Zeichner A (2002) Homophobia: personality and attitudinal correlates. Pers Indiv Differ 32:1269–1278
Steffens MC, Wagner C (2004) Attitudes toward lesbians, gay men, bisexual women, and bisexual men in Germany. J Sex Res 41(2):137–149
Barron JM, Struckman-Johnson C, Quevillon R, Banka SR (2008) Heterosexual men’s attitudes toward gay men: a hierarchical model including masculinity, openness, and theoretical explanations. Psychol Men Masculin 9:154–166
Shackelford TK, Besser A (2007) Predicting attitudes toward homosexuality: insights from personality psychology. Indiv Differ Res 5(2):106–114
Mays VM, Cochran SD (2001) Mental health correlates of perceived discrimination among lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults in the United States. Am J Public Health 91:1869–1876
Newcomb ME, Mustanski B (2010) Internalized homophobia and internalizing mental health problems: a meta-analytic review. Clin Psychol Rev 30:1019–1029
Rivers I (2011) Homophobic bullying: research and theoretical perspectives. Oxford University Press, New York, NY
Roberts AL, Austin SB, Corliss HL, Vandermorris AK, Koenen KC (2010) Pervasive trauma exposure among US sexual orientation minority adults and risk of posttraumatic stress disorder. Am J Public Health 100:2433–2441
Hatzenbuehler ML, O’Cleirigh C, Grasso C, Mayer K, Safren S, Bradford J (2012) Effect of same-sex marriage laws on health care use and expenditures in sexual minority men: a quasi-natural experiment. Am J Public Health 102:285–291
Hatzenbuehler ML, McLaughlin KA, Keyes KM, Hasin DS (2010) The impact of institutional discrimination on psychiatric disorders in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: a prospective study. Am J Public Health 100:452–459
Hatzenbuehler ML, Keyes KM, Hasin DS (2009) State-level policies and psychiatric morbidity in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations. Am J Public Health 99:2275–2281
Hatzenbuehler ML, Pachankis JE, Wolff J (2012) Religious climate and health risk behaviors in sexual minority youths: a population-based study. Am J Public Health 102:657–663
Dragowski E, Halkitis P, Grossman A, D’Augelli A (2011) Sexual orientation victimization and posttraumatic stress symptoms among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth. J Gay Lesbian Soc Serv 23:226–249
Meyer IH, Northridge ME (2007) The health of sexual minorities: public health perspectives on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender populations. Springer, New York, NY
Nadal KL, Issa MA, Leon J, Meterko V, Wideman M, Wong Y (2011) Sexual orientation microaggressions: “death by a thousand cuts” for lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth. J LGBT Youth 8:234–259
Hatzenbuehler ML (2009) How does sexual minority stigma “get under the skin”? A psychological mediation framework. Psychol Bull 135:707–730
Meyer IH (1995) Minority stress and mental health in gay men. J Health Soc Behav 36(1):38–56
Meyer IH (2003) Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychol Bull 129:674–697
Frost DM, Meyer IH (2009) Internalized homophobia and relationship quality among lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals. J Couns Psychol 56:97–109
Lingiardi V, Nardelli N (2012) Partner relational problem: listening beyond homo-ignorance and homo-prejudice. In: Levounis P, Drescher J, Barber ME (eds) The LGBT casebook. American Psychiatric Publishing, Washington, DC, pp 223–230
Balsam DM, Szymanski KF (2005) Insidious trauma: examining the relationship between heterosexism and lesbians’ PTSD symptoms. Traumatology 17(2):4–13
Bartholomew K, Regan KV, Oram D, White MA (2008) Correlates of partner abuse in male same-sex relationships. Violence Vict 23:344–360
Carvalho A, Lewis R, Derlega V, Winstead B, Viggiano C (2011) Internalized sexual minority stressors and same-sex intimate partner violence. J Fam Violence 26:501–509
Drescher J (1998) Psychoanalytic therapy and the gay man. The Analytic, London
Isay RA (1989) Being homosexual: gay men and their development. Farrar, Straus, Giroux, New York, NY
Drescher J (2012) What’s in your closet? In: Levounis P, Drescher J, Barber ME (eds) The LGBT casebook. American Psychiatric Publishing, Washington, DC, pp 3–16
Cohen KM, Savin-Williams RC (2012) Coming out to self and others: developmental milestones. In: Levounis P, Drescher J, Barber ME (eds) The LGBT casebook. American Psychiatric Publishing, Washington, DC, pp 17–33
Murray CE, Mobley AK (2009) Empirical research about same-sex intimate partner violence: a methodological review. J Homosex 56:361–386
Balsam KF (2001) Nowhere to hide: lesbian battering, homophobia, and minority stress. Women Ther 23(3):25–37
Browning C (1995) Silence on same-sex partner abuse. Alternate Routes 12:95–106
Murray CE, Mobley AK, Buford AP, Seaman-DeJohn MM (2006/2007) Same-sex intimate partner violence: dynamics, social context, and counseling implications. J LGBT Issues Couns 1(4):7–30
Telesco GA (2003) Sex role identity and jealousy as correlates of abusive behavior in lesbian relationships. J Hum Behav Soc Environ 8:153–169
Sue DW (2010) Microaggressions in everyday life: race, gender, and sexual orientation. Wiley, Hoboken
D’Augelli AR, Pilkington NW, Hershberger SL (2002) Incidence and mental health impact of sexual orientation victimization of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths in high school. Sch Psychol Q 17:148–167
Rivers I (2004) Recollections of bullying at school and their long-term implications for lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals. Crisis 25:169–175
Robinson JP, Espelage DL (2012) Inequities in educational and psychological outcomes between LGBTQ and straight students in middle and high school. Educ Res 40:315–330
Birkett M, Espelage DL, Koenig B (2009) LGB and questioning students in schools: the moderating effects of homophobic bullying and school climate on negative outcomes. J Youth Adolesc 38:989–1000
Holt MK, Matjasko JL, Espelage D, Reid G, Koenig B (2013) Sexual risk taking and bullying among adolescents. Pediatrics 132:e1481–e1487
Espelage DL, Basile KC, Hamburger ME (2012) Bullying perpetration and subsequent sexual violence perpetration among middle school students. J Adolesc Health 50:60–65
Marshal MP, Dietz LJ, Friedman MS, Stall R, Smith HA, McGinley J, Thoma BC, Murray PJ, D’Augelli AR, Brent DA (2011) Suicidality and depression disparities between sexual minority and heterosexual youth: a meta-analytic review. J Adolesc Health 49:115–123
Ryan C, Huebner D, Diaz RM, Sanchez J (2009) Family rejection as a predictor of negative health outcomes in white and Latino lesbian, gay, and bisexual young adults. Pediatrics 123:346–352
Baiocco R, Laghi F, Di Pomponio I, Nigito CS (2012) Self-disclosure to the best friend: friendship quality and internalized sexual stigma in Italian lesbian and gay adolescents. J Adolesc 35:381–387
UN News Service (2011) Homophobic bullying represents grave violation of human rights – Ban (8 December 2011). http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=40671. Accessed 15 Jan 2014
UNESCO (2011) Rio Statement on homophobic bullying and education for all (10 December 2011). http://www.unesco.org/new/en/hiv-and-aids/our-priorities-in-hiv/gender-equality/anti-bullying/. Accessed 15 Jan 2014
Poteat VP, Russell ST (2013) Understanding homophobic behavior and its implications for policy and practice. Theory Pract 52:264–271
Finneran C, Stephenson R (2013) Gay and bisexual men’s perceptions of police helpfulness in response to male-male intimate partner violence. J Homosex 14:354–362. doi:10.5811/westjem.2013.3.15639
Berrill KT, Herek GM (1990) Primary and secondary victimization in anti-gay hate crimes official response and public policy. J Interpers Violence 5:401–413
Brown SL (2007) Counseling victims of violence: a handbook for helping professionals, 2nd edn. Hunter House, Alameda, CA
Drescher J (2010) Queer diagnoses: parallels and contrasts in the history of homosexuality, gender variance, and the diagnostic and statistical manual. Arch Sex Behav 39:427–460
Bartlett A, Smith G, King M (2009) The response of mental health professionals to clients seeking help to change or redirect same-sex sexual orientation. BMC Psychiatry 9:11. doi:10.1186/1471-244X-9-11
Lingiardi V, Capozzi P (2004) Psychoanalytic attitudes towards homosexuality: an empirical research. Int J Psychoanal 85:137–157
APA Task Forceon Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation (2009) Report of the task force on appropriate therapeutic responses to sexual orientation. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC
Pan American Health Organization, Regional Office of the WHO (2012) “Cures” for an illness that does not exist: purported therapies aimed at changing sexual orientation lack medical justification and are ethically unacceptable. http://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=17703. Accessed 15 Jan 2014
Lingiardi V, Nardelli N (2014) Linee guida per la consulenza psicologica e la psicoterapia con persone lesbiche, gay, bisessuali [Guidelines for psychological counseling and psychotherapy with lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals]. Raffaello Cortina, Milan
Shidlo A, Schroeder M (2002) Changing sexual orientation: a consumers’ report. Prof Psychol Res Pract 33:249
Spitzer RL (2012) Spitzer reassesses his 2003 study of reparative therapy of homosexuality. Arch Sex Behav 41:757
Baiocco R, Argalia M, Laghi F (2012) The desire to marry and attitudes toward same-sex family legalization in a sample of Italian lesbians and gay men. J Fam Issues 35:181–200
Baiocco R, Ioverno S, Lonigro A, Baumgartner E, Laghi F (2014) Suicidal ideation among Italian and Spanish young adults: the role of sexual orientation. Arch Suicide Res. doi:10.1080/13811118.2013.833150
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lingiardi, V., Nardelli, N. (2014). Negative Attitudes to Lesbians and Gay Men: Persecutors and Victims. In: Corona, G., Jannini, E., Maggi, M. (eds) Emotional, Physical and Sexual Abuse. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06787-2_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06787-2_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-06786-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-06787-2
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)