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Is Sexual Racism Really Racism? Distinguishing Attitudes Toward Sexual Racism and Generic Racism Among Gay and Bisexual Men

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Abstract

Sexual racism is a specific form of racial prejudice enacted in the context of sex or romance. Online, people use sex and dating profiles to describe racialized attraction through language such as “Not attracted to Asians.” Among gay and bisexual men, sexual racism is a highly contentious issue. Although some characterize discrimination among partners on the basis of race as a form of racism, others present it as a matter of preference. In May 2011, 2177 gay and bisexual men in Australia participated in an online survey that assessed how acceptably they viewed online sexual racism. Although the men sampled displayed diverse attitudes, many were remarkably tolerant of sexual racism. We conducted two multiple linear regression analyses to compare factors related to men’s attitudes toward sexual racism online and their racist attitudes more broadly. Almost every identified factor associated with men’s racist attitudes was also related to their attitudes toward sexual racism. The only differences were between men who identified as Asian or Indian. Sexual racism, therefore, is closely associated with generic racist attitudes, which challenges the idea of racial attraction as solely a matter of personal preference.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Kirby Institute of Infection and Immunity in Society, UNSW Australia, Sydney, Australia

    Denton Callander

  2. Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Australia, Sydney, Australia

    Denton Callander, Christy E. Newman & Martin Holt

  3. The Kirby Institute, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Denton Callander

Authors
  1. Denton Callander
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  2. Christy E. Newman
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  3. Martin Holt
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Correspondence to Denton Callander.

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Callander, D., Newman, C.E. & Holt, M. Is Sexual Racism Really Racism? Distinguishing Attitudes Toward Sexual Racism and Generic Racism Among Gay and Bisexual Men. Arch Sex Behav 44, 1991–2000 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-015-0487-3

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