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| 資源型式：
作
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| 提供者：Cathy Chang/張嘉玲 |
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Cathy Chang
July 13, 2009
Attitudes toward Homosexuality:
A Summary
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Whitley, Bernard E., Jr. and Stefanía Ægisdóttir. “The Gender Belief System, Authoritarianism, Social Dominance Orientation, and Heterosexuals' Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men.” Sex Roles 42.11/12 (2000): 947-67.
This article studies the attitudes of White, middle-class, North American college students who are heterosexuals towards homosexuals through three main theoretical perspectives—gender belief system, authoritarianism, and social dominance—in order to find out whether these three theories actively contribute to people's negative attitude toward homosexuality (948).
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The Gender Belief System
Authoritarianism
Social Dominance
Discussion
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The Gender Belief System
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Deaux and Kite define the gender belief system as “a set of beliefs and opinions about males and females and about the purported qualities of masculinity and femininity” (qtd. in Whitley & Ægisdóttir 948). People who hold these gender beliefs expect women and men to act according to their gender roles in which women are expected to be feminine and men to be masculine in all aspects of behavior. However, in gay men, people often assume that they have the characteristics traditionally attributed to heterosexual women, whereas for lesbian women, people assume them to have characteristics traditionally attributed to heterosexual men. Therefore, the gender belief system demonstrates that heterosexuals hold a negative view towards homosexuals because they are thought to have cross-gender traits, roles, and physical characteristics (949). Lesbians and gay men do not adhere to the gender-role belief system held by heterosexuals, which then causes the heterosexuals to feel threatened. In this case, people who strongly hold traditional gender-role beliefs will then have an even stronger negative attitude towards homosexual men and women.
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Authoritarianism
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People who have an authoritarian personality have the following characteristics: “high degrees of deference to established authority, aggression toward out-groups when authorities permit that aggression, and support for traditional values when they are endorsed by authorities … [they] also tend to organize their world views in terms of in-groups and out-group” (949). They have an attitude of “us” versus “them,” which leads the people to have prejudiced feelings against people in the out-groups, such as homosexuals. These feelings develop because they feel the out-groups threaten their traditional values; thus, by belittling and making the out-groups unimportant, they are able to defend their own value system (949). Their support for traditional values also includes maintaining traditional gender roles, such as the idea of male superiority and female inferiority (949).
For these reasons, people high in authoritarianism will have negative attitudes toward homosexual men and women as they are considered out-groups which challenge gender roles and also advocate political change (949). According to Whitley & Ægisdóttir, “lesbians and gay men are condemned by some religious and political leaders, so people high in authoritarianism … see them as acceptable targets of prejudice and hostility” (949-50). For some people, religious and political figures are the highest authorities, so they feel that their aggression towards homosexuals is justified and even supported by their leaders. In this case, the authoritarian worldview creates traditional gender role beliefs and negative attitudes toward homosexuality.
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Social Dominance
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According to Pratto et al., social dominance orientation is “the extent to which one desires that one's in-group dominate and be superior to outgroups” (qtd. in Whitley & Ægisdóttir 950). Because homosexual men and women have lower social status (out-group) in American society than heterosexual men (in-group), people high in social dominance will then have negative attitude towards gay men and lesbians. Furthermore, gender-role beliefs are used as “legitimizing myths” (950-51) that sanction and perpetuate the negative attitudes. The example given by the researchers is that people who believe heterosexuality is the correct sexual orientation will use that belief to validate their prejudice against homosexual men and women. For these reasons, people high in social dominance will endorse traditional gender role beliefs, which would then lead to negative attitudes toward homosexuality (951).
The importance of the social dominance theory is that it also explains the gender differences in gender-role beliefs and attitudes toward homosexuality. As research has shown, men tend to hold more traditional gender-role beliefs and have more negative attitude toward homosexuality, especially gay men, than women. As heterosexual men are considered the highest social group in American society, they are more motivated to maintain their high status and power. Therefore, they tend to develop high social dominance and believe strongly in traditional gender-roles in order to justify their putting down of out-groups, including homosexual men and women, to preserve their domination (951).
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Discussion
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This research article finds that attitudes toward homosexuality is developed and maintained through social dominance orientation, the gender belief system, and authoritarianism (964). These ideologies are interconnected with an individual's own belief system and at the same time supported and reinforced by the ideologies of the collective group with which individuals identify (964). This kind of interconnectedness means that the development and maintenance of these negative attitudes are not always due to just one ideology, but can involve multiple belief systems such as all three discussed above. Therefore, just developing strategies to change one ideology may not have an effect on attitudes as there are still other systems that can continue to maintain the negative attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions (964).
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