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SexualPrejudice and Gender: Do Heterosexuals' Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Differ?
Author(s) -
Herek Gregory M.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/0022-4537.00164
Subject(s) - psychology , homosexuality , situational ethics , social psychology , heterosexuality , lesbian , sexual minority , realm , sexual identity , male homosexuality , sexual orientation , gender studies , human sexuality , sociology , men who have sex with men , political science , medicine , syphilis , family medicine , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , psychoanalysis , law
This article explores the question of whether and how heterosexuals' attitudes toward lesbians differ from their attitudes toward gay men. Data from a 1997 national survey are presented to show that heterosexual women generally hold similar attitudes toward gay men and lesbians, whereas heterosexual men are more likely to make distinctions according to gender. Moreover, men's attitudes toward lesbians are susceptible to situational manipulations. Nevertheless, the underlying unity of attitudes toward lesbians and gay men is demonstrated by the fact that they are highly correlated for both heterosexual men and women. It is suggested that heterosexuals' attitudes toward gay people are organized both in terms of minority group politics and personal sexual and gender identity and that attitudes toward lesbians are most likelyto be differentiated from attitudes toward gay men in the latter realm.