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Notes
- 1.
1 The framework described here may have applicability across national and cultural boundaries, as suggested by the fact that some of its key underlying constructs have been developed outside the United States (e.g., Scambler & Hopkins, 1986). Because most of the data I discuss (including my own empirical research) are derived from US samples, however, I restrict my generalizations to American culture.
- 2.
2 Felt stigma can be distinguished from stigma consciousness, which refers to the extent to which stigmatized individuals are chronically self-conscious of their own stigmatized status and expect to be stereotyped by others because of it (Pinel, 1999). Stigma consciousness can be understood as a manifestation of felt stigma, but the latter construct more broadly encompasses awareness of the general effects of stigma – enacted not only against oneself but also against others who mani fest the stigmatized characteristic. In addition, felt stigma is experienced by nonstigmatized indi viduals as well as the stigmatized.
- 3.
3 The item wording matched the respondent's preferred self-label.
- 4.
4 Although sexual prejudice is typically manifested by heterosexuals, it is also possible for sexual minority individuals to hold negative attitudes toward other gay, lesbian, and bisexual people. As with prejudiced heterosexuals, these attitudes result from the internalization of sexual stigma. Such attitudes are often closely associated with self-stigma. In addition, some sexual minority individuals harbor negative attitudes toward heterosexuals. These attitudes can be appropriately labeled sexual prejudice but, because heterosexuality is not a stigmatized category in society, such prejudice does not reflect the internalization of societal stigma (for further discussion of this point, see Herek, 2007).
- 5.
5 Data from a heterosexual undergraduate student sample (described later and in the Appendix) illustrate this point. Respondents were asked to indicate how often they had engaged in each behavior on a list of 16 different acts. The list included 7 positive behaviors (e.g., “I started a conversation with a man whom I thought might be gay,” “I confronted someone who was making negative comments or hostile jokes about lesbians”) and 9 negative behaviors (e.g., “I damaged the property of a man I thought was gay,” “I made unfriendly remarks or hostile jokes about lesbians”), which were summed separately to yield an index of Positive Behaviors Toward Gay Men (or Lesbians) and an index of Negative Behaviors Toward Gay Men (or Lesbians). Overall, moderate correlations were observed between the behavior scales and the Attitudes Toward Gay Men (ATG) and Attitudes Toward Lesbians (ATL) scales. For the ATG, r(105) = −0.41 with positive behaviors toward gay men and 0.41 for negative behaviors toward gay men. For the ATL, r(120) = −.38 for positive behaviors toward lesbians. The correlation between ATL scores and negative behaviors toward lesbians could not be interpreted because most respondents (57%) reported never having engaged in such behaviors.
- 6.
6 My discussion in the present chapter focuses mainly on research that has employed explicit or direct measures of sexual prejudice. Some researchers have assessed heterosexuals' attitudes uti lizing indirect measures, such as the Implicit Attitudes Test (e.g., Banse, Seise, & Zerbes, 2001; Dasgupta & Rivera, 2006; Gabriel, Banse, & Hug, 2007; Jellison et al., 2004; Rowatt et al., 2006; Steffens & Buchner, 2003). Although theoretical and methodological questions about such meas ures remain to be resolved (Arkes & Tetlock, 2004; Fazio & Olson, 2003), they hold promise for future research. A discussion of them, however, is beyond the scope of the present chapter.
- 7.
7 My discussion of polling data relies on my own examination of the data in publicly available archives (especially the Roper Center at the University of Connecticut), as well as the published sources cited here.
- 8.
8 The phrasing of the GSS question, which frames homosexual relations as wrong, might bias responses. In other surveys, however, responses to differently worded items about the morality of homosexual behavior have yielded similar findings. In Gallup polls between 2001 and 2007, for example, 49–55% of respondents believed that homosexual behavior is morally wrong, whereas 38–47% believed it is not morally wrong (Saad, 2007).
- 9.
9 Indeed, some antigay initiatives have been rejected by voters (e.g., Donovan et al., 2000).
- 10.
10 These questions are all framed in terms of granting civil liberties to a gay man. Because attitudes toward gay men often differ from attitudes toward lesbians (e.g., Herek, 2002a), it is conceivable that somewhat different patterns might emerge if the questions referred to a lesbian woman.
- 11.
11 The items in the short form of the ATLG (as worded for the ATL subscale) are: (1) “Sex between two women is just plain wrong.” (2) “I think female homosexuals (lesbians) are disgusting.” (3) “Female homosexuality is a natural expression of sexuality in women.”
- 12.
12 Although the ATLG scale predates Lakoff's analysis, the scale items coincide with key constructs in what Lakoff labeled “strict father morality,” a moral system that invokes a mythic model of the family and underlies modern conservative politics (Lakoff, 2002, p. 65). According to his analysis, this system of moral thought is based on multiple metaphors, including moral order (which posits a dominance hierarchy of God over people, adults over children, and men over women), moral boundaries (which delineate permissible and impermissible ranges of behavior), and moral purity (which designates violations of morality as impure and thus tainted and corrupting). According to Lakoff, challenges to the moral order are understood as wrong, transgressions of moral boundaries are regarded as unnatural, and moral impurities are viewed as disgusting.
- 13.
13 Respondents were asked “How many friends, relatives, or close acquaintances have you ever had who were gay, lesbian, or homosexual?” A total of 80% reported having at least one such contact. When asked about their sole or closest relationship, 30% characterized the gay or lesbian person as a close friend, 44% as an acquaintance or distant friend, 10% as an immediate family member, and 16% as a relative outside the immediate family. In addition to the 41% who first learned about the gay or lesbian person's sexual orientation through the latter's self-disclosure, another 10% said they had talked with her or him about being lesbian or gay.
- 14.
14 Data collection was conducted by The Henne Group and funded by the Gill Foundation. I express my sincere appreciation to Jeff Henne, Ethan Geto, and Murray Edelman for their assistance and support in this project.
- 15.
15 The survey included experimental manipulations of the wording of the policy items. However, these manipulations did not significantly affect the response patterns and are not considered here.
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Herek, G.M. (2009). Sexual Stigma and Sexual Prejudice in the United States: A Conceptual Framework. In: Hope, D.A. (eds) Contemporary Perspectives on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Identities. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, vol 54. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09556-1_4
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