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Sexual Prejudice and Attitudes toward Same-Sex Parented Families
This document summarizes a presentation on sexual prejudice and attitudes toward same-sex parented families. It defines key terms like stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. It also outlines individual differences that are related to higher sexual prejudice like social conservatism, religiosity, and beliefs about the origins of homosexuality. Research finds people evaluate same-sex couples less favorably than different-sex couples as parents and anticipate more problems for children with same-sex parents. Finally, the document discusses the social and psychological impacts of sexual prejudice, including minority stress and reduced well-being and family stability.
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Sexual Prejudice and Attitudes toward Same-Sex Parented Families
- 1. “Sexual Prejudice andAttitudes toward Same-Sex Parented Families” Pedro Alexandre Costa, PhD
- 2. Outline • Stereotype,prejudice, stigma, and discrimination. • Sex, gender, gender identity, sexual identity, sexual orientation. • Combating prejudice. • Same-sex parented families: diversity and demographics. • Scientific evidence on same-sex parented families. • Sexual prejudice and same-sex families.
- 3. Exercice How doyou define Stereotype? How do you define Prejudice? How do you define Discrimination? How do you define Stigma?
- 4. Stereotypes Beliefs aboutindividuals (good or bad) bad) that are generalized to a social social group. Prejudice Negative beliefs toward individuals who belong to a particular social group. Discrimination Different and negative treatment of individuals who belong to a particular social group. Cognitive-based Affective-based Action-based
- 5. What is stigma? “Stigma refers to the negative regard and inferior status that society collectively accords to the people who possess a particular characteristic or belong to a particular group or category. Inherent in this definition is the fact that stigma constitutes shared knowledge about which attributes and categories are valued by society, which ones are denigrated, and how these valuations vary across situations. Sexual stigma is a particular instance of this phenomenon. It is the stigma attached to any nonheterosexual behavior, identity, relationship, or community. In other words, it is socially shared knowledge about homosexuality’s devalued status relative to heterosexuality.” (Herek, 2009)
- 6. Sexual Prejudice SexualPrejudice is understood as part of the internalized sexual stigma, (i.e., the adoption of a social system of beliefs and values about a group of people), in this case, Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual, (LGB) people. “Sexual prejudice is internalized sexual stigma that results in the negative evaluation of sexual minorities”. (Herek, 2009)
- 7. What is SexualPrejudice? "Prejudice is an antipathy based on faulty and inflexible generalization. It may be felt or expressed. It may be directed toward a group or an individual of that group". (Allport, 1954) “Compulsory heterosexuality”: Society’s restrictions to individuals’ gender expressions and behaviors. Because compulsory heterosexuality is explicitly gendered, individuals’ are prescribed to which class of individuals (males or females) they should be attracted to. (Rich, 1983)
- 8.
- 9. Roots of Prejudice Socialization – social learning and modeling. Social Identity theory – social divisions: in-group versus out-group. Cognitive processes – categorization: information processing, decision making. Scapegoat theory – anger placement.
- 10. Levels of SexualPrejudice Individual Community Institutional (heterosexism)
- 11. Sexual Attitude Anenduring mental representation of a person, place, or thing that evokes an emotional response and related behavior Measure of sexual prejudice.
- 12. Measurement of Attitudes - Index of Homophobia (IHP) (Hudson & Ricketts, 1980); - Kite Homosexuality Attitude Scale (Kite & Deaux, 1986); - Attitudes Toward Lesbian and Gay Men– Revised (ATLG-R) (Herek, 1988); - Multidimensional Attitudes Toward Homosexuality Scale (LeMar & Kite, 1998); - Affective Reactions toward Gay Men and Lesbians (Costa & Davies, 2012).
- 13.
- 14. Gender nonconformity Individualswho are perceived as transgressing normative gender roles and behaviors. Targets of stigma, prejudice and discrimination.
- 16. Individual Differences inSexual Prejudice 1. Social Conservatism 2. Religiosity 3. Sex and Gender 4. Etiological Beliefs 5. Other
- 17. 1. Social Conservatism o Authoritarian Personality: rigid thinkers who obey authority, see the world as b&w, and enforce strict adherence to social rules and hierarchies (Adorno et al., 1950); Right-Wing Authoritarianism (Altemeyer, 1996). o Social Dominance Orientation: people who view the social world hierarchically are more likely than others to hold prejudices toward low-status groups. This is especially true of people who want their own group to dominate and be superior to other groups (Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994).
- 18. 2. Religiosity oMost forms of religiosity – fundamentalism, religious service attendence, orthodoxy, self-rated religiosity, and intrinsic orientation – are related in various degrees to sexual prejudice (Whitley, 2009). o Atheism and spirituality (not affiliated with any religion) are more accepting of homosexuality (Barringer et atl., 2013).
- 19. 3. Sex &Gender o Sex: Males more prejudiced than females due to gender roles. o Sex: Male homosexuality is a worse transgression than female homosexuality. o Sexism: High correlation between sexism and sexual prejudice. o Gender-role beliefs: Tradicional gender-role beliefs and “tradicional family values” associated with sexual prejudice.
- 20. 4. Etiological beliefs o Controllability of homosexuality: people who believe that homosexuality is acquired, learned, or chosen hold more prejudicial attitudes (Weiner, 1979, 1985). o Biological essencialism: people who believe that homosexuality is innate and biologically determined hold more positive attitudes (Altemeyer, 2001).
- 21. 5. Other oAge o Geography o Education o Social attitudes
- 22. Combating Prejudice Evenlonger-lasting reductions in prejudice are possible when people are made aware of inconsistencies in their values, attitudes, and behaviors. Allport’s contact hypothesis: value of intergroup contact in reducing prejudice.
- 23. Interpersonal Contact Theory Optimal conditions: - Equal group status, - Common goals; - Intergroup cooperation; - Social norms. (Allport, 1954) However, these conditions are optimal but not essencial…. - Amount of contact – Familiarity becomes liking (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006) - Affective processes – Empathy versus Anxiety
- 24. Motivation for overcomingprejudice o Internal motivation to respond without prejudice: based on a belief that prejudicial attitudes are wrong; o External motivation to respond without prejudice: based on social policing, “politically incorrect”. (Plant & Devine, 1998)
- 25.
- 26. Same-Sex Parented Families Characterizes families headed by two fathers, two mothers, but also by single gay men, lesbians, and bisexual men and women. “Homoparentalité” Homo = equal (same sex)
- 27. Diversity in FamilyArrangements Lesbian-led families • Post-divorce or reconstituted • Assisted reproductive technologies • Private artificial insemination • Adoption Gay-led families • Post-divorce of reconstituted • Surrogacy • Private sperm donation • Adoption
- 28. How many families? EUA (Bryant & Demian, 1994) EUA (Gates, 2013) - 1 in 5 lesbians; - 1 in 3 lesbians; - 1 in 9 homens gay men - 1 in 6 gay men. More than 125,000 same-sex couples are raising an estimated 220,000 biological, step, or adopted children. An estimated 3 million LGBT individuals have had a child. Portugal (Costa, Pereira, & Leal, 2013) - 1 in 10 lesbians - 7 in 100 homens gay men. Over 15,000 LGBT individuals who have had children.
- 29. Scientific Evidence ChildDevelopment o Emotional development (self-esteem, well-being, psychological adjustment); o Behavioral adjustment (problem behaviors); o Cognitive development (intelectual competences, school outcomes); o Gender identity & Sexual identity
- 30. Scientific Evidence ParentingCompetences o Psychological adjustment (well-being, health or mental health problems); o Parental investment (parenting desire, attachement); o Dyadic adjustment (couple’s communication and support, dyadic satisfacion).
- 31. Sexual Prejudice andSame-Sex Families Why study sexual prejudice regarding same-sex families? What does PARENTING have to do with SEXUALITY?
- 32. Social Oppression LegalUnequal access to marriage and parenting rights; Medical Prejudice in clinical settings; obstacles to the social (co-)parent; Psychological Managing “family secret”; support and community responses; consequences of stigma (internalization); Educational Schools permeable to religion and prejudice; peer harassment and bullying; Society Structural stigma and inequalities, discrimination; micro-agressions. (Costa et al., 2013)
- 33. Decomposing arguments againstsame-sex parenting Under the guise of the “Child’s Best Interests”… UNITED KINGDOM - It is sinful - It is unnatural - Parents are selfish - Inappropriate role models - Children will be gay - Children will be bullied (Clarke, 2001) PORTUGAL - Traditional family values - Homosexuality is a pathology - Moral inferiority of homosexuality - Complementary nature of gender - Parental incapacity - Child will have emotional and psychological problems (Costa et al., 2013)
- 34. Quasi-experimental study Casevignette (scenario) “John and Will have been a couple for 10 years, committed to each other and happy. However, they have a strong desire to be parents, and because they can’t have children they decided to adopt. John and Will both have a university degree, are professionally successful, and are beloved by their families and friends. Both their parents are very excited with the idea of becoming grandparents, and are available to help them in whatever they need to welcome the child into the family. John and Will have a two-bedroom apartment in the same city where they work. Their friends and colleagues describe them as calm, available and attentive persons, believing that they both possess the qualities needed to be good parents. They have some child-caring experience, especially with John’s nephews. After a lot of thought about this, they initiated the adoption process and are going to the meeting with the adoption worker. They are very excited to fulfill their desire to be parents. They are waiting to be accepted as candidates to adopt a child.” (Costa et al., 2013)
- 35. Are there anydiferences? When comparing the responses to the three case vignettes: 1) Participants evaluated the same-sex couples less favorably than they did diferent-sex couples - 100% different-sex couples would CERTAINLY be good parents - 27% same-sex couples would CERTAINLY be good parents; 2) Participants antecipated more psychological problems in children adopted by a same-sex couple; 3) Participants antecipated more social adjustment problems in children adopted by a same-sex couple; 4) Participants antecipated more social problems in children adopted by a male couples than by a female
- 36. Sex Age Religious beliefs Political leaning Etiological beliefs Lesbian/ gay friends Nº lesbian/ gay friends Individual diferences and Beliefs Homonegativity .93 Negative Perceptions Same-Sex Families (Costa et al., 2013)
- 37. Individual Sexual Prejudicein Europe (Source: Commissioner for Human Rights, 2011)
- 38. Individual Sexual Prejudicein Europe (Source: Commissioner for Human Rights, 2011)
- 39. Structural Sexual Prejudicein Europe Same-sex Marriage allowed in 9 member states: - Belgium, Iceland, France, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom. Registrated Partnerships allowed in 11 member states: Andorra, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Switzerland. Adoption allowed in 9 member states: - Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom. Co-adoption alllowed in 12 member states: - 9 + Austria, Finland, Germany. Artificial Insemination allowed in 9 member states: - Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.
- 40. Social Impact ofSexual Prejudice Unequal and unfair treatment of sexual minorities, in particular same-sex parented families; Threat to family well-being and stability; Unprotection of children and youth with gay or lesbian parents;
- 41. Psychological Impact ofSexual Prejudice Minority Stress Model (Meyer, 1995) Stress exposure Health disparities Mental disorders Self-Stigma (Herek, 2009)
- 42. Sexual Prejudice andAttitudes toward Same-Sex Parented Families Where do we go from here? Thank you for your attention! pcosta@ispa.pt
Editor's Notes
- #5 Stereotypes: are not necessarily bad. We cannot process all the information that we collect, so we categorize the information to make sense of it. Then we generalize that information to a whole group of people. Prejudice: We are being prejudiced when we use the information that we gathered to negatively evaluate a certain group of individuals. Discrimination: Discrimination is not just about violence, although violence is a particular worring manifestation of prejudice. Discrimination can be shown by telling jokes about a group of people, by talking negativeluy about a group of people, or by not associating with individuals from a particular group towards which we have prejudicial beliefs.
- #6 Stigma encompasses stereotypes, prejudical attitudes, and discrimination. It refers to the negative regard and inferior status that we atribute to a group of people. Sexual stigma is the negative evaluation of any nonheterosexual behavior, characteristic, or individual. In the words of Herek, it is socially shared knowledge about homosexuality’s devalued status relative to heterosexuality”
- #8 According to Allport, one of the earliest definitions, prejudice is na antipathy based on faulty and inflexible generalization. It may be more subtle or more obvious, and it may be directed toward an entire group of people or toward one individual supposed to belong to that group. Another important facet of sexual prejudice is how society forces heterosexuality as the norm to be followed, and creates and maintains mechanisms to punish violations to that norm – in discriminatory practices, stigmatization, isolation, or even violence, depending on the contexto.
- #9 These are some images that show prejudice towards the LGBT community that we see everyday throughout the world. And these are direct consequences of such manifestations of sexual prejudice.
- #10 There are several roots of prejudice. Some may be more inocent, while others are part of the policing of what society considers to be outsider the norm. Sexual prejudice can be learned through imitation of others people’s behaviors, or by the reinforcement of some behaviors and punishment of others. Social Identity Theory explains prejudice as based on social divisions. We identify with a certain groups and to defend our group we may be prejudicial towards the other. Also, there is a tendency to devaluate others that are not like us. As I said earlier, prejudice may come from stereotipical information. Because these are just pieces of information, it is easier to generalize a negative trait to an entire group based on a single interaction. Finally, scapegoting theory explains prejudice as our need to find an escape to our anger; we may attack others because of our need to find a placement for that anger or frustration. For exemple, “immigrants are taking our jobs”… In this case the frustration that stems from being unemployed is placed with a group of individuals (immigrants) to try to make sense of these emotions.
- #11 Community: neighborhood, church, collective, etc. Institutional: laws, social policy, political parties, that based their actions on the moral superiority of heterosexuality.
- #12 To sum up, sexual attitudes are a measure of sexual prejudice.
- #13 These are some of the measures that have been frequently used in the literature. Some of more focused on information, or stereoypes, while other focus on the emotional beliefs and prejudicial attitudes.
- #15 Gender nonconforming individuals are all those individuals who in some way are perceived as not behaving according to the social gendered norm. For exemple, when we talk about homphobic bullying in schools, the agressors are not bullying a child because of their sexual orientation, since the child has no sexual activity or preferences yet. They target that child because they perceive them as not being behaving as a “man” or as a “woman”.
- #16 What does all this means? Sex – Biological, physical sex Gender – Social representation of one’s sex (social and cultural characteristics of masculinity/femininity) Gender Identity – Feeling of belonging to one gender (man, women) Sexual Orientation – Pattern of emotional, romantic and/or sexual attraction. Sexual Identity – Composition of all the previous.
- #17 Research has shown is that not all individuals have the same beliefs and prejudices, and these are called individual diferences. Individual differences is the measure of the differences between people – It is also by definition a category… and it can lead to stereotypical beliefs… but we do need them!
- #18 Right-wing authoritarianism is a political stance.
- #19 Literature has shown that individuals who have a religion, and those who practice religion are in general more prejudicial than those who don’t have any religion.
- #22 Age: younger people are generally less prejudicial than older people Geography: people living in urban áreas are less prejudicial Education: people with higher education are less prejudiced Social attitudes: sexual prejudice is often associated with sexism, racism, xenophobia, intolerance of abortion, among other social conservative beliefs.
- #23 However… reducing prejudice is possible, and Allport’s theory of interpersonal contact is onw of the most studied instances of how to combat prejudice. Interpersonal contact regards contact between a minority (stigmatized) group, and a majority group, or between individuals belonging to those groups – heterossexual and homosexual individuals.
- #24 According to Allport… If these conditions are satisfied interpersonal contact is very effective in reducing prejudice. But when we talk about heterosexual and homosexual individuals, by definition these conditions cannot be met. For exemple, the groups are not equal because one is stigmatized, and the social norms punish one over the other. So researchers have found that there are two main circumstances in which contact can favor a reduction in sexual prejudicial attitudes.
- #30 Consensus in the scientific literature.
- #35 I used a case vignette that I developed that characterized a couple wishing to adopt a child. They were described as being committed, emotionally, and financially stable, and enjoying a good social support. I developed 3 case vignettes describing a heterosexual couple, a gay couple, and a lesbian couples, and participants would only read one of the stories and respond to only one questionnaire.
- #37 I also did a quantitative study using a questionnaire that measured interpersonal contact, attitudes toward gay men and lesbians, and attitudes toward gay and lesbian parenting.