This study investigated the relationship between social conformity, gender-role egalitarianism, and personal levels of heterosexism, or prejudice based on same-sex orientation. Mock public opinion polls of a positive or negative nature regarding same-sex orientation were used to study attitudinal and behavioral change of participants and attitude-behavior consistency. The study sample included 194 undergraduate students from a Midwestern university. A correlation existed between participants' traditional gender role beliefs and heterosexism. Participants who viewed the positive public opinion poll demonstrated behavioral support for a lesbian and gay organization, as did participants with positive attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. Findings are analyzed within a social prejudice framework.
This study contributes to trans identity affirmation research by exploring transgender and gender nonconforming (GNC) identity formation, negotiation, and affirmation involving self-verification (recognition by others of one’s gender identity and presentation) and validation (accordant treatment by others) in interpersonal relationships and social interactions. Classic symbolic interactionism and social identity theory, with a focus on the self-verification and identity negotiation processes that lie therein, provide the bases for viewing gender-expansive identity within social and interpersonal negotiations. Eighteen interviews were conducted with transgender and GNC participants. Using a grounded theory approach, four key themes emerged: the importance of personal agency in achieving internal and external identity accord, the value of revealing gender histories in interpersonal relationships, the recognition of extant hurdles in navigating intersectional identities, and the constrictive effects of cisgender privilege and binaried views of gender on the gender-expansive individual. In the discussion we address strategies to enhance gender negotiations, and suggest modifications to current views of gender roles and relationships that recognize the value of transgender and GNC individuals as enablers of change within and between gender groups.
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