“We’re Disgusted With Queers, not Fearful of Them”: The Interrelationships Among Disgust, Gay Men’s Sexual Behavior, and Homonegativity

Morrison, Todd G.; Kiss, Mark; Bishop, C. J.

doi:10.1080/00918369.2018.1490576

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Sexual disgust motivates the avoidance of sexual partners and behaviors that can lead to negative biological repercussions (e.g., sex with genetic relatives). However, it has also been suggested that sexual stimuli and behaviors that transgress culturally normative conceptualizations of sexuality may trigger sexual disgust (Morrison et al, 2019). Likewise, it should be indicated that perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD; Duncan et al, 2009) correlates positively with pathogen disgust and sexual disgust (Tybur et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing the Disgust-Based Mechanism of Homonegative Attitudes in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021

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Negative attitudes and stigmatization can originate from the perception of a disease-related threat. Following the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is often suggested that incidents of discriminatory behavior are the result of defense mechanisms aimed at avoiding pathogens. According to the behavioral immune system theory, people are motivated to distance themselves from individuals who show signs of infection, or who are only heuristically associated with a disease, primarily because of the disgust they evoke. In this paper we focus on negative attitudes toward gay men and lesbians who are among social groups that have been persistently framed as “unclean.” In our correlational study (N = 500 heterosexual participants; Polish sample data collected during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Poland, in March/April 2020) we tested moderation models derived from the behavioral immune system theory. Specifically, we investigated whether perceived vulnerability to disease and perceived threat of contracting COVID-19 moderate the relation between disgust and homonegativity. We found that sexual disgust (but not pathogen nor moral disgust) predicted homonegative attitudes. This effect was stronger for participants expressing higher levels of perceived vulnerability to disease but was not dependent on the perception of the COVID-19 threat. The results reaffirm previous evidence indicating a pivotal role of disgust in disease-avoidance mechanisms. They also point to functional flexibility of the behavioral immune system by demonstrating the moderating role of perceived vulnerability to disease in shaping homonegative attitudes. Finally, they show that the threat of COVID-19 does not strengthen the relationship between disgust and homonegativity.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing the Disgust-Based Mechanism of Homonegative Attitudes in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021

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“…The current study sample of TGNC individuals—a minority group often under attack at the individual level (e.g., bullying, social exclusion; Whittle, Turner, & Al-Alami, 2007) and structural level (e.g., military ban, bathroom legislation; Ahuja, Ortega, Belkin, & Neira, 2019; Spencer, 2019) – may provide evidence of an inverse association between marginalization and partnership benefits: the more marginalized a group is, the fewer partnership-related health advantages experienced in that group. This seems reasonable, as partnered members of marginalized groups may be more visible, and thus experience more discrimination related to public displays of affection, and more structural relationship barriers such as a lack of hospital visitation rights for sexual minority individuals as compared to heterosexual individuals (Knauer, 2012; Morrison, Kiss, Bishop, & Morrison, 2019). This may explain why partnership does not always relate to health among sexual minority individuals (Du Bois et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining partnership-health associations among transgender individuals using Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data.

Bois

Guy

Legate

et al. 2021

Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity

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Compared to cisgender individuals, transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals report health disparities across various domains. These include general health, physical health, mental health, health behaviors, and health care access and utilization. Romantic partnership status is underexplored as a potential protective factor of health among TGNC individuals. In heterosexual and sexual minority individuals, being partnered generally relates to better health than being unpartnered. Using U.S. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data, we conducted the first tests of partnership-health associations among TGNC individuals (N = 783), using health outcomes from the five health domains listed above. We ran binomial logistic regressions across 3 gender identity groups—trans men, trans women, and GNC individuals—testing partnership status as a predictor of each health outcome. We expected to find support for positive partnership-health associations across groups. Findings were mixed, overall. Partnership related to better health most frequently among trans women, predicting better general health, less depression, less smoking and heavy drinking, and having health coverage. Among GNC individuals, partnership predicted only increased likelihood of recent dentist visit. Among trans men, partnership predicted only decreased likelihood of recent medical check-up. Findings provide the first evidence for multidomain partnership-health associations, and differences in these associations by gender identity, among TGNC individuals. Partnership may be a protective health factor among trans women particularly and may relate to health disparity reduction between trans women and general population members. Findings encourage continued large-scale data collection on gender identity, partnership, and health.

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“…We also extended Crosby et al's work by using multiple regression (rather than simple correlations) to test for independent relationships between components of sexual disgust and homonegativity and establish whether sexual disgust predicts homonegativity independently of the possible effects of both participant sex and participant age. Further tests for links between sexual disgust and homonegativity are arguably important because they would provide further support for the proposal that disgust plays an important role in negative attitudes to homosexuals (Morrison et al, 2019) and, in doing so, strengthen the evidence base for the likely effectiveness of interventions for reducing homonegativity that focus on disgust.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Sexual disgust predicts homonegativity

Leger¹,

Stevenson²,

Shiramizu³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Previous research has reported associations between measures of sexual disgust and negative attitudes towards homosexuality (i.e., homonegativity). However, the extent to which these associations are independent of possible effects of age and sex is somewhat unclear. Consequently, we investigated relationships between measures of sexual disgust (the sexual disgust subscale of the Three Domain Disgust Scale and the Sexual Disgust Inventory) and a measure of homonegativity (the Index of Attitudes Towards Homosexuals) in 171 participants. Analyses showed that participants who scored higher on sexual disgust reported greater homonegativity and that these associations were independent of the effects of participant age and sex. These findings strengthen the evidence base for the possible effectiveness of interventions for reducing homonegativity that focus on the role of disgust.

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“We’re Disgusted With Queers, not Fearful of Them”: The Interrelationships Among Disgust, Gay Men’s Sexual Behavior, and Homonegativity

Cited by 13 publications

References 36 publications

Testing the Disgust-Based Mechanism of Homonegative Attitudes in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Testing the Disgust-Based Mechanism of Homonegative Attitudes in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Examining partnership-health associations among transgender individuals using Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data.

Sexual disgust predicts homonegativity

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