The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

Gender-Role Attitudes 85

homosexuality are most likely to endorse these

stereotypes.

The media is one source of informa-

tion about prevailing stereotypes. The me-

dia depiction of homosexuals has changed

dramatically in the past 10 years. Whereas

homosexual characters in television shows

were almost nonexistent a decade ago,

homosexual characters are fairly com-

mon today. The first prominent examples

of homosexuals in television were Ellen

over the past 20 years (Blashill & Powlishta,

2009). As shown in Figure 3.7, gay men and

heterosexual women are perceived to be more

feminine than lesbians and heterosexual men;

and heterosexual men and lesbians are per-

ceived to be more masculine than gay men and

heterosexual women. People associate homo-

sexuality with a variety of emotional difficul-

ties and gender identity problems—especially

in the case of men (Boysen et al., 2006). Those

who have more negative attitudes toward

FIGURE 3.7 (a) College men and women viewed gay men and

heterosexual women as more feminine than heterosexual men

and lesbians; (b) College men and women viewed heterosexual men and

lesbians as more masculine than gay men and heterosexual women.

Source: Adapted from Blashill and Powlishta (2009).

Male Female

(a)

Heterosexual Gay Heterosexual Lesbian

Femininity

5

4.5

4

3.5

3

2.5

2

1.5

1

0.5

0

Male Female

(b)

Heterosexual Gay Heterosexual Lesbian

5

4.5

4

3.5

3

2.5

2

1.5

1

0.5

0

Masculinity

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