Date Available

12-10-2021

Year of Publication

2022

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

College

Arts and Sciences

Department/School/Program

Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. Christia Spears Brown

Abstract

The current study examined which individuals are most at risk for becoming targets of SOGIE-based harassment (specifically, White, male sexual minorities or White, male gender nonconforming individuals). The study also explored potential motivations behind SOGIE-based harassment (specifically, violations of normality and violations of morality) and whether these motivations are predicted by individual differences (specifically, sexual prejudice, beliefs in heteronormativity, tolerance of ambiguity, and adherence to gender norms). College students (n = 206; 67.5% female) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions, each with a different male target (straight/gender conforming, straight/gender nonconforming, gay/gender conforming, gay/gender nonconforming). Students saw a picture of target and read a short vignette describing the target. They then answered questions about their feelings towards the target, as well as questions about themselves. Contrary to hypotheses, participants rated gay targets more positively than straight targets, and gender nonconforming targets more positively than gender conforming targets. It was also found that for gay, gender nonconforming targets, female participants gave more positive ratings than male participants and that heteronormativity negatively predicted positive ratings.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2022.005

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