Making Sence of Homonegativity

In addition, quantitative measures are often used to assess homonegativity in terms of participants’ religious beliefs, perceptions of morality, adherence to social norms, and endorsement of myths about gay men and lesbian women (Jewell & Morrison 2010; Morrison, Kenny & Harrington 2005; Morrison, Morrison & Franklin 2009). While such research is valuable for identifying the attitudinal correlates of homonegativity, the approach does not offer insight into the processes that heterosexuals engage in to understand and justify their homonegative attitudes. Little empirical attention also has been paid to understanding the similarities and differences that may exist between homonegative men and women as they conceptualize their Correspondence: Dr. Melanie Ann Morrison, PhD, University of Saskatchewan, Department of Psychology, 9 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7H 0P6, Canada. E-mail: melanie. morrison@usask.ca 351 352 L. M. Jewell and M. A. Morrison Downloaded by [University of Technology Sydney] at 08:57 03 May 2013 homonegativity. Although heterosexual men have been found to be more negative in their attitudinal assessments of gay men compared to heterosexual women (Kite & Whitley 2003), our understanding of the factors that contribute to this observed difference is limited. It could be argued that one of the reasons underlying the omission of a gendered analysis