Introduction
The relationship between human sexuality and perception on homosexuality is one of the most interesting topics in psychology. An understanding of the relationship between sexuality and perception towards homosexuals could greatly aid psychologists in making psychological interventions. At present, it has been proven by diverse studies that homosexuals are under different kinds of pressure, especially from the society. Divers studies have also shown that helping this group of people would require not just experts in psychology but also by the majority of the members if the society (Feng et al., 2012). Hence, it is important to understand how the individuals in the society perceive homosexuality.
Sexuality can be grouped into two broad categories: Straight and Homosexual. Straight sexuality can be further subdivided into two: Men and Women, while homosexual sexuality can be subdivided into two, as well: gay and lesbians. Hence, sexuality can be roughly represented by these four variables: men, women, gay and lesbians (Aube and Koestner, 1996). At present, all societies in different parts of the world are dominated by men and women. They are the ones who determine legislations and rules that govern the society – even those of the members of the homosexuals such as the LGBT community. It is, therefore, important know how men and women perceive gays and lesbians in the society. In accordance with this, this study proposes that the following information be gathered: women bias or perspective on gay people, men bias or perspective on gay people, women bias or perspective on lesbian people, and men bias or perspective on lesbian people. The information which will be gathered in this study will answer the question: what are the differences between the perceptions of men and women on homosexuals?
Definition of Terms
Henceforth, the following variables will have the following definitions:
Men – male with straight sexuality, which means that they do not feel sexual attraction towards other males but to females only.
Women – female with straight sexuality, which means that they do not feel sexual attraction towards other females but to males only.
Gay – male with homosexual sexuality, which means that they have sexual attraction towards other males.
Lesbian – female with homosexual sexuality, which means that they have sexual attraction towards other females.
Literature Review
One of the earliest studies performed to determine the differences between the perceptions of men and women on homosexuality was done by Aube and Koestner (1992). The study focused on the adjustment patterns between men and women relative to their tolerance to homosexual behaviors. Findings from the study showed that women tend to adjust faster than men; hence, women tend to be more tolerant or even have positive perceptions of gay and lesbians. Kite and Whitley (1996) have supported such findings when they have shown in their study that men tend to show more negative perceptions or biases towards gay people compared to women. Nevertheless, such difference between men and women’s perception is only confined towards homosexual behavior, because both men and women tend to have equal tolerance and perceptions on gay and lesbian civil rights. Another important finding in the study is that when the perceptions of men towards gay and lesbian are compared, it was evident that men tend to have more negative perceptions on gay people compared to lesbian people. The study provided no explanation for this discrepancy, nonetheless.
Sirin, McCreary and Mahalik (2004) have provided a possible explanation to the observations shown by Kite and Whitey (1996) by showing in their study that the perception towards gay and lesbian people is associated with their perceived gender roles in the society. Accordingly, the male gender is usually perceived in traditional societies to have more important role that the female gender; hence, gay people are considered a greater loss for the society compared to lesbians. This study also generates another interesting point that since gender roles vary for each society, then the findings that gay people are more negatively perceived cannot be universal for all societies since there other societies that are matriarchal.
Another interesting point was raised in the findings of Feng et al. (2012) that showed that demographic factors including gender and age play important roles in determining an individual’s perception of gay and lesbian people. The study explained that while there are observable differences between the perceptions of men and women on gays and lesbians, there is also a significant variation among women belonging to different ages. There are, therefore, confounding sub-variables which might affect the perceptions of men and women. The presence of such confounding variables was attested in the study conducted by Grabovac, Abramovi, Komlenovi, Milo and Mustajbegovi (2014) in their study which showed that political perspectives, religion, and culture play important roles in shaping one’s perception on gay and lesbian people. The study noted that there are some women who showed more negative perspectives against gays and lesbians compared to their men counterparts. Nevertheless, women tend to be more tolerant to homosexual behaviors compared to men in general.
Based from the reviewed literatures, it is clear that there are varying perceptions between genders with regards to homosexuality or being gay or lesbian. It is also clear that each culture will present a different mix of perceptions on homosexuality. This study, therefore, proposes the following hypotheses:
H1: Men will have more negative perception towards gays compared to women;
H2: Men will have more negative perception towards lesbians compared to women;
H3: There will be varying perceptions towards gay and lesbian people among women;
H4: There will be varying perceptions towards gay and lesbian people among men.
These hypotheses will answer the research question: what are the differences between the perceptions of men and women on homosexuals?
Methodology
Research Design
The research design that this research will use is the thematic analysis under the qualitative approach. The table below shows the groups of data that will be gathered. Accordingly, there will be four sets of data; each set will further contain themes. This means that for each set of data, the information will be further grouped into themes.
Participants
The participants for this research will be sampled from Dogus University from different year levels. Equal percentage of sample shall be drawn from each year level in order to ensure equal representation. Moreover, equal percentage of male and female representations shall also be drawn. It should be noted that only men and women, not gay or lesbian shall be considered as samples for this study. For the sampling of participants, the University’s bulletin board would be used to post an announcement about the study. The post will aim to recruit volunteers who fit the requirements listed in it. The target sample size is at least 50% of all University students.
Data gathering
The data needed to answer the research question and test the hypotheses will be gathered through a semi-structured interview. Each participant will be asked to participate in a 10-15 minute interview. The interview questions will be given to the participants ahead of the actual interview so that they can think of their answers more deeply. Some of the interviews will be recorded for documentation purposes. The reliability of the data will be ensured by controlling confounding variables or by documenting them in the study. The validity of the data and the findings derived from it shall be ensured by evaluating them on established theories in psychology and other similar studies.
References
Aube, J. & Koestner, R. (1992). Gender characteristics and adjustment: A longitudinal study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 485-493
Feng, Y., Lou, C., Gao, E., Tu, X., Cheng, Y., Zabin, L. (2012). Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Perception of Homosexuality and Related Factors in Three Asian Cities. Journal of Adolescent Health, 50(30), p. S52–S60.
Grabovac, I., Abramovi, M., Komlenovi, G., Milo, M., & Mustajbegovi, J. (2014). Attitudes towards and Knowledge about Homosexuality among Medical Students in Zagreb. College Anthropology, 38(1), p. 39-45.
Ogletree, S.M. & Harper, A. (2006). Attitudes toward Gays and Lesbians: Gender and Sexism. Retrieved from https://digital.library.txstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10877/3396/fulltext.pdf?sequence=1.
Sirin, S.R., McCreary, D.R. & Mahalik, J.R. (2004). Differential Reactions to Men and Women’s Gender Role Transgressions: Perceptions of Social Status, Sexual Orientation, and Value Dissimilarity. The Journal of Mental Studies, 12(2), p. 119-132.
