A new study that looks into the nuances of prejudice reveals that homophobia could be directly related to a fear of being approached in a romantic or sexual manner by a person of the same sex.
The new report, published in journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, was headed up by psychologists Angela G. Pirlott and Steven L. Neuberg. They write that their probe into the ways sexual prejudice within a college-age demographic is affected by the idea that "certain sexual orientation groups direct unwanted sexual interest."
Pirlott, the lead author of the study and an assistant psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire told the Huffington Post that along with Neuberg, a professor of psychology at Arizona State University that theirs is not the first research of its kind. More widely accepted stances on what moves sexual prejudice explored gender norm violation, but Pirlott and Neuberg were convinced there was another underlying reason.
"Then we began exploring the idea of a 'sexual interest mismatch'-that the sexual interests of the perceivers and their perceptions of the sexual interests of the different sexual orientation groups differet," Prilott said. "In particular, that some sexual orientation groups might be perceived as directing unwanted sexual interest toward them."
The researchers gathered 533 heterosexual students and asked each of them two questions: What is your own sexual preference in regard to members of the same sex, opposite sex or bisexual students; and to what extent do you feel that these groups would be interested in having sex with the student?
These questions were crafted to be unthreatening toward the students, Neuberg told the Huffington Post.
"The patterns of prejudices map on nearly perfectly with perceptions of unwanted sexual interest," Neuberg said.
The two scientists also took note of the fact that gender changed sexual prejudice.
"[O]ur article says that straight men perceive gay and bisexual men to direct unwanted sexual interest, but not lesbians or bisexual women; and straight women perceive lesbians, bisexual women and bisexual men to direct unwanted sexual interest, but not gay men; and that this perception strongly explained their sexual prejudices," Pirlott explained.
Pirlott also noticed that people generally simply squirmed at the idea of an unwanted sexual advance.
The duo hopes that the study will throw back the curtain on an oft-overlooked aspect of sexual prejudice.
