Out and Proud: The Visibility of Sexual Orientation and its Relationship to Inequality

• In Event: 090 - Section on Sociology of Sexualities Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 02. Sexual Violence, Harassment, and Discrimination

Abstract

This dissertation addresses the question of whether sexual orientation, like gender, will lead to status differentiation during group interaction. First, I propose that sexual orientation, like gender, is a diffuse status characteristic that shapes the production of status hierarchies. Second, I emphasize the importance of decoupling gender from sexual orientation so that we can see the influence of sexuality on its own, as well as how it works with gender to inform group behavior. To test these propositions I will use theories from the Expectation States tradition, to formalize these claims about sexual orientation and gender, and lay out a research design for testing them. This is an eight-condition experimental study that will allow us to manipulate both gender display and sexual orientation. The experimental design uses the standardized experimental situation, which involves a stay response protocol during a task we refer to as the “contrast sensitivity test”. I expect that non-normative gender performance and homosexuality will both negatively affect the amount of influence an individual gains during interaction, which will ultimately affect their overall status. This research is new and integral to the fields of gender and sexuality studies because it works to incorporate expectation states research (Wagner and Berger 1985) with feminist research on sexuality and “doing gender, doing difference” (West and Zimmerman 1987). Taking a more interdisciplinary approach and initiating a dialogue between these two research perspectives will allow us to better understand the production of social inequality, providing new opportunities to interrupt and challenge it.

Author

• Miriam Elana Verploegh, University of Iowa