Picking Sides: Examining the Effects of Gender and Sexual Orientation on Attitudes Toward Bisexuality

• In Event: 1466 - Section on the Sociology of Sexualities Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 3. On the Margins of L&G

Abstract

Sociological research on stigma and sexual orientation focuses primarily on discrimination against gay and lesbian individuals or against the entire community of LGBTQ+ individuals. Yet, a small but growing body of research on bisexuality indicates that biphobia and its consequences are both similar to and distinct from homophobia. In this study, I utilize the 2015 National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior (NSSHB) to explore characteristics associated with attitudes toward bisexual men and women. I focus on the relationships between gender, sexual orientation, and attitudes toward bisexual men and bisexual women, respectively. These analyses necessarily address differences in biphobia according to social group membership while also addressing the additional stigma bisexual men face compared to bisexual women. For both of the main effects models, male respondents reported more bias against bisexual individuals than female respondents, and heterosexual respondents reported more bias against bisexual individuals than homosexual respondents. However, interaction effects between gender and sexual orientation indicate that homosexual men are more biased toward bisexual individuals than heterosexual men. On the other hand, there are no statistically discernable differences between lesbian women and heterosexual women on bias toward bisexual individuals. This complicates research suggesting homosexual participants have more favorable attitudes towards bisexuals than heterosexuals; there may, in fact, be causal heterogeneity in the effect of sexuality across genders. The present study seeks to fill some of the gap in sociological research on biphobia by highlighting how various intersecting identities influence discrimination against sexual minority groups.

Author

• Celene Fuller, University of Nevada, Las Vegas