Sexual Prejudice

Sexual Prejudice and “Homophobia”

Sexual prejudice has come to be recognized as a socially significant phenomenon worthy of scientific research only recently as a consequence of shifts in cultural constructions of human sexuality, gender, and minority rights. Sexual stigma has long been manifested in religion, the law, and other social institutions whose ideologies and practices work to the disadvantage of sexual minority groups. This structural stigma—also referred to as heterosexism—operates even in the absence of individual prejudice or discrimination. It functions to make nonheterosexuals largely invisible, and, when they become visible, it promotes the assumption that they are inferior to heterosexuals and deserve ostracism, discrimination, and even violence.

The legitimacy of sexual stigma went largely unquestioned for much of the 20th century. In the 1960s, however, the tenets of heterosexism began to be challenged by an emerging political movement of sexual minorities and their heterosexual allies. One such ally was psychologist George Weinberg. In his psychoanalytic training, he had been taught that homosexuality was a form of mental illness. Based on personal experiences with gay friends, however, Weinberg questioned the validity of this assumption. Moreover, he observed strongly negative reactions among professional colleagues when they encountered homosexual persons outside their therapy practices. He ultimately labeled those reactions homophobia, which he defined as the dread of being in close quarters with homosexuals. His 1972 book, Society and the Healthy Homosexual, provided the first extensive discussion of homophobia as it is manifested among both heterosexual and nonheterosexual individuals. Thus, Weinberg challenged the conventional wisdom of his time, arguing that what was then typically framed as the “problem” of homosexuality was actually rooted in heterosexuals' unwarranted negative reactions to homosexuality and to gay people.

Although the significance of Weinberg's contribution was substantial, it is important to note that homophobia is a problematic term mainly because it suggests that heterosexuals' negative reactions to homosexuals are based on irrational fears (i.e., that they are phobias). There is little empirical evidence to support this assumption. Indeed, data indicate that antigay attitudes have multiple sources and are often based on religious and political values or conformity to social norms, rather than irrational fears. In recognition of homophobia's limitations, social scientists have begun to refer to the phenomenon described by Weinberg as sexual prejudice, a term that does not convey any particular theoretical assumptions about the nature or origins of heterosexuals' negative reactions to sexual minorities.

...