Breaking the mold
About face: Memory for transgender versus cisgender targets' facial appearance
Natalie Wittlin et al.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, September 2018, Pages 77–92
Abstract:
In five studies, we explored how expectations and memory for a target's facial appearance vary as a function of whether that face is said to belong to a transgender or cisgender (i.e., non-transgender) individual. Participants in each study were randomly assigned to either a transgender or a cisgender target. In Study 1, participants indicated how feminine and masculine they expected the target to look. In Study 2, participants were shown an image of the target's face (which was androgynous in all conditions) and asked to rate how feminine and masculine the face appeared. In Studies 3, 4, and 5, participants were shown the same image of the target's face and later instructed to identify it from an array of faces. Results from these studies revealed that supposedly cisgender targets' faces are expected to look, evaluated, and remembered as more gender congruent than supposedly transgender targets' faces. Potential implications of these findings are discussed.
Single-dose testosterone administration increases men’s preference for status goods
Gideon Nave et al.
Nature Communications, July 2018
Abstract:
In modern human cultures where social hierarchies are ubiquitous, people typically signal their hierarchical position through consumption of positional goods — goods that convey one’s social position, such as luxury products. Building on animal research and early correlational human studies linking the sex steroid hormone testosterone with hierarchical social interactions, we investigate the influence of testosterone on men’s preferences for positional goods. Using a placebo-controlled experiment (N = 243) to measure individuals’ desire for status brands and products, we find that administering testosterone increases men’s preference for status brands, compared to brands of similar perceived quality but lower perceived status. Furthermore, testosterone increases positive attitudes toward positional goods when they are described as status-enhancing, but not when they are described as power-enhancing or high in quality. Our results provide novel causal evidence for the biological roots of men’s preferences for status, bridging decades of animal behavioral studies with contemporary consumer research.
Public Discomfort with Gender Appearance-Inconsistent Bathroom Use: The Oppressive Bind of Bathroom Laws for Transgender Individuals
Lisa Platt & Sarah Milam
Gender Issues, September 2018, Pages 181–201
Abstract:
Previous research with transgender and gender non-conforming samples suggests one’s gender appearance is important in regards to safe access to public bathrooms, as expectations in public bathrooms are an example of gender role social construction and are maintained through gender policing. With the rise of gender related bathroom use legislation, such as North Carolina’s HB-2, it is speculated that transgender individuals face the difficult bind of either using the bathroom consistent with their gender identity to avoid harassment, which means breaking the law, or following the law and breaking societal expectations about gender appearance-congruent bathroom use. Using a 2 × 2 × 2 within-subjects, experimental design the current study investigated public reactions to gender appearance-congruent and gender appearance-incongruent public bathroom use, using a 400 person sample taken from Amazon’s MTurk. The conditions varied by type of bathroom (male or female) in the description, type of image shown (masculine or feminine) and whether the condition contained a gender identity description (no description or transgender description). A total discomfort score served as the dependent variable. Three main hypotheses were tested, (1) there will be a significant 2-way interaction between type of bathroom and type of image, with the condition of a masculine image using a female bathroom (gender appearance-incongruent) having the higher discomfort scores, (2) there will be a significant 3-way interaction, and (3) combined all gender appearance-incongruent conditions will have significantly higher discomfort scores as compared to appearance-congruent conditions. The results of a series of repeated measures ANOVAs supported all three hypotheses, demonstrating the importance of gender appearance in public bathrooms. The social justice implications are discussed along with suggestions for future research.
School Progress Among Children of Same-Sex Couples
Caleb Watkins
Demography, June 2018, Pages 799–821
Abstract:
This study uses logit regressions on a pooled sample of children from the 2012, 2013, and 2014 American Community Survey to perform a nationally representative analysis of school progress for a large sample of 4,430 children who reside with same-sex couples. Odds ratios from regressions that compare children between different-sex married couples and same-sex couples fail to show significant differences in normal school progress between households across a variety of sample compositions. Likewise, marginal effects from regressions that compare children with similar family dynamics between different-sex married couples and same-sex couples fail to predict significantly higher probabilities of grade retention for children of same-sex couples. Significantly lower grade retention rates are sometimes predicted for children of same-sex couples than for different-sex married couples, but these differences are sensitive to sample exclusions and do not indicate causal benefits to same-sex parenting.
Dyadic Reporting of Intimate Partner Violence Among Male Couples in Three U.S. Cities
Nicolas Suarez et al.
American Journal of Men's Health, July 2018, Pages 1039-1047
Abstract:
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a prevalent and pressing public health concern that affects people of all gender and sexual identities. Though studies have identified that male couples may experience IPV at rates as high as or higher than women in heterosexual partnerships, the body of literature addressing this population is still nascent. This study recruited 160 male–male couples in Atlanta, Boston, and Chicago to independently complete individual surveys measuring demographic information, partner violence experience and perpetration, and individual and relationship characteristics that may shape the experience of violence. Forty-six percent of respondents reported experiencing IPV in the past year. Internalized homophobia significantly increased the risk for reporting experiencing, perpetrating, or both for any type of IPV. This study is the first to independently gather data on IPV from both members of male dyads and indicates an association between internalized homophobia and risk for IPV among male couples. The results highlight the unique experiences of IPV in male–male couples and call for further research and programmatic attention to address the exorbitant levels of IPV experienced within some of these partnerships.
Effects of Access to Legal Same-Sex Marriage on Marriage and Health: Evidence from BRFSS
Christopher Carpenter et al.
NBER Working Paper, June 2018
Abstract:
We exploit variation in access to legal same-sex marriage (SSM) across states and time to provide novel evidence of its effects on marriage and health using data from the CDC BRFSS from 2000-2016, a period spanning the entire rollout of legal SSM across the United States. Our main approach is to relate changes in outcomes for individuals in same-sex households (SSH) [i.e., households with exactly two same-sex adults], which we show includes a substantial share of gay and lesbian couples, coincident with adoption of legal SSM in two-way fixed effects models. We find robust evidence that access to legal SSM significantly increased marriage take-up among men and women in SSH. We also find that legal SSM was associated with significant increases in health insurance, access to care, and utilization for men in SSH. Our results provide the first evidence that legal access to SSM improved health for adult gay men.