The right orientation
U.S. cities with greater gender equality have more progressive sexual orientation laws and services
P.J. Henry & Russell Steiger
Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, February 2019, Pages 15-29
Abstract:
For decades, American legal scholars have speculated that discrimination against lesbians and gay men in the United States represents a special case of sex discrimination that reinforces sex stereotypes and inequality between men and women. The present research analyzes recent documentation of the progressiveness of sexual orientation laws and programs across 386 cities in the United States, to determine whether it is related to one manifestation of gender discrimination, the male-female wage gap. The results show that cities with a smaller gender wage gap tend to have more progressive sexual orientation laws and programs, a finding that holds true even when controlling for plausible third variables such as the city’s religiosity and conservative political climate. The findings show that the speculation of American legal scholars concerning the gendered nature of LGBT rights has basis in empirical reality.
When Social Perception Goes Wrong: Judging Targets’ Behavior toward Gay Versus Straight People
Jin Goh, Mollie Ruben & Judith Hall
Basic and Applied Social Psychology, January-February 2019, Pages 63-71
Abstract:
Accurate social perception depends on many factors, including the extent to which perceivers hold correct beliefs about how behaviors reflect the characteristic being judged. In Study 1, target participants recorded videos introducing themselves to either a gay or straight student who was ostensibly in another room. Unbeknownst to the targets, the other student was illusory and not real. Analysis of the targets’ videos revealed that they behaved more positively toward the gay than straight student. Two subsequent studies demonstrated that new perceivers were below chance in guessing the illusory student’s sexual orientation from watching the male targets’ behavior, presumably because they expected to see negative behavior toward the gay illusory student. The study documents processes whereby social perception can go awry.
Marriage Equality: On the Books and on the Ground? An Experimental Audit Study of Beliefs and Behavior towards Same‐Sex and Interracial Couples in the Wedding Industry
Kathryn Kroeper, Katherine Muenks & Mary Murphy
Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
In the United States, same‐sex and interracial couples benefit from federal court decisions recognizing and protecting their marital unions. Despite these legal protections, prejudiced beliefs and subtly‐biased behavior toward these groups may still be socially normative. The present studies surveyed Americans’ beliefs about the acceptability of prejudice toward same‐sex, interracial, and white heterosexual couples and then examined actual behavior among wedding venue professionals towards them. In Study 1, Americans felt it more socially normative to express prejudice toward same‐sex couples than toward interracial couples and heterosexual couples; they also forecasted that same‐sex couples would experience more discrimination by wedding industry professionals than interracial couples. Study 2 used experimental audit methods to examine whether the actual behavior of wedding venue professionals aligned with Americans’ social norm beliefs. Results revealed that same‐sex couples and, to a lesser extent, interracial couples experienced more discrimination by wedding industry professionals than did white heterosexual couples.
Evidence that prenatal testosterone transfer from male twins reduces the fertility and socioeconomic success of their female co-twins
Aline Bütikofer et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
During sensitive periods in utero, gonadal steroids help organize biological sex differences in humans and other mammals. In litter-bearing species, chromosomal females passively exposed to prenatal testosterone from male littermates exhibit altered physical and behavioral traits as adults. The consequences of such effects are less well understood in humans, but recent near-doubling of twinning rates in many countries since 1980, secondary to advanced maternal age and increased reliance on in vitro fertilization, means that an increasing subset of females in many populations may be exposed to prenatal testosterone from their male co-twin. Here we use data on all births in Norway (n = 728,842, including 13,800 twins) between 1967 and 1978 to show that females exposed in utero to a male co-twin have a decreased probability of graduating from high school (15.2%), completing college (3.9%), and being married (11.7%), and have lower fertility (5.8%) and life-cycle earnings (8.6%). These relationships remain unchanged among the subsets of 583 and 239 females whose male co-twin died during the first postnatal year and first 28 days of life, respectively, supporting the interpretation that they are due primarily to prenatal exposure rather than to postnatal socialization effects of being raised with a male sibling. Our findings provide empirical evidence, using objectively measured nation-level data, that human females exposed prenatally to a male co-twin experience long-term changes in marriage, fertility, and human capital. These findings support the hypothesis of in utero testosterone transfer between twins, which is likely affecting a small but growing subset of females worldwide.
Comparative Couple Stability: Same-sex and Male-female Unions in the United States
Eric Ketcham & Neil Bennett
Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, March 2019
Abstract:
Findings on comparative couple stability between same-sex and male-female unions vary, with some studies finding similar dissolution rates among same-sex and male-female unions and others finding higher rates of dissolution among same-sex unions. The authors extend previous research by examining the association between gender composition of couples and dissolution patterns, distinguishing between cohabitational and formal unions. Using data from the How Couples Meet and Stay Together survey, a nationally representative longitudinal survey of coupled individuals including an oversample of gay-, lesbian-, and bisexual-identified individuals, the authors conduct event-history analyses to estimate the hazard of dissolution of cohabiting and formalized unions. The findings suggest that dissolution rates are indistinguishable among cohabiting unions of all gender compositions and that formalized female-female unions may have a higher risk of union dissolution than the formalized unions of their male-male and male-female peers. The authors explore possible mechanisms underlying this observed risk differential.
Tolerance of Homosexuality in 88 Countries: Education, Political Freedom, and Liberalism
Tony Huiquan Zhang & Robert Brym
Sociological Forum, forthcoming
Abstract:
Researchers have repeatedly found a positive correlation between education and tolerance. However, they may be victims of an unrepresentative sample containing only rich Western liberal democracies, where political agendas have a liberalizing effect on curricula. In this paper, we specify the relationship between education and liberal attitudes by analyzing data on educational attainment and tolerance of homosexuality (one dimension of liberalism) drawn from a heterogeneous sample of 88 countries over the period 1981–2014. We argue that nonliberal political agendas in some countries undermine the supposed universality of the positive relationship between educational attainment and tolerance of homosexuality. In relatively free countries, education is indeed associated with greater tolerance. However, in relatively unfree countries, education has no effect on tolerance and in some cases encourages intolerance. Specifically, our analysis demonstrates that education is associated with tolerance of homosexuality only when regimes energetically promote liberal‐democratic values. The larger theoretical point is that the agendas of political regimes shape civic values partly via education systems. Especially in an era when democracy is at risk in many countries, it is important to recognize that education is not always a benign force.