Prejudice Against Bisexuals from Both the Heterosexual and Homosexual Communities

Open Access
- Author:
- Holmes, Kaitlin Elizabeth
- Area of Honors:
- Psychology
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Theresa K Vescio, Thesis Supervisor
Theresa K Vescio, Thesis Supervisor
David A. Rosenbaum, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- lgbt
prejudice
bisexual
homosexual - Abstract:
- Bisexuals face prejudice from multiple groups. This research examines both heterosexuals’ and homosexuals’ prejudice toward bisexuals. Our first hypothesis was that heterosexual women, lesbian women, and gay men would find the bisexual person to be less trustworthy, less warm, less attractive, less competent and less desirable as a person with whom to hook up. The heterosexual male group will also find the bisexual to be less trustworthy, warm, and competent, but they would be the only group of the four to find the bisexual more attractive and desirable for a hook up. Bisexuals are perceived to be promiscuous and rebellious. Due to this and the fact that lesbianism has been so sexualized in both the media and society, many men wish to see two women together in a sexual context. They think that this is more likely to occur with a bisexual and find them more attractive for this reason. Heterosexuals and homosexuals of both sexes were asked to consider two people who were similar in all regards except their sexual orientation. The first person participants saw was a person who was the sex and sexual orientation to whom the participant was attracted. The second person was identified as the same gender as the first person, but bi-sexual. Beneath the images, names and sexual orientation of each person were descriptions each person’s likes and dislikes. After seeing and reading about each person, participants reported their interest in having physical and close interpersonal relationships with each. Participants also rated each person on attractiveness, trust, competence and warmth. Consistent with predictions, we found that bisexuals are more appealing to heterosexual men both in terms of attractiveness and for the potential of hooking up, than straight women are appealing. We also found that all four subgroups showed bias against the bisexual in terms of relationship desirability. Heterosexual men, lesbian women, and gay men showed bias against the bisexual in terms of trust, competence, and warmth. However, heterosexual women favored the bisexual in regards to those three variables.