Psychology Preaching Agains Gay When You Are Gay
Grayness Matter
Homophobic? Perchance Yous're Gay
WHY are political and religious figures who campaign against gay rights so often implicated in sexual encounters with same-sex partners?
In recent years, Ted Haggard, an evangelical leader who preached that homosexuality was a sin, resigned after a scandal involving a onetime male prostitute; Larry Craig, a United States senator who opposed including sexual orientation in hate-law-breaking legislation, was arrested on suspicion of lewd conduct in a men's bathroom; and Glenn Irish potato Jr., a leader of the Young Republican National Convention and an opponent of same-sexual activity wedlock, pleaded guilty to a bottom charge after being defendant of sexually assaulting some other man.
One theory is that homosexual urges, when repressed out of shame or fear, tin be expressed as homophobia. Freud famously called this process a "reaction formation" — the angry battle against the outward symbol of feelings that are inwardly being stifled. Fifty-fifty Mr. Haggard seemed to endorse this thought when, apologizing subsequently his scandal for his anti-gay rhetoric, he said, "I call back I was partially and then violent because of my ain state of war."
It's a compelling theory — and now there is scientific reason to believe it. In this month's issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, we and our beau researchers provide empirical evidence that homophobia tin outcome, at least in part, from the suppression of aforementioned-sexual activity desire.
Prototype 
Our paper describes half dozen studies conducted in the United States and Federal republic of germany involving 784 university students. Participants rated their sexual orientation on a x-betoken scale, ranging from gay to straight. So they took a computer-administered exam designed to measure their implicit sexual orientation. In the examination, the participants were shown images and words indicative of hetero- and homosexuality (pictures of aforementioned-sexual activity and direct couples, words similar "homosexual" and "gay") and were asked to sort them into the appropriate category, gay or straight, as quickly equally possible. The computer measured their reaction times.
The twist was that before each word and image appeared, the word "me" or "other" was flashed on the screen for 35 milliseconds — long plenty for participants to subliminally process the discussion simply short enough that they could not consciously run across it. The theory hither, known every bit semantic association, is that when "me" precedes words or images that reflect your sexual orientation (for example, heterosexual images for a straight person), you will sort these images into the correct category faster than when "me" precedes words or images that are incongruent with your sexual orientation (for example, homosexual images for a straight person). This technique, adapted from like tests used to assess attitudes like subconscious racial bias, reliably distinguishes between self-identified straight individuals and those who self-identify every bit lesbian, gay or bisexual.
Using this methodology we identified a subgroup of participants who, despite self-identifying as highly straight, indicated some level of aforementioned-sexual activity attraction (that is, they associated "me" with gay-related words and pictures faster than they associated "me" with direct-related words and pictures). Over twenty percent of self-described highly straight individuals showed this discrepancy.
Notably, these "discrepant" individuals were too significantly more likely than other participants to favor anti-gay policies; to be willing to assign significantly harsher punishments to perpetrators of petty crimes if they were presumed to exist homosexual; and to express greater implicit hostility toward gay subjects (as well measured with the assistance of subliminal priming). Thus our research suggests that some who oppose homosexuality exercise tacitly harbor same-sex attraction.
What leads to this repression? We found that participants who reported having supportive and accepting parents were more in affect with their implicit sexual orientation and less susceptible to homophobia. Individuals whose sexual identity was at odds with their implicit sexual attraction were much more frequently raised by parents perceived to exist decision-making, less accepting and more prejudiced against homosexuals.
It'southward of import to stress the obvious: Non all those who campaign confronting gay men and lesbians secretly feel same-sex activity attractions. But at to the lowest degree some who oppose homosexuality are likely to be individuals struggling against parts of themselves, having themselves been victims of oppression and lack of acceptance. The costs are bang-up, not simply for the targets of anti-gay efforts but also often for the perpetrators. Nosotros would do well to recall that all involved deserve our compassion.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/opinion/sunday/homophobic-maybe-youre-gay.html
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