Diversity in gender stereotypes? A comparison of heterosexual, gay and lesbian perspectives

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/cjas.1437
• Author: Kara A. Arnold,Heather M. Clarke
• Published date: 01 June 2017
• Date: 01 June 2017

Diversity in gender stereotypes? A comparison of

heterosexual, gay and lesbian perspectives

Heather M. Clarke*

University of Wisconsin –Green Bay

Kara A. Arnold

Memorial University

Abstract

Research on gender stereotypes has not examined whether

gay men and lesbians hold the same gender stereotypes as

heterosexual individuals. To address this gap, we asked

participants to indicate how likely they believed it was for

a typical gay man, lesbian, heterosexual man, or heterosex-

ual woman to exhibit stereotypical personality traits and

engage in stereotypical activities and occupations. Ratings

of heterosexual male and female targets’masculinity and

femininity were signif‌icantly different in the expected direc-

tion. However, the difference between the gay man and les-

bian target ratings on masculinity and femininity was not

statistically signif‌icant. Our f‌indings further suggest that

gay men and lesbians hold the same gender stereotypes as

heterosexuals about both homosexual and heterosexual

targets. Copyright © 2017 ASAC. Published by John Wiley

& Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: gender stereotypes, sexual orientation, gay men,

lesbians, implicit inversion theory

Résumé

En se demandant si les gays et les lesbiennes nourrissent

les mêmes stéréotypes sexistes que les personnes

hétérosexuelles, les auteurs de cet article abordent une ques-

tion que les travaux existants sur les stéréotypes sexistes n’ont

pas encore explorée. Des participants ont ainsi été invités à

indiquer le groupe qui, entre les gays, les lesbiennes, les

hétérosexuels et les hétérosexuelles, est le plus susceptible

non seulement d’exhiber des traits de personnalité stéréo-

typés, mais aussi de s’engager dans des activités ou des occu-

pations stéréotypées. Conformément à notre hypothèse, les

jugements que les cibles hétérosexuels et hétérosexuelles por-

tent sur la masculinité et la féminité sont très différents. Mais

dans les jugements formulés par les cibles gays et lesbiennes,

cette différence est statistiquement insignif‌iante. Enf‌in, en ce

qui concerne les cibles homosexuels et hétérosexuels, les gays

et des lesbiennes nourrissent les mêmes stéréotypes sexistes

que leurs vis-à-vis hétérosexuels. Copyright © 2017 ASAC.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mots-clés : stéréotypes sexistes, orientation sexuelle, gays,

lesbiennes, théorie de l’inversion implicite

The manifestation of gender stereotypes is no more

apparent than in the workplace where stereotypes inf‌luence

perceptions of in-role job performance, organizational citi-

zenship behaviour, and job f‌it. For example, stereotypes that

women possess communal traits and lack agentic traits lead

to the assumption that they are less competent than men when

performing male gender-typed work (e.g., Heilman, Wallen,

Fuchs, & Tamkins, 2004). Women are also more harshly

reproached than their male counterparts for failing to engage

in female gender-typed behaviours, like the helping form of

organizational citizenship behaviour (Heilman & Chen,

2005) and individually considerate leadership behaviour

(Loughlin, Arnold & Bell-Crawford, 2012). Men do not es-

cape such reprisals. Study participants have rated men

employed in female-typed work as “wimpy”and less deserv-

ing of respect than men engaged in work traditionally viewed

as suited for men (Heilman & Wallen, 2010, p. 664), due to

their violation of the male gender stereotype.

A signif‌icant body of research has investigated the con-

tent and pervasiveness of gender stereotypes. This research,

however, has either employed only heterosexual participants

or has not identif‌ied the sexual orientation of study partici-

pants (e.g., Blashill & Powlishta, 2009). Thus it remains un-

clear whether gay men and lesbians hold the same gender

stereotypes as heterosexual individuals, or whether phenom-

ena such as those cited above, which are manifestations of

the inf‌luence of gender stereotypes on our judgments and

evaluations of others, vary by the sexual orientation of the

The authors gratefully acknowledge f‌inancial support for this research from

a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)

Vice President’s Internal Research Grant. An earlier version of this paper

was presented at the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada

(ASAC) Conference in Halifax, N.S., Canada June 12-16, 2015.

*Please address correspondence to: Heather M. Clarke, Austin E. Cofrin

School of Business, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay, Green Bay,

WI, United States, 54311-7001. Email: clarkeh@uwgb.edu

Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences

Revue canadienne des sciences de l’administration

34: 149–158 (2017)

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/CJAS.1437

Can J Adm Sci

34(2), 149–158 (2017)Copyright © 2017 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 149