Attitudes refer to unobservable cognitive constructs which are expressed as behaviours within a social context and which are socially learned and changed (Terry & Hogg, c2000). Important factors in the formation of attitudes and stereotypes about specific groups are societal and cultural values. The construct of attitudes towards homosexuality is multidimensional composing of a number of different factors varying from the conviction that gay people are ‘threatening’ or ‘dangerous’ to the belief that homosexual people should be condemned (LaMar & Kite, 1998). Furthermore, antihomosexual attitudes and behaviours according to Herek (2002) can be put together in separate categories in terms of cognitive, affective and behavioural components. Antigay …show more content…
Herek in 2000 used the term ‘sexual prejudice’ to replace ‘homophobia’ and defined it as negative attitudes which emerge from one’s beliefs and behaviours of personal ideology toward individuals because of their sexual orientation that results in the marginalization of gay and lesbian people. The term heterosexism as defined by Herek (2004) describes the cultural ideology that maintains social prejudice against sexual minorities. Alden and Parker (2005) offered another definition of heterosexism stating that heterosexism is a belief system that assumes the superiority of heterosexuality over homosexuality. Both heterosexism and homophobia appear in every society and culture, some of which are more tolerant and some being more conservative and play a major role in the formation of attitudes towards homosexual …show more content…
Gender is the most researched demographic variable influencing attitudes towards homosexuality, both when considering the gender of the respondent and the gender of the target. Kite and Whitely (1996) proposed the idea that heterosexual men and women base their evaluations of gay men and lesbians on a generalized gender belief system which reflects the idea that gender-associated attributes are bipolar. In other words, it could be either masculine or feminine. This belief in turn creates expectations in the sense that someone who possesses stereotypically male/ female traits should also have masculine/feminine physical characteristics and engage in stereotypically masculine/ feminine behaviours of a male/female role (LaMar & Kite, 1998). One of the most significant and consistent findings of research carried out over the last two decades is that heterosexual men hold more negative attitudes toward homosexual people than do heterosexual women (Ncanana, 2014). Traditional