Lesbian and bisexual women's experiences of sexuality-based discrimination and their appearance concerns

Lesbian and bisexual women frequently experience sexuality-based discrimination, which is often based on others' judgements about their appearance. This short article aims to explore whether there is a relationship between lesbian and bisexual women's experiences of sexuality-based discrimination and their satisfaction with the way that they look. Findings from an online survey suggest that discrimination is negatively related to appearance satisfaction for lesbian women, but not for bisexual women. It is argued that this difference exists because lesbian appearance norms are more recognisable and distinctive than bisexual women's appearance norms

Aspects of Homophobia in Italian High Schools: Students' Attitudes and Perceptions of School Climate

This study investigated Italian high school students' negative attitudes toward gay men and lesbians and their exposure to aspects of homophobia in their schools. Female students viewed gay men and lesbians in similar ways. Male students, on the other hand, held more negative attitudes toward gay men than toward lesbians. Participants reported widespread experiences of homophobic behaviors in their schools, especially verbal abuse. Students' perceptions of a homophobic school climate and respondent sex predicted homophobic attitudes among participants. Homophobic school climate mediated the relationship between respondent sex (male) and homophobia against gay men

Childhood gender‐typed behavior and emotional or peer problems: a prospective birth‐cohort study

BackgroundRetrospective and cross-sectional studies often report associations between childhood gender-nonconformity and greater emotional and peer difficulties. This study used the ALSPAC birth-cohort to investigate relationships between childhood gender-typed behavior and peer and emotional problems throughout childhood and adolescence.Methods11,192 participants had at least one measure of parent-rated gender-typed behavior in infancy; 7,049 participants had a measure of child-rated gender-typed behavior at 8.5 years. Separate linear mixed regression models were fitted to assess whether parent and child-rated gender-typed behaviors were associated with emotional and peer problems across childhood and adolescence (6 to 16 years old). The effect of adding covariates (self-esteem, abuse, bullying, feeling accepted by peers, and feeling different) on these relationships was assessed.ResultsFor boys, more gender-nonconforming behavior was associated with greater subsequent emotional and peer problems in childhood and adolescence. Adjusting for self-esteem, relational bullying victimization, feeling different or feeling accepted by peers reduced some of these associations. In contrast, for girls, more gender-nonconforming behavior was associated with fewer emotional problems in childhood and adolescence. In girls, self-reported gender-nonconforming behavior was also associated with fewer parent-rated peer problems but parent-rated gender nonconforming behavior was associated with more parent-rated peer problems; this latter association was partly explained by self-esteem, bullying and abuse victimization. These associations were statistically significant but small.ConclusionsOverall, more female-typical behaviors were generally associated with greater subsequent emotional and peer problems, for both boys and girls. Future studies should investigate factors that reduced these associations, as well potential negative effects of female-typical behaviors or advantages of male-typical ones. As this was a 14-year longitudinal study, the relationships between gender-role behaviors and emotional/peer problems warrant further research despite the small association sizes