Attitudes Towards Lesbians and Gay Men and Sexism: an Analysis of Intersectional Models

Introduction.  Individual and societal attitudes continue to give rise to discrimination in contemporary society towards, and inequality suffered by, specific groups on the basis of gender and sexual orientation. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI) and the Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale (ATLG) in developing students' attitudes toward sexual diversity in a multicultural context.  Method.  The study was quantitative and followed an ex post facto design with non-probabilistic, causal, and cross-sectional sampling. Both questionnaires were validated. Data was collected from a sample of 380 individuals attending university in Andalusia. Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze relationships between observed and latent variables. Results.  The results confirm the study hypothesis: there is a significant relationship in university students between ambivalent sexism and attitudes towards lesbians and gay men mediated by acceptance of sexual diversity. The multigroup analysis results for the effect of the sexual diversity dimensions indicate that ambivalent sexism exerts significant influence, predominantly determined by gender-related factors. It should be noted that no statistically significant regression coefficients were obtained with regard to the influence of ambivalent sexism on attitudes towards gay men. However, significant differences were detected between ambivalent sexism and attitudes towards lesbians. Discussion and Conclusion.  This study confirms that there is a stronger relationship between ambivalent sexism and attitudes towards lesbians than gay men, supporting the notion that sexism influences attitudes towards sexual diversity, but that that relationship varies in function of gender.