Homophobia and Heterosexism

Paper Summary:

This paper is a review of this study, which attempted to assess not only the rate of homophobia or heterosexism within the American social worker population, but also to determine whether or not these biases would impact the treatment of gay or lesbian clients. The paper reviews the study's definition of homophobia and heterosexism and the hypotheses tested in the study.

From the Paper:

"According to the authors, homophobia is defined as "fear, disgust, anger, discomfort or aversion" to homosexual people, while heterosexism is defined as a more unconscious but pervasive sense that heterosexuality is a preferable and superior sexual orientation (p. 320). Ethical considerations of this research are clearly addressed by the authors: population samples were random and participation was voluntary. The means to measure homophobia and heterosexism include a range of questionnaires, which pose no harm at all to respondents. Moreover, anonymity and confidentiality were guaranteed. As the questionnaires were straightforward, there was no need to deceive subjects as to the nature of the study. Findings were thoroughly addressed, even when the results did not corroborate the research hypotheses, and the potential benefits to the study easily outweigh the few, if any, costs involved. These questionnaires were administered randomly to social workers with MSWs, all of whom were members of the NASW; because observations were made at one time, this study is cross-sectional."

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