Can Being Gay Provide a Boost in the Hiring Process? Maybe If the Boss is Female

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether men and women differentially prefer hiring gay and lesbian job applicants relative to equally qualified heterosexual job applicants.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were collected from two samples of non-student participants. Each participant evaluated the perceived hirability of an ostensibly real job applicant by reviewing the applicant’s resume. In reality, all participants were randomly assigned to evaluate the same fictitious resume that differed only in the gender and sexual orientation of the applicant.

Findings

We find that men perceived gay and lesbian job applicants as less hirable, while women perceived gay and lesbian job applicants as more hirable than heterosexual job applicants. Additionally, we show perceptions of hirability are mediated by perceptions of gay and lesbian job applicants’ competence.

Implications

These results show that bias against gays and lesbians is much more nuanced than previous work suggests. One implication is that placing more women in selection roles within organizations could be a catalyst for the inclusion of gay and lesbian employees. Additionally, these results could influence when and how gays and lesbians disclose their gay identities at work.

Originality/Value

These studies are the first to identify a positive bias in favor of gay and lesbian job applicants. As attitudes toward gays and lesbians become more positive, results like these are important to document as they signal a shift in intergroup relations. These results will also help managers and organizations design selection processes to minimize bias toward applicants.

     

“A boy cannot marry another boy”: adolescent boys' talk about ‘gay’ boys at school

This study explored how black South African adolescent boys talk about ‘gay’¹1 The term ‘gay’ is put in inverted commas to acknowledge that as an identity category it is a social construct. The author in this article is aware that the term ‘gay’ implies a more liberated or liberatory form of identity, but the boys in the study were using it pejoratively. in schools. Thirty two boys (age ranged from 13–18 years old) attending two high schools in a historically black South African township took part. Data on their understanding of being gay were gathered using individual interviews and focus group discussions. The data were analysed using Edley and Wetherell's (2001 Edley, N., & Wetherell, M. (2001). Jekyll and Hyde: Men's constructions of feminism and feminists. Feminism & Psychology, 11(4), 439–457. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959353501011004002 doi: 10.1177/0959353501011004002[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) discursive interpretive framework. Findings suggest negative bias in the boys' attitudes towards ‘gay’ boys. The boys considered being ‘gay’ as ‘deviant’, ‘abnormal’, ‘un-Christian’ and ‘un-African’. Furthermore, ‘straight’²2 The term ‘straight’ is also put in inverted commas initially to acknowledge that this is also a social construct the participants used in the study to categorise and label each other. boys reported isolating themselves from ‘gay’ boys and avoiding practices stereotypically associated with being ‘gay’, such as wearing colorful pink clothes. Social constructions of hegemonic masculinity and homophobia appear present within an ordinary South African school setting.     

THE UNBEARABLE HEAVINESS OF BEING

In response to Simone de Beauvoir's claim that for women ‘biology is Destiny’ Judith Butler says, ‘not biology, but culture becomes destiny’ (Butler, Judith. 1990 Butler, Judith. 1990. Gender Trouble, Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London: Routledge. [Google Scholar]. Gender Trouble, Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York and London: Routledge, 8). The Memoirs by Sharan-Jeet Shan, Kiranjit Ahluwalia, Jasvinder Sanghera and Rupinder Gill confirm that culture and gender shape women's lives and destinies. Especially, immigrant women often engage in a life-threatening struggle to change this destiny. This is not to suggest that men do not also face and transcend some of the same issues as women. In If You Don't Know Me by Now (2008), Sathnam Sanghera complains that in immigrant societies men are as trapped by culture as women but the media tends to portray them – men – as ‘beneficiaries’ rather than victims of culture. Although one would not want to create hierarchies of suffering and victimization, the memoirs considered here reveal that cultural codes do not hold men in the same kind of thrall as they do women.     

The Impact of the Wording of Employment Advertisements on Students' Inclination to Apply for a Job

ABSTRACT

Students' inclination to apply for a job was examined as a function of (1) the wording of the desired candidate's profile specified in the employment advertisement and (2) applicant gender. Previous research found that women are more inclined than men to apply for jobs that include a profile corresponding to their gender (i.e., a profile containing prototypically feminine instead of masculine personal characteristics). Based on Fiedler and Semin's (1996) Fiedler, K. and Semin, G. R. 1996. “Language in applied contexts”. In Applied social psychology, Edited by: Fiedler, K. and Semin, G. R. 91–109. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.  [Google Scholar] Linguistic Category Model, we expected that this effect would decrease if the desired profile was worded in terms of behaviors/verbs instead of nouns/adjectives. ANOVA supported this reasoning for women but not for men. We conclude that organizations may increase the number of women applying for particular jobs by changing the presentation form of the advertisement.     

Tests of Objectification Theory in Gay, Lesbian, and Heterosexual Community Samples: Mixed Evidence for Proposed Pathways

Objectification theory (Fredrickson and Roberts 1997) proposes that women are especially vulnerable to eating disordered behavior when they live in cultures in which their bodies are a constant focus of evaluation. The current study examined whether predictions of objectification theory involving the associations among sexual objectification, body surveillance, body shame, and eating disordered behavior were supported in groups that varied by both gender and sexual orientation. Adults from a U.S. community sample in the Chicago area (92 heterosexual women; 102 heterosexual men; 87 gay men; and 99 lesbian women) completed self-report measures of these constructs. Results suggest that group differences in experiences of sexual objectification and body surveillance may partially explain gender and sexual orientation-based differences in eating disordered behavior.     

An Evidence-Based Clinical Approach to Suicide Prevention in the Department of Defense: The Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS)

There are few evidence-based approaches for the treatment of suicidality particularly within the Department of Defense settings (DoD) (Schoenbaum, Heinssen, &; Pearson, 2009 Schoenbaum, M., Heinssen, R. and Pearson, J. L. 2009. Opportunities to improve interventions to reduce suicidality: Civilian “best practices” for army considerations, Bethesda, MD: National Institute of Mental Health.  [Google Scholar]). This article describes a relatively new suicide-specific approach called the “Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality” (CAMS). There is growing evidence that CAMS can meaningfully impact suicidal ideation, overall symptom distress, increase hope, and may positively impact non-mental health utilization. The prospect of using CAMS within military treatment facilities is discussed as a means of clinically assessing and treating suicidal ideation and related behaviors for military personnel.     

Appraisal of Suicidal Risk Among Adolescents and Young Adults Through the Rorschach Test

The aims of this study are to investigate suicidal behaviors among adolescents and young adults and to test an index composed using Rorschach test responses related to an increased risk of suicide. Using a cross-sectional design, 4 groups were studied (according to criteria of the Columbia Classification Algorithm of Suicide Assessment [Posner, Oquendo, Gould, Stanley, &; Davies, 2007 Rierdan, J. 1978. Suicide and transparency responses on the Rorschach: A replication. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46: 1162–1163.  [Google Scholar]]): A group with suicidal ideation (n = 30), a group with parasuicidal behavior (n = 30), a group with near-lethal suicide attempts (n = 26), and a control group (n = 30). Responses to the Rorschach test yielded 6 potential indicators of suicidal behavior (scored according to Exner's Comprehensive System and the Suicidal Index for Adolescents; Silberg &; Armstrong, 1992 Stengel, E. 1975. Suicide and attempted suicide , 2nd ed., New York, NY: Aronson.  [Google Scholar]). Rorschach scores including at least 4 of these 6 indicators selected 69% of the people who had committed serious suicide attempts. The Rorschach Suicidal Index reached an acceptable reliability and was related to other criteria of suicide risk, such as the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Ward, Mendelsohn, Mock, &; Erbaugh, 1961 Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelsohn, M., Mock, J. and Erbaugh, J. 1961. An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4: 561–571. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Linehan Reasons for Living Inventory (RFL–I; Linehan, Goodstein, Nielsen, &; Chiles, 1983 Menninger, K. 1938. Man against himself, New York, NY: Harcourt. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Moreover, the Rorschach Suicidal Index showed incremental validity over the BDI and the RFL–I to predict suicidal behavior. A path analysis additionally showed that low social support was an important mediator between the Rorschach Suicidal Index and the number of suicide attempts committed by participants.     

Gender Effects on Reaction Time Variability and Trial-to-Trial Performance: Reply to Deary and Der (2005)

ABSTRACT

Deary and Der (2005) Deary, I. J. and Der, G. 2005. Reaction time, age, and cognitive ability: Longitudinal findings from age 16 to 63 years in representative population samples. Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition, 12: 187–215. [CSA][Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] reported significant gender effects on intraindividual variability in choice reaction time (CRT), and suggested several potential causes. In their procedure it was not possible to examine RTs on a trial-to-trial basis. We therefore investigate an additional possible cause: that men and women differ in their rate of performance improvement across trials, creating an apparent difference in variability. Using data from a large online CRT study, we replicate the finding that women are more variable in RT than men. However, we also demonstrate an interaction between gender and trial number for RT: women were initially slower than men, but became faster than men across a block. When the first two trials of the block are excluded, the gender effects on RT variability disappear.     

Do State Laws Concerning Homosexuals Reflect the Preeminence of Conservative-Liberal Individual Differences?

ABSTRACT

The present study was conducted to determine whether individual-level correlates of sexual prejudice (i.e., conservatism-liberalism, religious fundamentalism, educational levels, urbanism, income, and living in the South) are predictive at the state level of laws restricting homosexual behaviors and desires. Criterion 1 was a multifaceted index of state laws concerning gay men and lesbians; Criterion 2 was an index of state laws regarding same-sex partnerships. Multiple regression strategies showed that state conservatism-liberalism, as determined from the responses of 141,798 individuals aggregated at the state level (Erikson, Wright, & McIver, 1993 Erikson, R. S., Wright, G. C. and McIver, J. P. 1993. Statehouse democracy: Public opinion and policy in the American states, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.  [Google Scholar]), was the prime state-level predictor of both criteria. For Criterion 1, only Southern state status accounted for additional variance (4.2%) above the 54.8% already accounted for by conservatism-liberalism. For Criterion 2, no other variables accounted for variance beyond the 44.6% accounted for by state conservatism-liberalism.     

Sexual harassment in the context of double male dominance

It has been suggested that numerically male-dominated workplaces propagate cultural norms that support sexual bravado, sexual posturing, and the denigration of feminine behaviour (Sbraga & O'Donohue, 2000 Sbraga, T. P. and O'Donohue, W. 2000. Sexual harassment. Annual Review of Sex Research, 11: 258–285. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). These cultural norms are features of normative male dominance, which have been shown to increase the risk of sexual harassment. This implies that the effect of numerical male dominance on sexual harassment may be mediated by the level of normative male dominance in the work environment. The aim of this study was to test this assumption. Our sample consisted of 1295 police women, who filled out an Internet questionnaire. The results suggest that normative male dominance indeed mediates the relation between numerical male dominance and sexual harassment. We add to the sexual harassment literature by building on Gruber's concept of double dominance. Our study helps to make clear why women are at greater risk of sexual harassment in work situations where men outnumber women than in more gender-balanced workplaces.     

Do You See What I See? The Influence of Gender Stereotypes on Student and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Perceptions of Violent Same-Sex and Opposite-Sex Relationships

ABSTRACT

Forty-one men and 67 women undergraduate students, as well as 35 men and 27 women Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers, rated the abusiveness of intimate partner violence (IPV) vignettes portraying each possible gender combination of victim and perpetrator (Harris &; Cook, 1994 Harris, R. J. and Cook, C. A. 1994. Attributions about spouse abuse: It matters who the batterers and victims are. Sex Roles, 30: 553–565. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Rating differences according to victim and perpetrator gender, occupation (student or RCMP officer), and participant gender were anticipated. Analyses found that student and RCMP ratings of abuse severity were both highest for the male-female scenario. However, the RCMP considered the female-male, male-male, and female-female scenarios to be more abusive than did the students. Our findings suggest that, while the RCMP appeared to be more sensitive to male and same-sex victims than students, both groups remain somewhat biased.     

Defending the self against identity misclassification

When people perform role-violating behaviors that are diagnostic of membership in a stigmatized group, they risk identity misclassification—i.e., being mistaken for a member of that group. Because false stigmatization raises the possibility of interpersonal punishment, role violators who wish to avoid it must communicate their non-stigmatized status to others. Conversely, self-protective strategies such as self-affirmations (Steele, 1988 Steele, C. M. 1988. “The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self”. In Advances in experimental social psychology, Edited by: Berkowitz, L. Vol. 21, 261–302. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) that do not communicate non-stigmatized status should fail to reduce role violators' discomfort. Consistent with this assumption, heterosexual men who publicly violated a gender role norm—and thereby risked misclassification as gay—reported heightened discomfort and diminished implicit self-evaluation, unless they directly or indirectly communicated their heterosexual status to their ostensible audience. Moreover, a standard self-affirmation task failed to protect heterosexual role violators from discomfort. Discussion highlights the implications of these findings for research on social role adherence, stigmatization, and self-affirmation.     

Cognitive and Personality Characteristics of Masculinity and Femininity Predict Wayfinding Competence and Strategies of Men and Women

Bem (1974) reconceptualized masculinity and femininity as independent and orthogonal constructs that both men and women possess to varying degrees. This perspective was used as a starting point to investigate whether the contributions of gender-typed characteristics can help to account for commonly observed gender differences in wayfinding (the ability to identify one’s current location and successfully navigate to an unseen location in the environment) favoring men. We further divided gender-typed characteristics into cognitive and personality characteristics to assess their separate influence on wayfinding and explored whether gender-typed characteristics predicted self-reported use of masculine wayfinding strategies (i.e., orientation strategies) and self-reported wayfinding competence. Participants were 452 college women and men in a southern U.S. public university. They completed the Gender-Stereotypic Characteristics questionnaire (Diekman and Eagly 2000), a social comparison questionnaire (created by the authors), a wayfinding strategy questionnaire (Lawton 1994), and a wayfinding competence questionnaire (Hegarty et al. 2002). For both men and women, higher masculine cognitive characteristics significantly correlated with greater use of orientation wayfinding strategies typical of men. For men, both higher masculine and feminine cognitive characteristics predicted better overall wayfinding competence whereas for women, only higher masculine cognitive characteristics predicted better overall wayfinding competence. For both men and women, higher feminine personality characteristics predicted poorer wayfinding competence. These results demonstrated the importance of considering cognitive and personality characteristics of masculinity and femininity in explaining individual differences in wayfinding.     

Leaving Room for Complexity in Attempts to Understand Associations between Romantic Relationships and Health: Commentary on Wanic and Kulik

Wanic and Kulik (2011) discuss research addressing links between romantic relationships and health, with a focus on gender differences in response to relationship conflict among couples residing in the U.S. Their subordination-reactivity hypothesis proposes that women??s subordinate role in relationships renders them more vulnerable to relationship conflict and less likely to reap the health benefits of relationships than men. They contrast their hypothesis with the interpersonal orientation hypothesis and provide convincing evidence for further examination of the importance of status in relationships. We add to their commentary by noting the potential importance of considering research examining men??s vulnerability when faced with relationship dissolution, personality traits (e.g., dominance) in addition to social roles within relationships, and by describing preliminary research addressing gay and lesbian partnerships. We conclude by imploring researchers to remain tolerant of ambiguity in this area of research as new findings continue to reveal the significant but complex associations between romantic relationship experiences and health for both men and women.     

Weighing the Evidence: Empirical Assessment and Ethical Implications of Conversion Therapy

The American Psychological Association's (APA's) as well as other professional organizations' (e.g., American Psychiatric Association) removal of homosexuality as a mental disorder represented a paradigmatic shift in thinking about exual orientation. Since then, APA (2000) American Psychiatric Association. 2000. Position statement on attempts to change sexual orientation (conversion and reparative therapies).. American Journal of Psychiatry, 157: 1719–1721. [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] disseminated guidelines for working with lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients, and a variety of scholars and researchers alike have advocated affirmative therapeutic interventions with LGB individuals. Despite these efforts, the controversy over treating individuals with LGB orientations using nonaffirmative techniques continues. In this discussion, the limited evidence regarding the efficacy and effects of conversion therapy is surveyed, particularly in the context of empirically supported treatment criteria summarized by Division 12 (clinical psychology) of the APA. Authors then consider the resulting ethical considerations in performing conversion therapy and propose alternative uses of affirmative therapy on the basis of ethical standards defined by APA. Finally, options for treating LGB individuals who are coming to terms with their sexual orientations are discussed.     

Project HOPE: Implementing Sensory Experiences for Suicide Prevention in a Native American Community

Suicide remains a significant problem for Native American populations; however, culturally appropriate interventions are lacking (Suicide Prevention Resource Center, 2011 Suicide Prevention Resource Center . ( 2011 ). Suicide Among American Indians/Alaska Natives. Retrieved from http://www.sprc.org/library/ai.an.facts.pdf  [Google Scholar]). Occupational therapy practitioners can aid in suicide prevention and intervention (American Occupational Therapy Association, 2005). This study presents a culturally appropriate program and research project following a community-based participatory research design that explores the impact of a sensory curriculum for suicide prevention on Native American youth. The perceptions of the young peoples' sensory experiences are explored. Evidence from the study demonstrates the value of exploring the use of occupational therapy intervention in Native American communities to address significant health concerns.     

Gender and Leadership: A Frame Analysis of University Home Web Page Images

With calls for (business) leaders to contribute to greater global fairness and social justice (BAWB 2006; Maak and Pless Journal of Business Ethics, 88, 537–550, 2009), this paper considers gender equality on University home web page images as one means of communicating equal access to leadership roles for both men and women. Although there are many paths for leadership development, one important purpose of Universities is to create people who will potentially become leaders in our society (Shapiro 2005). We analyzed the home web pages at 24 leading universities to identify implicit messages about gender roles, building on implicit leadership theory and leadership prototypes. Using an adapted version of Goffman’s frame analysis (1979), our results suggest depiction of gender equality in university home web pages, in contrast to studies of print advertisements (cf., Kang Sex Roles, 37(11/12), 979–996, 1997; Lindner Sex Roles, 51(7/8), 409–421, 2004). Our results also identify specific opportunities to depict greater equity and to continue to expand the potential for both women and men to be seen as being capable and belonging on this leadership path.     

Examining Current Conceptualizations of Psychopathology With the MMPI–2/MMPI–2–RF Restructured Clinical Scales: Preliminary Findings From a Cross-Cultural Study

Watson (2005 Watson, D. (2005). Rethinking the mood and anxiety disorders: A quantitative hierarchical model for DSM–V. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114, 522–536.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) proposed a hierarchical reorganization of the underlying structure of emotional disorders. This study cross-culturally evaluated Watson's (2005) structure of mood and anxiety disorders, using mainly dichotomous criteria, and explored the placement of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) in this model. It also tested Sellbom, Ben-Porath, and Bagby's (2008) proposed elaboration of the 2-factor model (positive and negative activation) that incorporates a higher order dimension of demoralization. One hundred men and 133 women from psychiatric settings in Israel completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 (Butcher et al., 2001 Butcher, J. N., Graham, J. R., Ben-Porath, Y. S., Tellegen, A., Dahlstrom, W. G., &; Kaemmer, B. (2001). Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 (MMPI–2): Manual for administration, scoring and interpretation (Rev. ed.). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) and the Maudsley Obsessional–Compulsive Inventory (Hodgson &; Rachman, 1977 Hodgson, R. J., &; Rachman, S. (1977). Obsessive–compulsive complaints. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 15, 389–395.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). They were interviewed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (Sheehan et al., 1998 Sheehan, D. V., Lecrubier, Y., Sheehan, K. H., Amorim, P., Janavs, J., &; Weiller, E. (1998). The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.): The development and validation of a structured diagnostic psychiatric interview for DSM–IV and ICD–10. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 59, 22–33.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Confirmatory factor analyses replicated Watson's structure for women but not for men. Mixed results were obtained regarding OCD's location in the model. Findings among women support the applicability of Watson's (2005) model across a variety of assessment modalities, as well as in a different language and for diversified cultural backgrounds. This conclusion, however, should be tempered in consideration of the results among men. Findings also provide evidence of the importance of demoralization in mood and anxiety disorders.