Perception of Feminization in Men, Weakening of the Anti-Femininity Norm and prejudice towards homosexuals in Women and Men

Abstract

The present research aimed to determine how attachment to the anti-femininity norm (which establishes that a man should distance himself from femininity) affects the relationship between perceived men’s feminization (belief that the differences between men and women are disap-pearing) and prejudice towards homosexuality. For this purpose, a sample of men and women aged 18 to 30 years was used and an experimental design with four groups was used: two controls (one of men and one of women) and two experimental groups (one of men and one of women). The experimental groups were shown the results of a fictitious research that claimed that the distinction between masculinity and femininity tended to disappear while the control groups were told that masculinity remained stable. The level of prejudice was measured with the Homosexuality Attitudes Scale (HAS), while attachment to the anti-femininity norm was measured by the Sub-Scale of Anti-Femininity (S-AF). After using a Kruskal-Wallis test and a multiple regression model, differences were found in the levels of prejudice in the group of men, although not large enough to be statistically significant, and therefore, there was no evidence of a moderating effect of attachment to the anti-femininity norm. Nevertheless, several hypotheses are developed to ex-plain the reasons for these results and a series of recommendations are made for future research.