Masculinity threat and implicit associations with feminine gay men: Sexual orientation, sexual stigma, and traditional masculinity

The present study investigated implicit associations of stereotypical feminine and masculine gay men pictures with word stimuli referring to negative (vs. positive) and with self (vs. others) categories, among heterosexual and gay/bisexual men. We manipulated participants’ masculinity threat through a fictitious personality score and measured their sexual prejudice, internalized sexual stigma, adherence to traditional masculinity, and the norms of traditional masculinity ideology. We conducted two preliminary studies (n total = 186) to create and select the picture stimuli for the implicit association test (IAT), whereas the first (n = 180) and the second (n = 301) studies tested our research hypotheses. In Study 1, the IAT detected the associations between the pictures with positive and negative word stimuli, and in Study 2 the word stimuli referred to the self and others categories. The results indicated that in the condition of masculinity threat, compared to masculinity confirmation and control groups, both heterosexual and gay/bisexual participants were more likely to associate the stereotypical feminine gay men pictures to the self (vs. others), but not to negative (vs. positive) category. Furthermore, results showed that adherence to traditional masculinity has the strongest relations with the implicit association test (IAT) scores, and that internalized sexual stigma assumes a moderating role for gay men. Limitations and further directions are discussed.