Homophobia more pronounced in those with unacknowledged attraction to the same sex

[TalkingDog]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120406234458.htm

"Individuals who identify as straight but in psychological tests show a strong attraction to the same sex may be threatened by gays and lesbians because homosexuals remind them of similar tendencies within themselves," explains Netta Weinstein, a lecturer at the University of Essex and the study's lead author.

"In many cases these are people who are at war with themselves and they are turning this internal conflict outward," adds co-author Richard Ryan, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester who helped direct the research.

The paper includes four separate experiments, conducted in the United States and Germany, with each study involving an average of 160 college students. The findings provide new empirical evidence to support the psychoanalytic theory that the fear, anxiety, and aversion that some seemingly heterosexual people hold toward gays and lesbians can grow out of their own repressed same-sex desires, Ryan says. The results also support the more modern self-determination theory, developed by Ryan and Edward Deci at the University of Rochester, which links controlling parenting to poorer self-acceptance and difficulty valuing oneself unconditionally.

/snip

Aaaand.... another commonly accepted trope proven by science.

[BlueIris]

1. In other news, the earth is round.

I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked!

[SharonAnn]

3. Right! I always wonder if "Methinks thou dost protest too much", indicates their own attraction.

[usrname]

2. You mean like

Santorum?

[alfredo]

4. Just because he looks like his mother dressed him, doesn't mean he's repressed.

[LynneSin]

5. Personally I don't think anyone is 100% straight or 100% gay

I mean there are those that come close but ultimately I think it boils down to love and companionship. I think of myself as pretty straight but I have been attracted to females. I suppose if the right relationship came along I would be open but I'm not out searching for it.

[CoffeeCat]

6. And this makes total sense and is valid...

...because that is human nature.

When we see in others--the qualities within ourselves that we do not like--we're repelled by what we see in other people. Rather than dealing with ourselves, we judge others when we see our own perceived weaknesses or faults--in living color in other people.

It's like looking into a mirror--and seeing yourself in someone else. And for some--that can cause contempt, anger
and a host of other negative feelings.

I've often wondered why heterosexuals would give a rip about what homosexuals do. Why on earth do some dedicate so much time and effort into ruminating about what someone else is doing in their own private love life? It's very odd, to say the least. I imagine that most of the politicians and public figures who spend their lives pontificating about how bad gay people are--are gay themselves. Seriously...why would someone be so incentivized to care so passionately about what another person does in their own bedroom? Why is it even on their radar?

All of this makes sense--and now that we have some more science to back it up--maybe these homophobes will just
stop making such fools of themselves.

[Behind the Aegis]

7. Yet one more study which will create problems.

I get sick of hearing everyone who is a homophobe is secretly gay. Yes, there will always be a few, but, believe it or not, some people hate gay people simply because the object of their hate is a gay person. Many homophobes are so because they are religious, some because of other reasons, and a few because they are self-loathing. But studies like this get "misread" and every homophobe becomes a "closet case." It simply isn't so. The actual article provides more information, but I feel many will hone in on "self-loathing" and stick to that premise.