Internalized Homophobia, Intimacy, and Sexual Behavior among Gay and Bisexual Men

“Through coming out, LGB people learn to cope with and overcome the adverse effects of stress (Morris, Waldo, & Rothblum, 2001).”

“The discourse of opponents of marriage rights devalues relationships of LGB people and reaffirms what Meyer and Dean (1998) called “heterosexist opportunity structures” that privilege heterosexual relationships and discourage same-sex relationships.”

“Internalized homophobia (Meyer & Dean, 1998; 8-items, Cronbach’s alpha = 0.86) was measured with a scale developed to assess the extent to which LGB individuals reject their sexual orientation, are uneasy about their same-sex desires, and seek to avoid same-sex attractions and sexual feelings.”

“Internalized Homophobia The internalization of socially sanctioned homophobia leads to self-devaluation and poor self-regard among sexual minorities (Meyer & Dean, 1998).”

“The convergence of internalized homophobia, drug problems, and AIDSrelated traumatic stress response are related to increased risk taking (Meyer and Dean, 1998).”

“According to Meyer and Dean (1998), internalized homophobia is ‘‘[a LGB] person’s direction of negative social attitudes toward the self, leading to a devaluation of the self and resultant internal conflicts and poor self-regard’’ (p. 161).”

“…outcomes, including anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, sexual risk-taking, problems in intimacy, and lower well-being and overall self-esteem (Frost & Meyer, 2009; Herek, Gillis, & Cogan, 2009; Herek & Glunt, 1995; Meyer, 1995; Meyer & Dean, 1998; Rowen & Malcolm, 2002; Williamson, 2000).”

“Meyer and Dean (1998) found a negative correlation between the passage of time and levels of IH among men who had come out.”

“It was expected that a valid measure of internalized homonegativity would be significantly related to stage of gay identity development; internalized homonegativity is hypothesized to decrease as individuals progress in their identity development (Cass, 1979; Meyer & Dean, 1998; Sophie, 1987).”

“Supporting these findings, qualitative research examining LGB persons’ experiences with conversion therapy indicates that IH is an important precursor to seeking this type of treatment, as well as a harmful outcome of engaging in reparative therapy (Beckstead & Morrow, 2004; Shidlo & Schroeder, 2002). Several studies…”

“As a potential source of stress in the lives of many lesbians and gay men, internalized homophobia can serve to isolate individuals and couples from other members of the community, and impact the quality of intimate relationships (Meyer & Dean, 1998).”

“…community (Hays et al., 1997; Hospers & Kok, 1995; Seal et al., 2000; Suarez & Kauth, 2001), internalized homophobia (Canin, Dolcini, & Adler, 1999; Meyer & Dean, 1998), a sense of " fatalism " (Kalichman, Kelly, Morgan, & Rompa, 1997; Kelly et al., 1990), and the effects of substance use (Hospers…”

“Unlike many other oppressed minority groups, young LGB individuals typically are not raised by other sexual minorities and are often raised in environments that promote antigay attitudes (Meyer & Dean, 1998).”

“While an LGB person may unlearn some of this internalized oppression (Meyer & Dean, 1998), the fact that anti-LGB socialization is typically quite powerful means that eliminating all traces of IH in oneself is an unlikely achievement (Huebner et al., 2002).”

“Cronbach’s alphas ranged from .71 to .85 with predominately White gay and bisexual men and lesbian women (Herek et al., 1997; Herek & Glunt, 1995; Meyer, 1995; Meyer & Dean, 1998).”

“…related, directly or indirectly, to g/l/b adult’s and youth’s health status and/or health behavior (French, Story, Remafedi, Resnick, & Blum, 1996; Meyer & Dean, 1998; Rosario, Hunter, & Gwadz, 1997; Rotheram-Borus, Rosario, Reid, & Koopman, 1995; Savin-Williams, 82 Current Issues in Lesbian,…”

“…purposes of this review, IH was defined as “the gay person’s direction of negative social attitudes toward the self, leading to a devaluation of the self and poor self regard” (Meyer & Dean, 1998, p. 161); work that was based on definitions that were substantially different to this was excluded.”

“More positively, to fully incorporate a neurodiversity perspective into therapeutic practice, a focus on neurodivergent pride and disability pride should be explored— including as a way to counteract internalized stigma, which is the internalization of the abundance of negative messages minorities receive about their…”

“…varying levels of stigma, prejudice, and discrimination, and that levels of stress were indeed related to their mental health (Bradford, Ryan, & Rothblum, 1994; Brooks, 1981; Frable, Wortman, & Joseph, 1997; Meyer, 1995; Meyer & Dean, 1998; Ross, 1990; Waldo, Hesson-McInnis, & D’Augelli, 1998).”

“The lives of lesbians and gay men are colored by these negative social attitudes (Meyer & Dean, 1998).”

“In terms of HIV/AIDS, however, stigma has been shown to contribute to negative self-images and low self-esteem (Herek & Capitanio, 1999; Meyer & Dean, 1998; Stokes & Peterson, 1998) and increased sexual risk behavior and/or decreased use of HIV prevention services (Diaz, Ayala, & Bein, 2004).”

“…direction of negative social attitudes toward the self, leading to a devaluation of the self and resultant internal conflicts and poor self-regard” (Meyer & Dean, 1998, p. 161), it may contribute to same-sex partners’ diminished self-esteem, fears of intimacy, attachment insecurity, doubts…”

“For example, LGBT individuals frequently internalize society’s negative attitudes against non-heterosexuality (Meyer & Dean, 1998; Walch, Ngamake, Bovornusvakool, & Walker, 2016), which can be experienced as shame, selfhatred, and poor self-esteem (Brubaker, Garrett, & Dew, 2009; Herek, Gillis, &…”

“They are also related to attitudinal components of sexual health, such as lower levels of relationship satisfaction and body image (Kimmel & Mahalik, 2005; Meyer & Dean, 1998; Mohr & Fassinger, 2006; Szymanski et al., 2008).”

“Additionally, internalized homophobia was found to be associated with practicing HIV at-risk sexual behaviors [1, 20], such as condomless sex, multiple sex partners, and unprotected anal sex among male homosexuals.”

“Empirical research in the area of IH and RSB has been mixed, with some studies supporting a relationship between IH and RSB (e.g., Meyer & Dean, 1995, 1998; Peterson et al., 1992; Ratti, Bakeman, & Peterson, 2000; Stokes & Peterson, 1998) and others not (e.g., Dudley, Rostosky, Korfhage, &…”

“…(Hughto et al., 2015) as well as for lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons; the latter occurrence is frequently referred to as internalized homophobia (Meyer & Dean, 1998)—although some researchers employ the broader term of homonegativity to describe the phenomenon whereby LGB persons “internalize…”

“Meyer and Dean (1998) described minority stressors along a continuum from the objective (life events of social prejudice) to the subjective (internalization of sexual stigma).”

“…be less open about their sexual orientation, less likely to be in an intimate relationship with another man, less affiliated with gay social groups, and less likely to identify as exclusively gay (Herek, Cogan, Gillis, & Glunt, 1997; Meyer, 1995, 2003; Meyer & Dean, 1998; Szymanski & Chung, 2001).”

“…face external socially produced stressors (e.g., discrimination and violence) and internal stressors (e.g., internalized homophobia—when a sexual minority person directs negative social attitudes and stigma toward themself resulting in negative outcomes) 19 that contribute to poor mental health.”

“This 10-item scale inquires about the extent to which LGB men and women do not accept their sexual orientation and seek to avoid homosexual feelings (Meyer & Dean, 1998; Meyer, Rossano, Ellis, & Bradford, 2002).”

“…homophobia, also referred to as internalized heterosexism (Szymanski & Chung, 2003) or sexual prejudice (Herek, 2004), can be defined as directing antigay social attitudes toward the self, leading to a devaluation of the self, internal conflicts, and poor self-regard (Meyer & Dean, 1998).”

“The present research considered two forms of identity-relevant attitudes, participants’ explicit reports of self-stigmatization (Meyer & Dean, 1998) and their implicit associations with homosexuality based on the Implicit Association Test (IAT) (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998).”

“Internalized Homophobia Brittany presents the common manifestations of internalized homophobia, which is “the gay person’s direction of negative social attitudes toward the self” (Meyer & Dean, 1998, p. 161).”

“Bisexual self-identification may also shield young men from internalized homophobia (Meyer and Dean, 1998).”

“…by what may be termed the heterosexist opportunity structure, defined as those norms and institutions that restrictively promote opposite-sex relationships, while they also devalue and discourage same-sex relationships” (Meyer & Dean, 1998, p. 165; see Herek, 2004; Mays & Cochran, 2001).”

“Other studies examining general drug and alcohol use in association with IH have yielded mixed findings with some reporting no association (Ross et al., 2001) and others reporting a link between IH and drug use (Finnegan & Cook, 1984; Meyer & Dean, 1998).”

“…their sense of well-being, self-concept, and the quality of their intimate relationships (Allen & Oleson, 1999; Frost &Meyer, 2009; Herek, Cogan, Gillis, & Glunt, 1997; Meyer & Dean, 1998; Rosser, Bockting, Ross, Miner, & Coleman, 2008; Rowen & Malcolm, 2002; Szymanski & Kashubeck-West, 2008).”

“…are linked with mental health status (Bradford & Ryan, 1994; Brooks, 1981; Frable, Wortman, & Joseph, 1997; Herek, Gillis, & Cogan, 1997, 1999; Meyer, 1995; Meyer & Dean, 1998; Otif & Skinner, 1996; Ross, 1990; Rotheram-Borus, Hunter, & Rosario, 1994; Safen & Heimberg, 1999; Sandfort et al., 2001).”

“…is one stigma-related stressor that refers to the sexual minority individual’s “direction of negative social attitudes towards the self, leading to a devaluation of the self and resultant internal conflicts and poor self-regard” due to one’s sexual orientation (p.161; Meyer & Dean, 1998).”

“…additional source of minority stress given sexual minority individuals are more often blocked from achieving their life goals that heterosexuals because of their stigmatized status (Frost, 2011; Frost & LeBlanc, 2014; Meyer & Dean, 1998; Meyer, Ouellette, Haile, & McFarlane, 2011; Pearlin, 1999).”

“This theoretical model is also informed by prior conceptualizations of gay men’s health, including minority stress (Meyer, 2003; Meyer & Dean, 1995) and masculinity failure (Diaz, 1998), that explain health behavior as a result of socially produced stigma and stress.”

“Internalized heterosexism (also known as internalized homophobia; IH) refers to the internalization of negative views of oneself or other sexual minorities as a product of living within a heterosexist society (Meyer & Dean, 1998).”

“Dimensions of internalized homophobia include negative global attitudes toward homosexuality, discomfort with disclosure of sexual orientation to others, disconnectedness from other gay individuals, and discomfort with same-sex sexual activity (Meyer & Dean, 1998).”

“Internalized homonegativity represents “the gay person’s direction of negative social attitudes toward the self” (Meyer & Dean, 1998, p. 161).”

“…significantly with overall psychological distress (Meyer, 1995), depression, anxiety, substance use, and suicidal ideation (DiPlacido, 1998; Meyer & Dean, 1998; Williamson, 2000), eating disorders (Williamson, 2000), self-blame and avoidance in coping with HIV/AIDS (Nicholson & Long,…”

“It has been shown that the number of cases of women infected with HIV through heterosexual transmission within marriage is increasing in India, and that the behaviour reported by the husband was an important risk factor for infection among many of these women 29 .”

“) and has been validated by other studies [8, 10, 24].”

“Other researchers have identified valence as a key feature of the coming-out process (e.g., Diaz et al., 2001; Meyer, 2003; Meyer & Dean, 1998; Rotheram-Borus & Fernandez, 1995).”

“…stress framework indicates how internalized homophobia is a stressor originating from the heterosexist social structure, which becomes self-generating in the consciousness of sexual minorities even when they are not experiencing external discrimination (Frost and Meyer 2009; Meyer and Dean 1998).”

“Although internalized homophobia and self-esteem are negatively correlated for gay men (Dupras, 1994; Meyer & Dean, 1998), Romano (1990) and Herek et al. (1999) reported no relationship between internalized homophobia and self-esteem.”

“…internalized heterosexism (Szymanski, KashubeckWest, & Meyer, 2008b), or sexual prejudice (Herek, 2004), is the acceptance of societal anti-gay attitudes toward oneself, leading to internalized conflict, a devaluation of oneself, and poor self-regard (Mayfield, 2001; Meyer & Dean, 1998).”

“…and the devaluation of LGBT people and one’s self, and has been found to contribute to lower relationship quality, greater number of relationship problems, and ability to maintain long-term relationships (Frost & Meyer, 2009; Gaines et al., 2005; Meyer & Dean, 1998; Ross & Simon Rosser, 1996).”

“In a study focusing on sexual behavior and intimacy, Meyer and Dean (1998) found that gay men with high HIV-risk sexual behavior reported more problems with drug use and higher levels of internalized homophobia than those with lower levels of risky sexual behavior.”

“HIV/AIDS continues to disproportionately affect young men who have sex with men (YMSM), particularly young men of color.”

“These two variables do not represent a unitary construct of LGB adjustment (Nungesser, 1983), but existing empirical evidence indicates that both are predictive of positive psychological functioning in this population (Boatwright et al., 1996; Kus, 1992; Lewin, 1993; Meyer and Dean, 1998; Otis and Skinner, 1996; Ponse…”

“…experienced is related to impaired mental health (Brooks, 1981; D’Augelli, 2002; Frable, Wortman, & Joseph, 1997; Garnets, Herek, & Levy, 2003; Herek, Gillis, & Cogan, 1999; Herek, Gillis, Cogan, & Glunt, 1997; Meyer & Dean, 1998; Mills et al., 2004; Waldo, Hesson-McInnis, & D’Augelli, 1998).”

“Research indicates that the community influences an individual’s extent of outness and internalization of prevailing social attitudes toward homosexuality (Meyer & Dean, 1998; Ross et al., 2013).”

“Studies have shown that internalised homophobia is significantly higher among men who are unpartnered (Meyer and Dean 1997; Gaines et al. 2005).”