Ricerc@Sapienza

This study is grounded in Allport's intergroup contact theory and Herek's sexual prejudice theory. We aimed at (a) investigating the mediational role of sexism and homonegativity on the relation between gender, age, and contact with gay and lesbian people with gender stereotypes about gay men and lesbians; and (b) replicating and corroborating the direct associations found in previous research among these variables.

We present the principal findings of a research program, developed across the previous eight years, focused on politics and gender issues in Italy. The theoretical perspective is that of social representations (SRs) that disputes the transparency of language, affirming its capacity to mask power and ideological relations. We assume that gender is not a stable and immutable construct within each individual, but rather a performative construct related to fluid and mutable aspects built in the interactions between social actors.

Although women have a growing representation in the Italian political sphere they are still often faced with sexism, borne out of feminine stereotypes, that is naturally not shared by their men col- leagues in office. We investigated these stereotypes in the context of recent research on stereotypes to- ward women leaders.

The present study aimed to: (a) investigate the relationship between attitudes toward same-sex parenting and sexism both in heterosexuals and sexual minorities; (b) verify whether sexism predicted negative attitudes toward same-sex parenting via the mediating role of sexual stigma (sexual prejudice in heterosexual people and internalized sexual stigma [ISS] in lesbians and gay men [LG]).