Ricerc@Sapienza

This study examined the differences between gay men and lesbian women in their negative attitudes towards gay men and lesbians who either confirm or disconfirm stereo- typical gender roles. One hundred thirty-eight gay and lesbian participants read four gender-typed scenarios: in two, a gay student and a lesbian student were portrayed as more stereotyp- ically masculine, and in the other two, two gay and lesbian students were described as more stereotypically feminine. Participants rated the targets on a scale assessing negative emo- tions.

Grounded in the framework of the gay glass ceiling, the current research investigated the effect of gay men’s internalized sexual stigma (ISS) on both the perceived effectiveness of other gay men’s leadership and on their self‐perceived leadership effectiveness and their intention to apply to a leadership position. In three studies (N = 402), we manipulated either the leader’s sexual orientation (SO) (study 1), or his adherence to traditional gender roles (TGR) (study 2), or participants’ fictitious masculinity score (study 3).