Ricerc@Sapienza

We investigated lesbians’ negative affect toward gay and lesbian scenarios with feminine/negative characteristics. Seventy-one Italian lesbians responded to self-report questionnaires. Analyses tested that feminine gay man scenario (GF) would elicit negative affect more than the other three scenarios (feminine/masculine lesbian woman and masculine gay man) and that participants’ internalized sexual stigma would be a moderator of the relation between their self-perceived femininity and negative affect.

Purpose: No previous research has deeply investigated the association between gay men and lesbians’ adherence to gender roles and their internalized sexual stigma. This study suggests a potential non-linear correlation between these factors.
Methods: Seventy-five gay men and 70 lesbians responded to self-report questionnaires. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to investigate linear, quadratic, and exponential models and to determine which model best explained the correlation.

As Jennifer Craik pointed out in her The Face Of Fashion: Cultural Studies In Fashion “the discourse surrounding men’s fashion resolves around a set of denials”. It is not by chance that one of the major turning points in the history of clothing, the Great Male Renunciation, evolves around men capitulation to adornment and beauty in favor of the new, sober monopoly of the suit.