The role of contact partners’ gender in moderating the effect of positive contact on intergroup attitudes: A theoretical framework

Abstract

Decades of research have indicated that positive contact with sexual minorities is reliably associated with reduced sexual prejudice among heterosexuals (see Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006; Smith, Axelton, & Saucier, 2009). Despite this extensive literature, the gender of contact partners has been largely overlooked. In the present article, we propose a novel theoretical framework to argue that the relationship between positive contact and intergroup attitudes may vary as functions of the gender of the heterosexual contact partners (i.e., heterosexual men versus heterosexual women) and the gender of the sexual minority contact partners (i.e., gay men versus lesbian women). Drawing on research examining core moderators of contact effects (Hodson, 2011; Hodson, Costello, & MacInnis, 2013) and gender differences in attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women (Herek, 2000a; Kite & Whitley, 1996; LaMar & Kite, 1998), we contend that for heterosexual men, positive contact with gay men might be more effective in improving intergroup attitudes than positive contact with lesbian women. Conversely, for heterosexual women, the beneficial effect of positive contact with lesbian women might be more pronounced than the beneficial effect of positive contact with gay men. We also propose that attitudes toward gender-role violations, knowledge about the out-group, empathy, and intergroup anxiety should emerge as the key mediators of the positive contact-intergroup attitudes relationship.