Sex role stereotypes, gender identity and parental relationships in male homosexuals and heterosexuals

Abstract

The sex-role stereotypes held by heterosexual and homosexual men were examined by comparing their Repertory Grid scores. It was found that homosexual men held less rigid sex-role stereotypes than heterosexuals. Degree of opposite-sex identification was marginally greater in homosexuals, but neither group showed strong masculine or feminine stereotypic identification. Homosexual men perceived themselves as psychologically more distant from their fathers than did their heterosexual counterparts; this was probably an effect of homosexuality rather than a cause.