public attitudes

[Michelle S]

Hi all!

I did a Google search for "cross dressing" & "public attitudes". Here is the one relevant research article I found:

http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-5257737/The-development-and-validation-of.html

Have great day!
Michelle

[trannie T]

Thanks Michelle, a very interesting article. I believe that public attitudes toward minority groups (especially sexual minorities) are improving. It is our responsibility to aid this progress. In your daily life refuse to accept prejudice, if someone makes a negative comment about any group do not let them go unchallenged.
Each one of us can make a difference.

[Michelle S]

I found a link to the entire article that is free.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2294/is_7-8_53/ai_n16083942

Mostly the authors are developing a survey to measure things like transphobia. They called it the GTS. Here are two of their findings:

"In addition, the GTS discriminated among those who had personally met a trans person, such that those who had personal acquainances (sic) scored lower on the scale than those who had not, a further testament to the validity of the scale." In other words, we are not so bad once people get to know us! I've seen similar results on racial prejudice.

The other is more disturbing. "There was a wide range of responses to the GTS scale, but some scores indicated extremely intolerant attitudes toward gender variance. The extent of negative attitudes toward gender nonconformists was somewhat surprising considering the samples studied in this report were, by and large, well-educated members of a cosmopolitan city (Montreal) well-renowned for its liberal attitudes toward sexuality and gender issues. If anything, the results obtained in these studies should be more positive toward trans people than would be found in less liberal, less educated, and rural contexts."

The first author, Darryl Hill, is an Assistant Professor (that is, he's a newbie) of psychology at the City University of New York's Staten Island campus:

http://www.csi.cuny.edu/faculty/HILL_DARRYL.html

It will be interesting to see how his career progresses.

[JoAnnDallas]

Very good article. Thanks, I saved the link so I can read it more carefully.