Born this Way–or Not? The Relationship Between Essentialism and Sexual Minorities’ LGBTQ+ Identification and Belonging

Bisexual people experience lower levels of belonging in the LGBTQ+ community than gay and lesbian people. We investigated one of the factors that may reduce bisexual individuals’ feelings of belonging in and identification with the LGBTQ+ community: Sexual orientation essentialism. Across two online...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Archives of sexual behavior 2021-11, Vol.50 (8), p.3447-3458
Main Authors: Morgenroth, Thekla, Kirby, Teri A., Gee, Isabel A., Ovett, Thomas A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Bisexuality
Endorsements
Essentialism
Female
Gays & lesbians
Homosexuality, Female
Humans
Identification
Male
Original Paper
Psychology
Public Health
Sexual and Gender Minorities
Sexual Behavior
Sexual orientation
Social Sciences
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Bisexual people experience lower levels of belonging in the LGBTQ+ community than gay and lesbian people. We investigated one of the factors that may reduce bisexual individuals’ feelings of belonging in and identification with the LGBTQ+ community: Sexual orientation essentialism. Across two online studies with participants recruited through Prolific, we tested whether bisexual people endorsed sexual orientation essentialism less than lesbian and gay individuals and, in turn, feel lower levels of identification and belonging with the LGBTQ+ community. Essentialism separated into three dimensions in Study 1 ( N  = 375): Entitativity, naturalness, and discreteness. Relative to lesbian and gay individuals, bisexual individuals viewed sexual orientation as less natural, in turn reporting lower levels of belonging and identification. They also viewed sexual orientation groups as less discrete, which instead translated to higher levels of belonging and identification. Sexual orientation groups did not differ in their endorsement of entitativity beliefs. In Study 2 ( N  = 390), we focused on naturalness and replicated findings from Study 1. In addition, lower naturalness beliefs were associated with the belief that one’s own views were different from those held by the LGBTQ+ community, which also contributed to lower levels of belonging and identification. Together, these studies contribute to understanding the role of essentialism in intragroup processes and paint a nuanced picture of essentialism in different sexual minority groups.
ISSN:0004-0002
1573-2800
DOI:10.1007/s10508-021-02145-y