Why are men typically more homophobic than women?

Question

While it is obvious that homophobia decreases slowly but surely in this country and the 40 and under generations are much much less bigoted than their elders, homophobia does still exist. Why is it typically men who are more homophobic than women? Not that there aren't bigoted women but there are more men who fit that sad description. I wonder why?

Answer 1

Women are allowed to have "masculine" and feminine" traits, while it isn't as acceptable for men to be seen as feminine in any way. It's seen as a weakness by others and women are allowed to express their emotions, while men aren't. This is a generalization and I know quite a few repressed women who are homophobic.

I think a lot of men feel like they need to be homophobic to fit in.

Answer 2

Sometimes, men feel that accusations of homophobia and anything related to sexual-orientation threaten their manhood or their machoism. Men like to feel superior, etc. and they believe that they lose that through the idea of the existence of homosexuality. Men can't be superior in a relationship with another man, and some straight men can't fathom the logic of that.

Also, men are more likely to not contradict or question tradition. Many men don't think things through and they easily adopt the ideas of religion, etc. and fail to think about the other side of the coin. Many women are the same way, however its much more prevalent with men.

Answer 3

it is very complex -- too complex to have a simple answer

some will argue that social expectations create an atmosphere where it is not only socially acceptable, but essential for a guy to be homophobic (or anti-gay) in order to be "masculine"

Read Eve Kosofsky-Sedgwick's she deals with what she calls "homosocial desire" -- it is very interesting.
The idea is that there is a continuum of same sex relationships and that while women's relationships on the continuum from friends to sexual partners are fluid and more easily accepted (often without even worrying about whether or not it is sexual ) the same isn't there with men --

There is also the idea that it has something to do with the idea that penetration = power.......

For some really "radical" ideas on that read some Andrea Dworkin............

Answer 4

Because male homophobias likely hate the thought of two men together more then a female homophobia. On the other hand, many male homophobias tend to feel the opposite about lesbians if they like how they look.

Answer 5

I think its because they feel threatened in two ways. 1, Most have the idiotic belief that if a man is gay, he must want to turn everyother straight man gay as well. WRONG. But since many men think this way, they feel the need to bash gay men in order to "keep them away".
2, They are threatened by the women who take on more dominant roles in lesbian relationships because most can do it better than real men can!
So yea, this may be why. But by no means is it a valid excuse. Its all ignorance.

Answer 6

I think the biggest reason is that in this society, the idea of two women being involved sexually is still perceived in a positive light....in other words, our society looks at two women having sex as a natural part of a girl's curiosity. On the other hand, two men being sexually involved is still seen as too taboo for people in this culture, so there's a stereotype. Men want to reject any possibility that they have any latent homosexual tendancies, so they tend to reject homosexuals, where as women are almost expected to experiment with their sexuality and are actually encouraged to sleep with other women, so we have less reason to reject those ideas.

Answer 7

First of all, I'd like to say that "homophobia" is not a good term because it means literally "a fear of the same" in this case, fear of homosexuality. It is not a fear that we are talking about, these people aren't afraid of homosexuals, they just dislike and / or disapprove of their life style. You can't say it's fear of the unknown either because homosexuality has been around for thousands of years (since before Christianity even!) and everybody knows exactly what it is...

Now, in response to the idea behind the question, I think it's true to a certain extent that men tend to dislike homosexuality more than women, but it is a biased dislike since they'll go for girl-on-girl action any day, but not for two men. I think their willingness to express a dislike comes down to social conditioning or what science calls "nature vs. nurture." Everyone has natural homosexual tendencies but these are repressed and labeled tabu by our own parents and society. This repression is greater for boys than it is for girls...for example, it is ok for a little girl to play with trucks and cars and cute for her to be a tomboy, but never is it cute for a boy to play dress-up, put make-up on, or play with dolls. Another example of nurture and how we (parents and society) determine gender roles is painting and buying everything pink for a girl or blue for a baby boy.

The ignorance of disliking homosexuals because they "bravely" chose to embrace what naturally came to them and not what society told them was "right," is not the individuals' fault....it's all a social conditioning that we unfortunately get from our own parents and the world around us. Men and women alike need to stand up for what they believe is right and not for what others tell them to believe or feel.

Answer 8

Women are more homophobic then men, they think that we're after their husbands.

I used to know this married couple, she was bi, he was cute and open minded enough to be appreciated by another man. I had showed some interest in him and she got all b!tchy about it, even though she also done women.

Answer 9

Maybe it has to do with a castration complex, which women never experience. People typically think of gay men as being in a feminine role. Maybe they perceive that to be gay is to be deprived of their manhood and rendered feminine, and so they see their own homosexual tendencies as a form of castration.

Answer 10

Homophobia is a gay media slur designed to foster the false impression that a person who rejects the homosexual agenda and lifestyle has something wrong with them instead of the other way around.