Sexual Identity and Heterosexual Male Students' Usage of Homosexual Insults: An Exploratory Study (Report‪)‬

Abstract: The use of different homosexual insults by heterosexual male students at a mid-sized Canadian university was studied. The types of insults included both those directed at sexuality and sexual orientation ("sexualized homosexual insults") and those related more to gender role behaviour and masculinity ("nonsexual homosexual insults"). Comparison groups for the type of insults used by participants were based on their heterosexual male sexual identity as reflected in scores for opposite-sex sexual orientation, masculine gender role, and adherence to traditional gender ideologies. The key measures employed were The Sexuality Questionnaire (Alderson, Orzeck, Davis, & Boyes, 2010) and a homosexual insult questionnaire developed specifically for this study. Participants varied in insult usage in relation to their scores on the sexual identity measures although some insults were used with similar frequency among men despite variations in these measures. The findings are discussed in relation to the issues of opposite sex sexual orientation, gender role, and gender ideology as well as age, education, religion, and ethnic background. Acknowledgements: The research for this article was done by the first author in a year-long honours thesis project. The authors thank Dr. Tak S. Fung for assistance with statistical analysis.