Affectionate same-sex touch: The influence of homophobia on observers' perceptions

The author extended the proposition (V.J. Derlega, R.J. Lewis, S. Harrison, B.A. Winstead, & R. Costanza, 1989) that the fear of being seen as homosex ual accounts for the common finding that U.S. women engage in more same-sex touch than do U.S. men. The author proposed a theoretic model positing tha t the magnitude of homophobia's influence on behavior and on reactions to b ehavior is proportional to the likelihood that the behavior is sexual in na ture. An experiment involving reactions to same-sex embraces demonstrated t hat, although homophobia was negatively related to evaluations of same-sex affectionate touch, the magnitude of the relationship covaried with the pro bability that the touch was sexual. The implications of these findings for longer range theory development are discussed.