Homophobia and homosexual arousal

This research consisted of 64 participants, of which 35 were homophobic. “The men were exposed to sexually explicit erotic stimuli. The results […] indicate that individuals who score in the homophobic range and admit negative affect toward homosexuality, demonstrate significant sexual arousal to male homosexual erotic stimuli. Homophobia is apparently associated with homosexual arousal.”

One explanation might be that homosexual stimuli cause anxiety, which then leads to arousal. “Another possible explanation is found in various psychoanalytic theories, which have generally explained homophobia as a threat to an individual’s own homosexual impulses causing repression, denial, or reaction formation.”

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