All posts tagged: prejudice

Relationship status influences heterosexual women’s sexual prejudice towards lesbians

Relationship status influences heterosexual women’s sexual prejudice towards lesbians

Published by José

A recent study published in The Journal of Social Psychology has unearthed intriguing findings regarding sexual prejudice — the negative attitudes people may harbor towards others based on their sexual orientation. The study found evidence that heterosexual women’s attitudes towards lesbian women are influenced by whether the lesbians are in a relationship. The findings indicate that heterosexual women tend to distance themselves more socially from single lesbians compared to those in relationships, with this behavior mediated by concerns over unwanted sexual advances. Interestingly, the relationship status of gay men did not influence the reactions of study participants. In recent years, the visibility of committed gay and lesbian couples has increased, especially following the U.S. Supreme Court’s affirmation of same-sex marriage as a constitutional right in 2015. Despite a growing acceptance reflected in national surveys, stereotypes linking homosexuality with sexual promiscuity persist. These stereotypes can lead to sexual prejudice. Prior research has shown that gay and lesbian individuals often face such prejudices, but little was known about how their relationship status might affect heterosexual individuals’ reactions. …

Prejudice by Omission | Psychology Today

Prejudice by Omission | Psychology Today

Published by skeptic

Much of the study of prejudice in psychology is concerned with understanding how and why people tend to put themselves into separate groups based on innumerable characteristics or motives. The reason we engage in such research is that we have learned that when people are in groups, they very often develop an adversarial mindset of “us vs. them” (hence the name of our blog). This happens even when people are randomly assigned to different groups on the basis of no shared commonality (what we refer to as “minimal groups”), such as group A vs. group B. If you’re in group A, you tend to favor your other group A members in competitions or other decision-making processes. Thus, one might say that we seem to be predisposed to think about people in terms of groups, in terms of us vs. them. Evolutionary theorists might argue that is the adaptive product of eons of natural selection, whereby those humans who banded together in groups were more likely to survive, mate, produce offspring that were safe to grow …

Colin Firth’s shirt from Pride And Prejudice sells for more than double auction estimate | UK News

Colin Firth’s shirt from Pride And Prejudice sells for more than double auction estimate | UK News

Published by Sam

Arguably the most famous white shirt in history – worn by Colin Firth as Mr Darcy in the 1995 TV adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice – has sold at auction for £25,000. In an iconic scene, the aristocratic Mr Darcy emerges from a lake soaking wet in the shirt after a swim, before he unexpectedly bumps into his blushing love interest, Elizabeth Bennet (played by Jennifer Ehle). The white linen garment went under the hammer in London on Tuesday as part of the Lights, Camera, Action sale of creations by BAFTA and Academy Award-winning costumier, Cosprop. It was listed alongside the boots, moleskin breeches and velvet waistcoat worn by Firth, now 63, in the scene, once voted as the UK’s most memorable television moment. The costume was among 69 designs worn by actors including Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp, listed by Kelly Taylor Auctions. Firth’s costume was expected to fetch between £7,000 and £10,000. However, the outfit more than doubled the estimate – racking up an impressive winning bid totalling £25,000 – on …

The Guardian view on London: diversity thrives while Tories pander to prejudice | Editorial

The Guardian view on London: diversity thrives while Tories pander to prejudice | Editorial

Published by skeptic

Just why do the Conservatives so dislike London? The former deputy chair of the Tory party Lee Anderson recently described the capital’s Labour mayor, Sadiq Khan, as controlled by “Islamists” – a sentiment others in his party rather belatedly accept as “wrong”, even if they won’t say why. Paul Scully, a former minister for London, chipped in with his belief that parts of the city, and of Birmingham, are now “no-go areas”. The previous prime minister Liz Truss lambasted an “anti-growth coalition” incessantly cabbing from their “north London townhouses to the BBC studios”. Rishi Sunak marked his first ever prime minister’s questions by attacking Labour’s Keir Starmer as a leader who “rarely leaves north London”. Put these statements together and it appears that, in the collective mind of the post-Brexit Tory party, London has become synonymous with all that ails modern Britain. It is either bursting with woke liberal darlings – Guardian-reading tofu eaters, to coin a phrase – backslapping each other over their latest panel show, or it is chockful of mullahs who detest British …

how the Conservatives dodge responsibility for the prejudice that is rife in their ranks

how the Conservatives dodge responsibility for the prejudice that is rife in their ranks

Published by skeptic

Despite the furore, the recent attack on London mayor Sadiq Khan by the now-suspended Conservative MP Lee Anderson should come as no surprise. In much the same way, neither should we be surprised at prime minister Rishi Sunak’s failure to call out what Anderson said as being anything other than blatant Islamophobia. When it comes to the Conservative party, we have been here before. For them, this is Islamophobia 101. The recent controversy began when Anderson – who was until very recently the party’s deputy chairman – told GB News that Sadiq Khan had “given our capital city away to his mates”. As he went on, “I don’t actually believe that the Islamists have got control of our country, but what I do believe is they’ve got control of Khan, and they’ve got control of London”. Since then, Anderson has doubled down, adding: “when you think you are right, you should never apologise because to do so would be a sign of weakness”. Anderson has lost the whip, but beyond that the message coming out …

how Trump and his followers use offensive humour to make prejudice acceptable

how Trump and his followers use offensive humour to make prejudice acceptable

Published by skeptic

Fox News anchor Sean Hannity interviewed Donald Trump in front of a studio audience in Iowa in December 2023. Hannity asked Trump to guarantee he would not abuse his power or seek retribution if he was reelected in 2024. Trump nodded and replied: “Except for day one.” The audience laughed at Trump’s answer. Trump is obviously joking. The image of being a dictator for a single day is absurd – after all, a despot tends to rule for a lifetime. But evidence suggests that Trump may, in fact, abuse power and seek retribution if he regains the presidency. For example, Trump hinted that he will use the Department of Justice to persecute his political adversaries. He is also planning to install loyalists in federal agencies. So Trump’s jokey response may tell the truth, or at least a distorted version of the truth. Research suggests that a joke is rarely just a joke. Humour eases stress. Humour strengthens relationships. Humour is good for your body and your mind. Humour is also a way to score political …

Amid class prejudice and sensitivities over race, Rochdale’s abused girls were failed | Kenan Malik

Amid class prejudice and sensitivities over race, Rochdale’s abused girls were failed | Kenan Malik

Published by skeptic

‘Child 44” was raped by many men over a long period of time, eventually forced to have an abortion, aged 13. None of her abusers was charged with rape against her; many were not even interviewed. After the termination, the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) seized possession of the foetus without her knowledge, let alone consent, leaving it forgotten in a freezer until spotted during “a routine property review”. “Child 37” was 13. She told the police that she had been “in the park with another child and met four Asian men”, two of whom had raped her. Because she was reluctant to undergo a medical or give a video interview, the police recorded the crime as requiring “no further action”. Two distressing stories out of dozens from a report on grooming gangs in Rochdale published last week. It is the latest in a series of excoriating accounts of official attitudes to child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Rotherham, Telford, Oxford and many other towns, each one as tormenting to read as the next. The Rochdale report …

Colts owner Jim Irsay blames arrest on police prejudice against white billionaires | Indianapolis Colts

Published by Sam

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said his March 2014 arrest for driving under the influence was a result of prejudice against him for being white and wealthy. The longtime NFL owner spoke about the circumstances of his arrest in an interview with the HBO newsmagazine Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel that aired on Tuesday. Irsay later pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of operating a vehicle while impaired after initially facing four additional counts of possession of a controlled substance. “I am prejudiced against because I’m a rich, white billionaire,” Irsay told HBO’s Andrea Kremer. “If I’m just the average guy down the block, they’re not pulling me in, of course not.” Asked how he thinks it sounds for a white billionaire to claim that he’s a victim of prejudice, Irsay stood by his remarks. “I don’t care what it sounds like,” Irsay said. “It’s the truth. … I could give a damn what people think how anything sounds or sounds like. The truth is the truth, and I know the truth.” Police in the …

How rape myths and unconscious biases prejudice the judicial system against women — and rape survivors in particular

How rape myths and unconscious biases prejudice the judicial system against women — and rape survivors in particular

Published by skeptic

It is well documented that women who are sexually assaulted, or raped, rarely report the crime to the police. The US charity, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, has shown that one in six women in the US has been the victim of rape or attempted rape, yet two in three rapes go unreported. For women under 25, that figure drops to one in five. In the UK, these figures are similarly bleak. The Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales notes that, in the year to December 2021, the police recorded 67,125 rape offences. And yet the charity Rape Crisis says five in six women who are raped don’t report it. Many factors feed into why women do not report such crimes. The primary reason, however, is the lack of trust many express in the policing and legal systems. My research looks at how social inequalities and implicit biases impact legal decisions. Even when jury members and police officers believe they are acting without prejudice, which is more overt and forceful, they cannot avoid …

Jury warned to beware of prejudice due to Rochdale’s reputation for grooming | UK news

Published by Sam

Jurors trying eight men from Rochdale accused of sexually exploiting two girls have been warned not to be prejudiced by the fact the Greater Manchester town has become “synonymous with grooming”. They were told to “rid yourself of preconceptions” and not be tempted to convict simply to “redress past wrongs” for the failures of the authorities in other well-publicised Rochdale cases, such as those portrayed in the BBC drama Three Girls. Clare Wade, KC, representing the lead defendant, Mohammed Faisal Ghani, who denies 21 sexual offences, told the jury in her closing speech: “Rochdale, it has been said more than once, is a small community and everyone knows everyone. It’s small, but nationally everyone had heard of Rochdale. It has a terrible history; sadly the name of the town is synonymous with grooming.” She added: “It’s as if all this has become part of the fabric of Rochdale. It isn’t a template, you don’t just slot the facts into what has happened before. This is the here and now.” She told them: “You can’t redress …