Attitudes towards Transpeople, Genderism and Transphobia as Moderated by Religious Ideologies

Abstract

This paper explores the attitudes towards transpeople, genderism and transphobia as moderated by religious ideologies. The participants in this study were 505 students from a state university in the southeastern United States. Instruments used were the Genderism and Transphobia scale developed by Hill and Willoughby (2005), a revised Questionnaire about Transsexualism developed by Landan & Innala (2000), the Revised 12-Item Religious Fundamentalism Scale developed by Altemeyer & Hunsberger (2004), contact questions adapted from Kooy (2010), and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, and basic demographic questions. It was hypothesized that religious fundamentalism might have some effect on how people scored on the genderism and transphobia scale, on their attitudes and on their attitudes towards transsexuals. Differences between the biological sexes were also hypothesized to exist. While the findings did not largely support these hypotheses, results did support a correlation between religious fundamentalism, higher scores on the genderism and transphobia scale, and more negative attitudes towards transsexuals.