Male college students exposed to rap music that disparages gay people are more likely to view a gay professor as being less qualified for his position, according to new research. The study, conducted by Kevin Binder and L. Monique Ward of the University of Michigan, was published in the Journal of Sex Research.
“Workplace discrimination against gay men is a well-documented problem with observed negative outcomes for the discriminated. This study sought to test whether heterosexist media messages can cause men to engage in this kind of discrimination,” the researchers said.
Binder and Ward recruited 171 heterosexual male college students for their study. The students were first instructed to perform a number of simple mathematical tasks for about 17 minutes. One group of students listened to rap music with anti-gay lyrics while completing the tasks, a second group listened to rap music without anti-gay lyrics, and a third group did not listen to any music.
The anti-gay rap music used in the study was “Where the Hood At” by DMX and “Punks Jump Up to Get Beat Down” by Brand Nubian.
After completing the task, the students moved on to their next assignment. They were given the resumes and cover letters of two potential math professors and asked to evaluate the candidates’ competency to teach at the university.
The researchers created two fake job candidates — Tyler Wollack and Kenneth Maddon — with similar experience and background. However, the resume of one of the fake candidates described his work in an LGBTQ organization and listed him winning an LGBTQ leadership award. The other fake candidate listed similar experience with a non-LGBTQ student organization.
Whether Wollack or Maddon was described as the gay candidate varied from participant to participant. In other words, for half of the participants, Wollack was the gay candidate, while for the other half, Maddon was the gay candidate.
Binder and Ward found that students who had listened to the rap music with anti-gay lyrics rated the pro-gay candidate as being less suitable for a math professor position compared to the two other groups of students. The first group of students also indicated they were less willing to attend the candidate’s office hours if he was hired.
“Our analysis found that, even after controlling for demographic variables such as age, religiosity, country of birth, and regular rap consumption, exposure to heterosexist rap music remained a significant predictor of men’s perceptions of a gay male candidate’s qualifications and their willingness to attend his office hours,” the researchers said.