Double jeopardy: lesbians and the legacy of multiple stigmatised identities

The Lesbian Internalized Homophobia Scale (LIHS, Szymanski & Chung, 2001) was developed to assess internalized homophobia in lesbians. Support for the psychometric properties of the scale have been found in studies with samples from the United States. The current study assessed the psychometric properties of the LIHS in a cross-cultural sample of 803 lesbians from 20 countries (MAge = 34.77 years, SD = 11.61) recruited via advertisements placed in e-groups, e-bulletin boards, and women’s press. Cross-cultural comparisons were examined on reported levels of internalised homophobia, and the psychosocial correlates of internalised misogyny, depression, self-esteem, psychosexual adjustment and homosexual identity formation. The current study also reports the development and psychometric properties of a new scale that measures internalised misogyny. It was hypothesised that the reliability of the LIHS and levels of internalised homophobia would differ by country as a result of variations in cultural manifestations of homophobia. Factorial analysis of the LIHS provided support for four of the five LIHS sub-scales. This shorter version of the LIHS demonstrated good reliability and validity in a multi-cultural sample and individually in samples from Australia, the United States, Canada, England and Finland. Cross-cultural comparison on levels of internalised homophobia demonstrated significant differences between countries with lesbians in Australia reporting the lowest levels and lesbians from England the highest. The results of this study have furthered the understanding of internalised homophobia and have provided empirical support for the theoretical proposition that a relationship exists between internalised misogyny and internalised homophobia. Results are discussed in terms of the implications for therapy with lesbian clients.