A Cognitive Look at the "Invisibility" of Older Gay Men Within the Categories 'Gay Man' and 'Elderly Man'. (March 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Coladonato, Rosandra; Carnaghi, Andrea; Ciosk, Mary Ann; Bianchi, Mauro; Piccoli, Valentina
• Is Part Of: Journal of language and social psychology. Volume 42:Number 2(2023)
• Page Start: 231
• Page End: 244
• Publication Date: 2023-03
• Subjects: category labels -- sexual orientation categories -- age categories -- intersectionality -- social invisibility; Sociolinguistics -- Periodicals; Psycholinguistics -- Periodicals; 401.905
• DOI: 10.1177/0261927X221137581
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0261-927X

Abstract

Two studies analyzed whether, at the cognitive level, 'Elderly gay man' is "invisible" both when processing the labels 'Gay man' and 'Elderly man'. We suggest that 'Gay man' is conflated with 'Young man', and that 'Elderly man' is conflated with 'Heterosexual man'. Contact with elderly gay men did not alter the perception of 'Gay man' as prevalently young but weakened the perception of 'Elderly man' as heterosexual by default.