Engaging in counterstereotypical behaviours shifts the perceived masculinity or femininity of men and women, regardless of sexual orientation

Various studies have examined the stereotypes attributed to gay men or lesbian women. However, there are less studies which explore the behaviours considered stereotypical, or counterstereotypical, of gay men and lesbian women, particularly when these individuals might not conform with stereotypes. In this project, we tested the behaviours attributed to straight men, gay men, straight women, and lesbian women across two small studies emphasising a societal point of view in Portugal. Study 1 supports the implicit inversion theory suggesting gay men were correlated with straight women, and lesbian women were correlated with straight men. Study 2 extended the findings by manipulating the perceived stereotypicality or counterstereotypicality of individuals by attaching masculine or feminine occupations to each group from Study 1. As predicted, individuals with counterstereotypical occupations were perceived as less stereotypical of their original group while gay men and lesbian women with stereotypical occupations were perceived as more stereotypical of the opposite gender and sexual orientation. Importantly, this project highlights how members of certain groups are perceived as more, or less, typical of their group based on the expectations about stereotypical occupations for that group.