Dehumanization of same-sex parents in Italy: An exploratory study

Although no differences have been found for children raised by same-sex parents as compared with opposite-sex parents, negative attitudes toward same-sex parenting persist. Nonetheless, dehumanizing attitudes on same-sex parents are currently scarcely investigated. Within the dehumanization approach, the ontologization process is the attribution of a different "ontology" to outgroup members that serves to exclude them from the realm of humanity. This study provides preliminary evidence of the ontologization process toward same-sex parents. Two hundred Italian heterosexual participants read one of four vignettes describing a stepfamily (same-sex parents vs. opposite-sex parents). After reading the vignettes, the participants rated the stepfamily on ontologization traits. Results show that the participants attribute more animal traits to same-sex parent stepfamilies as compared with opposite-sex parent stepfamilies. However, the results do not support a full ontologization process.